Verizon Fios and AT&T are the Internet Speed Kings: Report

July 27, 2020 Topic: Technology Blog Brand: Techland Tags: VerizonAT&TVerizon FiosTechnologyBroadbandInternet

Verizon Fios and AT&T are the Internet Speed Kings: Report

Internet speeds, both mobile and at home, are getting faster, according to a survey published by Ookla, citing Speedtest Intelligence data.

Internet speeds, both mobile and at home, are getting faster, according to a survey published by Ookla, citing Speedtest Intelligence data.

The  Q2 2020 Speedtest United States Market Report by Ookla, which measured 1.6 million unique mobile user devices and 18.9 million fixed broadband devices, found that Internet speeds have increased 15.8 percent on mobile and 19.6% on fixed broadband, compared with the year before.

“We saw a decline in mobile and fixed broadband download speeds in early March as consumer behavior shifted in response to the pandemic. Speeds have since rebounded on both mobile and fixed broadband,” the survey takes said.

The survey found that AT&T was first among wireless carriers, with a speed score of 41.33, followed by T-Mobile (33.69), Sprint (31.53) and Verizon (30.77.)

“Although Sprint merged with T-Mobile earlier this year, we have considered the companies’ performance separately here as the networks have not been fully integrated. We will combine their results when the integration is complete,” Speedtest Intelligence said of the methodology.

AT&T also had the highest consistency score in the survey.

However, it looking at 5G connections on only the fledgling 5G networks, Verizon had the fastest speed score among the carriers, with 870.50, with AT&T second, Sprint third and T-Mobile fourth. However, “if we look at all tests taken on 5G-capable devices,” AT&T was first, followed by T-Mobile, Verizon and Sprint.

And in terms of devices, Samsung’s Galaxy S10 5G was ranked the fastest, followed by another Galaxy device, the S20 Ultra 5G, with the LG V60 ThinQ 5G ranked third.

As for fixed broadband, Verizon Fios was the fastest, with 117.14, followed closely by Xfinity (107.89), Cox, Spectrum, AT&T Internet and CenturyLink. Verizon was first for latency, while Spectrum ranked #1 for consistency. This is consistent with recent reported numbers.

When it came to speeds by region, New Jersey was the fastest by median download over fixed broadband, followed by Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, Florida and Hawaii, while Wyoming was last. Kansas City was the fastest city, followed by San Antonio, Austin, Lincoln, and Raleigh, while Toledo, Ohio, was ranked last of the 100 cities listed.

Stephen Silver, a technology writer for The National Interest, is a journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to Philly Voice, Philadelphia Weekly, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Living Life Fearless, Backstage magazine, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.