In a mammoth study comparing mobile data speeds of U.S.-based carriers across various cities, Verizon emerged victorious more often than not. But the study, conducted by PC Mag across 30 U.S. cities, revealed that competition amongst carriers is closer than it’s been in quite some time.
In putting together its report, PC Mag said that it ran “more test cycles than ever before: 131,000 cycles over 30 cities and thousands of miles of driving.” In addition to measuring 3G and 4G speeds across different carriers, the study also looked at which carriers tend to perform better on a region by region basis.
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“We found a more competitive landscape than ever,” PC Mag writes. “Verizon won about half the cities and all the rural regions, like last year. But the rest of the cities were almost equally split between AT&T, with strongholds in the Southeast and Texas, and T-Mobile, which was especially strong in Western cities.”
Comparing 4G speeds nationwide, Verizon won hands down, delivering an average download speed of 19.1 Mbps, easily trouncing Sprint which pulled up the rear with an average speed of 12.7 Mbps.
Looking at 3G speeds nationwide, T-Mobile emerged victorious with an average download speed of 7.4 Mbps, followed by AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon which came in last with an average speed of just 0.9 Mbps.
On a region by region basis, here’s a shortened breakdown based on PC Mag’s results.
Northeast
LTE Winner – (1) Verizon (2) T-Mobile (3) AT&T (4) Sprint
3G Winner – (1) AT&T (2)T-Mobile (3) Sprint (4) Verizon
Southeast
LTE Winner- (1) Verizon (2) AT&T (3) T-Mobile (4) Sprint
3G Winner- (1) AT&T (2)T-Mobile (3) Sprint (4) Verizon
Midwest
LTE Winner – (1) Verizon (2) T-Mobile (3) AT&T (4) Sprint
3G Winner – (1) AT&T (2)T-Mobile (3) Sprint (4) Verizon
South Central Region – New Orleans, Houston, Dallas
LTE Winner – (1) AT&T (2) Verizon (3) T-Mobile (4) Sprint
South Central Region 3G Winner – (1) AT&T (2)T-Mobile (3) Sprint (4) Verizon
Northwest Region
LTE Winner – (1) T-Mobile (2) Verizon (3) Sprint (4) AT&T
3G Winner – (1) AT&T (2)T-Mobile (3) Sprint (4) Verizon
Southwest Region
LTE Winner – (1) Verizon (2) T-Mobile (3) AT&T (4) Sprint
3G Winner – (1) T-Mobile (2) AT&T (3) Sprint (4) Verizon
PC Mag’s full piece is well worth reading in its entirety if you happen to be considering switching carriers and want to see where you can get the most bang for your buck.
