YOU ARE AT:5GOokla: AT&T is the fastest, most consistent mobile operator in the US

Ookla: AT&T is the fastest, most consistent mobile operator in the US

According to the Ookla 5G map, there are 5,165 commercially available 5G deployments in the US

Ookla released its Q2 2020 Speedtest United States Market Report, which showed that the overall median download speed over mobile in the U.S. increased 15.8% between Q2 2019 and Q2 2020 to 29 Mbps. But perhaps most revealing, was the conclusion that AT&T proved to be both the fastest and most consistent U.S. mobile operator during the tested period.

AT&T achieved an Ookla Speed Score of 41.23, while T-Mobile came in second with a 33.69, followed by Sprint (31.53) and Verizon (30.77). In the category of network consistency, AT&T again came in first with the operator achieving 79.7% of results that showed at least a 5 Mbps minimum download speed and 1 Mbps minimum upload speed. T-Mobile US was second (79.2%), Verizon Wireless third (73.8%) and Sprint fourth (66.1%).

When it came to latency, though,T-Mobile US pulled through with the the lowest latency at 31 ms, with Verizon Wireless coming in second (33 ms) and AT&T third (35 ms). Sprint showed the highest latency (39 ms).

The report also indicated that while median download speeds for U.S. mobile networks increased, as mentioned previously, it also appeared that mobile’s median upload speed actually decreased 15.2% in Q2 2019 to 5.74 Mbps.

Ookla suggests that this decrease is the result of a dip in mobile and fixed broadband download speeds in early March, specifically, as consumer behavior shifted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that speeds have since rebounded.

 

According to the Ookla 5G map, there were 5,165 commercially available 5G locations in the U.S. as of July 8, 2020, with the majority of those deployments attributed to T-Mobile with 5,008. AT&T had 355 deployments, Verizon Wireless had 39 and while Sprint did show 5G results during Q2 2020, T-Mobile has since shut down those sites.

Looking only at tests taken on a 5G connection, Verizon Wireless had the fastest Speed Score in the U.S. in Q2 2020 at 870.50. AT&T was second (78.68), Sprint third (64.82) and T-Mobile fourth (64.26).

 

ABOUT AUTHOR

Catherine Sbeglia Nin
Catherine Sbeglia Nin
Catherine is the Managing Editor for RCR Wireless News, where she covers topics such as Wi-Fi, network infrastructure, AI and edge computing. She also produced and hosted Arden Media's podcast Well, technically... After studying English and Film & Media Studies at The University of Rochester, she moved to Madison, WI. Having already lived on both coasts, she thought she’d give the middle a try. So far, she likes it very much.