We regularly see reports come out that give us an update on how the networks of the four major U.S. carriers are doing, and today two such reports came out.
First up, Speedtest app maker Ookla has published a report on the state of the U.S. mobile networks in the first half of 2018. It says that T-Mobile was the fastest carrier in the U.S. during this period, posting a Speed Score of 27.86. Verizon came in a close second with 26.02, while AT&T was third with 22.17 and Sprint was fourth with 20.38. The Speed Score measures both download and upload speeds, attributing 90 percent of the score to the download and 10 percent to the upload.
T-Mobile also came out ahead in the National HD Speed Ratio metric, which measures what percent of a carrier's tested download data rates would support HD video (5Mbps or higher). T-Mo had an HD Speed Ratio of 86.6 percent, Verizon was close behind at 85.8 percent, followed by AT&T at 77.4 percent and Sprint at 75.2 percent.
When Ookla focused on the top 100 metropolitan areas, Verizon actually finished ahead of T-Mobile in both Speed Score and HD Speed Ratio. The differences were slight, though: Verizon posted a Speed Score of 28.50 in the top 100 metros while T-Mobile put up 28.46, and Verizon's HD Speed Ratio was 87.1 while T-Mo's was 86.5.
The other report that came out today is from OpenSignal. T-Mobile performed similarly well in its testing, winning five of the seven categories and drawing a sixth. T-Mobile won the 4G Download Speed, 3G Download Speed, and Overall Download Speed categories as well as the 4G Upload Speed and 3G Latency categories. T-Mo and Verizon tied in the 4G Availability category, though, with customers of both carriers able to find an LTE signal 93.7 percent of the time.
OpenSignal also broke down the best-performing carriers in various major metro areas across the U.S. The list is largely dominated by T-Mobile and Verizon, though AT&T won or tied in the 4G Latency category in many markets.
You can find the full Ookla and OpenSignal reports at the links below.
