T-Mobile blew past rivals Verizon and AT&T in a wireless speed test conducted by Ookla — and it wasn’t even close.
In the third quarter, T-Mobile boasted average download speeds of 163.6 Mbps, more than double Verizon’s 75.7 Mbps and AT&T’s 72.6 Mbps, according to Ookla, which captures its data through its Speedtest app. On the upload side, T-Mobile is also the fastest, but the gap is far smaller. T-Mobile saw average upload speeds of 11.3 Mbps, compared with Verizon’s 8.7 Mbps and AT&T’s 7 Mbps.
The results reflect T-Mobile’s continued dominance and its effective use of wireless spectrum it acquired from the acquisition of Sprint Nextel. The extra radio airwaves effectively gave it the capacity to add more 5G highways, allowing for more phones to see a faster connection. Results over the last year have been remarkably consistent, with T-Mobile boasting a wide lead over its competitors.
Ookla is just one of several wireless measurement firms, which each boast their own methodology. Opensignal, for instance, uses a different methodology with select road tests vs Ookla’s crowdsourced data, and had crowned Verizon as its overall 5G winner.
But even Opensignal has noted T-Mobile’s download speeds, which are hands-down faster than the competition.
It’s important to note that speed doesn’t necessarily equate to coverage, so there will be some areas where T-Mobile’s coverage is weaker or slower than the competition. In other words, your mileage may vary depending on where you live.
In the third quarter, Ookla noted that both Verizon and AT&T made slight gains, improving their respective average download speeds. T-Mobile actually saw a slight decline in the third quarter from the second quarter, but still remains far ahead.