Latest Wirefly carrier speed report: Industry leaders dominate

Wirefly has released its most recent Cell Phone Carrier Internet Speed Rankings for the final quarter of 2017 through the first three months of this year, and it appears that the two biggest mobile operators are not only leading the industry in terms of the size of their subscriber base, but also in terms of how fast their average overall web connection speeds are:

• Verizon Wireless -- 19.92 megabits per second (mbps)

• AT&T -- 18.26 megabits per second (mbps)

• T-Mobile -- 17.29 megabits per second (mbps)

• Sprint -- 14.77 megabits per second (mbps)

The above rankings are based on the information collated through Wirefly’s Speed Test. Conducted in collaboration with Wirefly and SourceForge, the Wirefly Speed Test can evaluate Internet connection speeds on any device, and can run without needing Flash or Java. For its Q4 2017 to Q1 2018 report, Wirefly carried out thousands of speed tests on various mobile devices all across America. In completing its overall speed rankings, what Wirefly did was assign a 90 percent weight on download speed, while giving upload speed the remaining 10 percent.  

In its latest carrier speed report also, Wirefly also took the opportunity to rank the Big Four carriers according to average download speeds:

• Verizon Wireless -- 20.44 mbps

• AT&T -- 19.11 mbps

• T-Mobile -- 18.08 mbps

• Sprint -- 15.6 mbps

In the previous download speed rankings, T-Mobile had dominated the competition, with an average download speed of 22.18 mbps. But in Wirefly’s most recent report, Verizon Wireless and AT&T have since topped T-Mobile, with average download speeds of 20.44 mbps and 19.11 mbps, respectively. 

The same pattern has emerged in terms of average upload speeds:

• Verizon Wireless -- 15.26 mbps

• AT&T -- 10.53 mbps

• T-Mobile -- 10.19 mbps

• Sprint -- 7.27 mbps

Verizon Wireless and AT&T have consistently led in terms of overall speeds, download speeds, and upload speeds, while T-Mobile and Sprint find themselves playing catch up to the industry leaders. This is in contrast to the results of Wirefly’s previous report, wherein T-Mobile had led in overall speed and download speed (Verizon had taken the upload speed crown last year). 

Wirefly’s newest carrier speed report also sheds some light on the average download speed and upload speed for all mobile users in the United States: 

• Average download speed of 19.08 mbps (which has slowed down compared to the 19.76 mbps registered in Wirefly previous report)

• Average upload speed of 11.92 mbps (again, decreasing from the 12.44 mbps posted in last year’s report)

To read Wirefly's report, head to its official website right now.