RootMetrics released their wireless study of the top 125 U.S. metro areas looking at the best and worst for wireless coverage. As always, there are some big surprises. They found there is a big diversity between cities on the top and bottom. Let’s take a closer look.
This study of the top 125 metro areas shows that both New York City and Los Angeles, two of the largest cities, performed poorly and were way down on this list. New York was 59 and Los Angeles was 99 out of 125.
Best performing cities in wireless
I live in the Atlanta area, the ninth largest city, and we ranked number three of 125. Not bad. We’ve had a great wireless network for a while. Twenty years ago in 1996 Atlanta had the best in nation. That was the year of the Summer Olympics.
Chicago is the third largest city and ranked fifth. However, that’s it for the top 10. And you thought the top 10 cities in size would also be the top 10 in service. Surprise!
So the most populated cities have no connection to the best performance, the RootMetrics study found. These tests looked at network reliability for calls, data and text. It also looked at speed and compared reliability for calls. Streaming and large files stress todays wireless networks. And with the limits on wireless spectrum, this problem will not go away.
Limited wireless spectrum
I think the fact that we have limited wireless spectrum plays a role in these rankings. When too many people try and use the networks, they often overload the capacity because of the limited spectrum. This is like having a one-lane entrance ramp to a superhighway and a traffic jam develops.
Another reason is we are using more wireless data than ever before. We are watching television and movies as well as everything else. The networks are in a constant state of rush to keep up with the increasing demand.
There are many reasons for the traffic jams at certain locations and cities from coast to coast. But the bottom line is larger markets are often no better than smaller markets when it comes to service. Additionally, there are always differences within each market area. Example, when there is a ballgame at the stadium, or something else that attracts a crowd, local sites can get overloaded more quickly.
Hats off to Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility, Sprint and T-Mobile
There are countless reasons, but that’s why it’s a helluva job to keep good service available to all of us, all the time. The carriers are working as hard as they can to keep up with the ever-growing and ever-changing demand. So cut them some slack if occasionally you have some trouble with your wireless connectivity. They are all working as hard as they can.
The top five cities, according to RootMetrics, include Lansing Mich., Indianapolis, Atlanta, Milwaukee and Chicago. The bottom five include Lancaster, Penn., Santa Rosa, Calif., Scranton, Penn., Omaha, Neb., and Hudson Valley, N.Y.. So let me say either congratulations or I’m sorry to all of us who just want a decent wireless experience.
