OpenSignal’s latest tests showed T-Mobile remained the nation’s speed king ahead of Verizon, and its expanded reach surpassing AT&T
T-Mobile US continues to be the nation’s wireless speed king, while Verizon Wireless maintained its position as the carrier with the greatest LTE reach, according to the latest network performance testing conducted by OpenSignal.
The testing was conducted between May 1 and July 10 using a downloadable smartphone application, with OpenSignal claiming more than 2.8 billion data points garnered from more than 120,000 users. Key takeaway: your mileage may vary.
Results showed T-Mobile US posted an average LTE download speed of 16.28 megabits per second, just nipping ahead of the 15.94 average download speed recorded via Verizon Wireless’ LTE network. Both carriers finished in the same position in the previous OpenSignal report from earlier this year, though with speeds this time around 5 Mbps faster.
AT&T Mobility was a distant No. 3 in the latest test, posting an average download speed of 12.83 Mbps, which was an improvement from the 7.93 Mbps posted in the previous test. Sprint was again No. 4 in the test with an average speed of 9.36 Mbps, but also managed to improve from the 6.56 Mbps speed it recorded in the previous test.
In terms of LTE availability, Verizon Wireless again came out on top with devices able to connect to the carrier’s high-speed data network 85.89% of the time. That result was actually down slightly from the 86.73% recorded in the earlier OpenSignal test.
More impressive was the improved performance of T-Mobile US’ network, with availability improving from 81.23% in the previous test to 83.2% this time around, which also allowed the carrier to jump over AT&T Mobility in terms of LTE availability. Similar to Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility showed a decline in LTE availability, falling from 82.63% last time to 80.37% in the latest test. Sprint was basically flat in terms of LTE availability, posting around 70% in the last two tests.
“While T-Mobile for some time has been contesting the top spot for speed, the big surprise was the rapid improvement in T-Mobile’s LTE availability that we saw in our data,” OpenSignal noted in its analysis. “Our users found Verizon is still the leader when it comes to providing a consistent LTE signal, but T-Mobile surpassed AT&T in 4G availability in our latest tests and is now closing the gap with Verizon.”
T-Mobile US’ LTE availability might have failed to match that of its larger rival Verizon Wireless, the carrier continued its speed mastery in the off chance a device connected to its 3G network, with T-Mobile US’ HSPA-based offering posting an average download speed of 4.59 Mbps. AT&T Mobility, which also relies on an HSPA-based network for its 3G service, was second in the test with an average speed of 3.01 Mbps. Sprint’s CDMA-based 3G network posted an average speed of 920 kilobits per second just outpacing the 830 kbps speed recorded from Verizon Wireless’ CDMA-based 3G offering.
Combining the two different networks, T-Mobile US showed average speeds of 14.03 Mbps, with Verizon Wireless at 13.47 Mbps, AT&T Mobility at 10.65 Mbps and Sprint at 6.91 Mbps.
Sprint’s LTE network may not have posted the speed or availability of its larger competitors, but it did manage to record the lowest network latency of 57.06 milliseconds, which improved on the 66.06 milliseconds recorded in the previous test. Verizon Wireless was No. 2 in LTE latency at 60.47 milliseconds, followed by T-Mobile US at 61.55 milliseconds and AT&T Mobility at 64.71 milliseconds. In a bright spot for consumers, all four carriers managed to improve over their previous test scores.
The HSPA-based 3G networks of T-Mobile US and AT&T Mobility again showed their superior performance in terms of network latency, with T-Mobile US posting 98.91 milliseconds in latency and AT&T Mobility at 124.55 milliseconds. Sprint’s 3G network managed latency of 149.95 milliseconds, ahead of the 177.36 milliseconds posted by Verizon Wireless.
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