U.S.A.! We’re #73!

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The 2018 Speedtest® U.S. Mobile Performance Report by Ookla® was released last week, ranking the U.S. 43rd in the world for mean download speed putting the U.S. between Hong Kong and Portugal. In upload speeds, the U.S. finished 73rd between Laos and Panama, according to Speedtest.net.

Using data from Q1 and Q2 of 2018, Ookla analyzed 2,841,471 unique mobile devices performing over 12 million consumer-initiated cellular network tests on Speedtest apps to rank the carriers with the fastest and most consistent networks across the nation. The Speedtest® found that T-Mobile is the fastest carrier in the country, followed closely by Verizon Wireless. 

Some of the category results are synopsized below:

Mobile Speeds

Mean download speed over mobile in the U.S. increased 20.4% between Q1-Q2 2017 and Q1-Q2 2018 to 27.33 Mbps. The mean upload speed for mobile was 8.63 Mbps, up 1.4% over Q1-Q2 2017.

Fastest Carriers

The fastest carriers were ranked, in order, as T-Mobile (27.6-speed score), Verizon Wireless (26.2- speed score), AT&T (22.17-speed score), and Sprint (20.38-speed score).

National HD Speed Ratio (HDSR)

The percent of mobile download results ≥ 5 Mbps are ranked, in order, as T-Mobile (86.6% HDSR), Verizon Wireless (85.8% HDSR), AT&T (77.4% HDSR), and Sprint (75.2% HDSR).

Network Improvements by Carrier

The major carriers have invested in network infrastructure over the last year not only to improve speeds but also provide the foundation for strong 5G experiences, according to Speedtest.net.

  • T-Mobile: Using recently acquired 600 MHz spectrum, T-Mobile has been expanding their LTE footprint by adding thousands of sites in over 900 cities and towns, including previously unserved areas. The carrier has also been deploying License Assisted Access (LAA) and using Carrier Aggregation.
  • Verizon Wireless: Verizon has been addressing capacity demand by adding new cell sites, mostly in urban cores. The process of network densification offers many benefits to end users, such as faster speed, better signal quality, and improved battery life. The carrier has also accelerated the implementation of advanced LTE features like 256 QAM and 4×4 MIMO to add incremental capacity and improve network efficiency.
  • AT&T: AT&T has been awarded the contract for FirstNet, deploying this LTE network using spectrum reserved for public safety. This low-band 700 MHz spectrum (Band 14) will prioritize first responders, but AT&T subscribers will also have lower priority access which will help ease network congestion.
  • Sprint: Sprint has delivered the most improved download speeds over the past year by implementing three strategies. The carrier committed between 40 MHz and 60 MHz of contiguous 2.5 GHz spectrum to LTE, expanding its use of carrier aggregation across a wider footprint. Sprint’s increase in download speeds is a result of a change of the frame configuration in the 2.5 GHz frequency band and they are the only Time Division Duplex (TDD) LTE operator in the United States.


Additional Findings

The Speedtest also analyzed carriers’ performance in the 100 largest cities in the country. With a mean download speed over mobile of 36.80 Mbps, first-place Minnesota outpaced runner-up Michigan by over 4 Mbps. New Jersey, Ohio, Massachusetts and Rhode Island rounded out the top six. Wyoming had the slowest mean download speed over mobile, followed by Alaska, Mississippi, Maine and West Virginia.

July 25, 2018         

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