Verizon and AT&T came out on top in mobile network performance in the latest RootMetrics report, but improvements were registered across the board in data speed and reliability. And Sprint and T-Mobile registered the biggest improvement in mobile network performance.
Root Metrics’ 2H 2014 US Mobile Network Performance Review evaluated and compared the performance of mobile networks and service providers in the 125 most populated metro areas in the U.S., all 50 states and nationwide.
Combining RootMetrics’ performance awards across the U.S. national, state and metro levels, Verizon garnered a total 799 first-place rankings en route to an overall performance RootScore of 93.9 out of 100. AT&T earned 493 first-place rankings and an overall RootScore of 91.7. Corresponding first-place rankings for T-Mobile and Sprint were 205, and 167, respectively. Overall scores for those carriers were 86.6 and 84.0, respectively.
RootMetrics Mobile Performance
The ranking order for network speeds and reliability followed suit. Nationally, Verizon came out on top with a Network Speed RootScore of 89.0. AT&T followed at 85.5. T-Mobile ranked third with a score of 79.1, and Sprint fourth at 71.0.
Turning to network reliability, Verizon came out tops with a RootScore of 95.5. AT&T came in second at 93.8, T-Mobile third at 90.9 and Sprint fourth with a score of 85.4.
There are more mobile subscriber connections than people in the U.S. (335.7 million versus 317.9 million), according to RootMetrics. In producing the latest report, RootMetrics researchers drove 288,000 miles – about 100 times the distance from New York City to Los Angeles – and performed 5.7 million tests, including at 6,215 indoor locations.
