London-based company Open Signal has released its annual report on carrier coverage and download speed. Tied for the first spot are two telecom giants, Verizon and T-Mobile.
AT&T and Sprint still struggle to keep up, while Verizon holds a slight advantage over T-Mobile in 4G LTE network availability but ties with them entirely on download speed. The report states in its conclusion that both carries “won or shared” every category.
The report states in its conclusion that both carries “won or shared” every category.
Verizon, who has always had the second place in previous years concerning download speed, but it is now enjoying a well-deserved edge over its closest competitor. The company plans to put out two Android Wear watches in the coming months.
T-Mobile’s 3G Internet is faster than Verizon’s
From a survey of 169,683 users who had the Open Signal app installed on their phones, average LTE network speeds for Verizon clocked at 16.9 Mbps while T-Mobile phones produced about 16.7 Mbps.
The only real field in which one company beats the other is 3G speed. T-Mobile currently leads the race with an average speed of 4 Mbps, with AT&T in second place.
However, Open Signal notes that 3G is an indigent performance indicator, given that most users have ditched 3G to start using 4G.
Verizon is the king of 4G
81% of US residents, according to Open Signal, already have access to LTE networks. Sprint, one of the underdogs, moved up from about 70% nationwide coverage of this technology to 76.8%, which is a huge improvement.
However, the market leader is still Verizon, who’s making use of its LTE-Advanced network upgrade. In particular regions, such as New York City, 4G speed from this carrier can go as high as 22 Mbps, which other phone companies just cannot match.
The yellow-clad company also takes the prize for lower latency rates, meaning that websites and videos load faster on its network. T-Mobile will have to implement a similar 4G LTE technology in the coming months if they wish to stay on top as well.
Source: Open Signal
