All four of the national carriers will find something to like in RootMetrics’ most recent national, state and metro-level testing. AT&T was recognized for improved network speeds, Sprint for a respectable and consistent showing, and T-Mobile US for bolstering network reliability and call performance—but Verizon still continued to dominate in overall performance.
RootMetrics’ most recent U.S. State of the Mobile Union report for the second half of 2019 is based on more than 3.85 million tests performed, with drive testing of more than 225,000 miles and indoor testing at more than 7,700 locations around the country.
On a national basis, Verizon won or shared the top spot in all six of RootMetrics’ performance categories, while AT&T took second place in five and shared one first-place finish (in text performance) with Verizon. T-Mo showed up in a fairly consistent third-place finish, sometimes sharing that with Sprint, which placed or shared third or fourth across all categories.
Verizon also had a strong showing at the state level, earning the top-performing spot in 44 states overall, compared to AT&T’s 20.
AT&T did particularly well on network speeds in the most recent testing. At the metro level, the carrier delivered median download speeds of at least 40 Mbps in more markets (37) than any other carrier in the second half of 2019: 37 markets, according to RootMetrics. In 10 of those metro markets, it had median download speeds faster than 50 Mbps.
Sprint also had some notable improvements in speed, increasing the number of markets where it clocked median download speeds of at least 40 Mbps from one in the first half of 2019, to six in the second half, by RootMetrics’ reckoning.
T-Mobile US, meanwhile, had strong speeds in most tested metro markets, the company reported; its fastest median download speed of 66.3 Mbps was recorded in Omaha, Nebraska. Median download speeds for T-Mobile US were faster than 30 Mbps in a 50 markets, but it didn’t have as many 40+ Mbps markets as Verizon and AT&T.
Verizon, however, “once again delivered the strongest combination of stellar reliability and fast speeds among all networks,” the benchmarking and analysis company concluded. “No other carrier came close to matching Verizon’s consistency of delivering fast speeds in metros across the U.S.”
Verizon had more markets with median download speeds of at least 30 Mbps—91 markets—than any other carrier, and eight markets with speeds faster than 50 Mbps. (AT&T, it should be noted, had 10 markets with speeds greater than 50 Mbps.)
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