AT&T Fiber has received Ookla’s first-ever Best Home Internet award in the United States
In sum – what to know:
Strategy validated – AT&T said Ookla’s first-ever Best Home Internet award confirms its existing fiber expansion approach rather than signaling any strategic shift.
Fiber-led growth – The operator is accelerating deployment through organic buildouts alongside partnerships like Gigapower and the Lumen acquisition.
Fiber + wireless convergence – AT&T emphasized that fiber underpins both broadband and mobile performance, enabling more reliable 5G networks.
New data from Ookla earlier this month showed that AT&T Fiber delivers both the “best” and fastest fiber performance in the U.S., posting a median download speed of 369.39 Mbps, upload speeds of 309.28 Mbps and latency of 18 ms. Now, AT&T Fiber has also received Ookla’s first-ever Best Home Internet award in the United States.
Despite the recognition, AT&T says the honor does not signal any shift in strategy. Speaking with RCR Wireless News, AT&T VP of Broadband and Converged Product Management Josh Goodell said the award simply reinforces the operator’s existing fiber expansion plans. “It just validates our strategy is working,” he said, adding that the recognition helps build awareness and connect the company with “the right customers” in the right markets.
The strategy is an aggressive one. Highlights include Gigapower, a wholesale fiber service it established with investment firm BlackRock, and the more recent $5.75 billion acquisition of Lumen’s Mass Markets Fiber business. “We expect our annual build pace to grow in 2026 in our core footprint. We also expect to expand faster outside our traditional areas as we add more build capacity, including Gigapower and the fiber assets and capabilities we’ve acquired from Lumen,” said Goodell. Looking even further ahead, he shared that the company plans to reach more than 60 million locations by the end of 2030.
Goodell was clear, though, that organic buildouts remain the focus, even as acquisitions like Lumen help the company scale faster in priority markets. “The real benefit is that it gives more households and businesses the chance to get fiber and wireless from one trusted provider — something many haven’t had available before,” he said. “And where we have fiber, we win in wireless.”
According to Goodell, the goal is simple: “Deliver a great, reliable connection to as many people as possible.” Doing that, he continued, requires combining AT&T-owned fiber and wireless infrastructure, while growing relationships with open-access fiber builders. “Fiber is the backbone of the 5G network, and cell sites with fiber connectivity deliver better reliability and scalability,” he said. “It helps us push capability closer to users — whether that’s additional capacity at the edge or more efficient routing of traffic — so we can deliver a more consistent, always-on connectivity experience.”
