It’s become a bit of a routine. T-Mobile once again took the top spot as the fastest and most consistent mobile operator in the U.S. during the second quarter, according to Ookla’s latest Speedtest report.
Not one to miss a beat when it comes to touting network progress, T-Mobile put it all in its press release: T-Mobile's network dominated in the categories of overall speed, lowest latency, highest consistency and overall video score. The report also ranked the “un-carrier’s” 5G network first for download speed, availability and consistency.
“T-Mobile 5G, the nation’s most awarded network, has top rankings in nearly every third-party benchmark over the last two years,” said T-Mobile President of Technology Neville Ray in a statement. “It’s clear we offer something customers can’t get anywhere else, and now over half of our network traffic is on 5G devices. But we’re not done yet – we’re advancing the reach and capabilities of 5G every day.”
Just last week Opensignal published a report where T-Mobile earned top marks for fastest 5G download and 5G upload speeds, as well as best 5G availability and 5G reach nationwide. In fact, as Ray alluded to, T-Mobile boasts more than 20 reports from third-party industry firms like Ookla and umlaut in the last two years doling out top marks to T-Mobile, giving it bragging rights as the most awarded network in the nation.
In April, Ookla’s Q1 Speedtest named T-Mobile as No. 1 for overall speed, highest consistency, fastest 5G speed and best 5G availability.
Given T-Mobile’s dominance in these quarterly reports, how do they add value when T-Mobile is seemingly so far ahead?
“I think we have a responsibility to provide transparency into the performance of networks on a consistent basis. While quarter over quarter may not always reveal dramatic shifts, our data has shown significant changes in the landscape of U.S. telecommunications over time,” Ookla’s VP of Technology Brennen Smith told Fierce.
Of course, Ookla’s reports measure more than one metric. And each quarter, the team looks into highlighting trends they identify with data in different countries. “We dive deep to analyze dimensions beyond provider performance, such as looking at smartphone device and manufacturer performance, regional and city speeds, etc.,” he said.
Sense of urgency
Another reason for the quarterly check-ins: The mid-band rollouts by Verizon and AT&T. Earlier this year, Ookla found a massive improvement in Verizon speeds after it rolled out some C-band, from 76.51 Mbps to 116.29 Mbps. Ookla hinted that Verizon could be on the brink of challenging T-Mobile for fastest download speed in a subsequent Speedtest global market analysis.
In announcing its deployment using 100 MHz of C-band spectrum in markets across the U.S. this week – an increase over the 60 MHz it’s been deploying – Verizon said its engineers were able to reach 1.4 Gbps peak download speeds near active cell sites and 500 Mbps farther away from the towers. Recall that Verizon is getting early access to C-band spectrum thanks to agreements with satellite providers to clear spectrum that was originally scheduled to be cleared in December 2023.
None of this is to say that AT&T isn’t in the game. Despite lagging both T-Mobile and Verizon in 5G Speedtest analyses, AT&T has been the one to watch in terms of postpaid phone net adds. It’s been outperforming even T-Mobile since the second quarter of 2021. AT&T reports second-quarter results on Thursday.
But the network rivalry between T-Mobile and Verizon is especially intense, and a recent survey by equity research firm Cowen illustrates how strong a hold Verizon has on network perception going back to its 4G and earlier days. Even though T-Mobile is amassing all these 5G network accolades, people’s perception of Verizon as the network leader persists – even while it’s losing in the postpaid phone net add department.
A survey of 1,130 people from June 17-18 showed continued improvements in T-Mobile’s brand/image; however, Verizon is holding onto “4G network goodwill” in early innings of the 5G era, the Cowen analysts wrote in a July 13 report for investors.
Reality vs. perception
“When we asked respondents to rank the Big 3 carriers, T-Mobile again posted record brand perception, surpassing AT&T for the #2 spot and to a survey record best. While Verizon continues to hold a strong #1 position, T-Mobile is closing this gap as well and momentum is on the Un-Carrier's side, with record perception versus Big Red,” the Cowen analysts wrote.
No one’s contesting T-Mobile’s early lead in the 5G coverage race, but the question is how long will it last and how much can T-Mobile gain in subscribers while it’s got the lead. Many Wall Street analysts put T-Mobile at least a year ahead of Verizon and AT&T when it comes to 5G coverage.
Survey respondents continue to see Verizon as having the best 5G network (41%) compared to T-Mobile’s 30% and AT&T at 29%, Cowen said. “Thus, perception continues to lag reality, and Verizon hopes to keep it that way as it feverishly tries to close the gap on T-Mobile’s network leadership.”