T-Mobile US looks to have re-gained some of its LTE network reputation, with a new report from OpenSignal finding the market’s smallest nationwide operator providing the highest network speeds during the first quarter of the year. However, the scope of LTE coverage remains in the hands of Verizon Wireless, which saw its position in that metric further solidified.
The OpenSignal report, which taps into an application downloaded to smartphones, found T-Mobile US dominated rivals in terms of network speed, posting an average download of 11.5 megabits per second. That was significantly faster than the 9.1 Mbps posted by AT&T Mobility’s LTE network and 7.8 Mbps posted by Verizon Wireless’ LTE network. Sprint, which in most cases is only able to supply half the spectrum to its LTE efforts compared to its rivals, was a distant No. 4 with an average download speed of just 4.3 Mbps.
Looking at results over the past year, OpenSignal found T-Mobile US’ had maintained its lead in peak LTE speeds, though there were fluctuations over time with speeds peaking at more than 15 Mbps soon after the carrier launched LTE services early last year.
Verizon Wireless has seen its network speeds steadily decline from just under 10 Mbps one year ago, though those results have reversed over the past couple of months. That turnaround looks to have coincided with the carrier’s recent addition of 1.7/2.1 GHz spectrum support for its LTE network.
AT&T Mobility witnessed a gradual increase in network speeds during the first half of the past year, which has since slowly declined before flattening out over the past couple of months. The flattening connected with recent speed increases from Verizon Wireless had AT&T Mobility dipping below its rival during the past month.
Sprint has seen its network speeds gradually decline over the past year, falling from the 5 Mbps it was posting in early 2013 to the low-4 Mbps witnessed over the past several months.
RCR Wireless News last year spoke with OpenSignal co-founder Sam Westwood to discuss the company’s business model and challenges the company has tackled in protecting consumer privacy with its crowd-source application.
Time on LTE
As for the reach of LTE networks, OpenSignal uses its “time on LTE” metric, which it says “is our unique way of looking at coverage, based on user experience rather than geography.”
Verizon Wireless came out on top of this metric, with OpenSignal’s report finding that the carrier’s LTE customers spent 83.2% of their time during the first three months of the year connected to its LTE network. AT&T Mobility was No. 2 in the metric at 70.6%, with T-Mobile US No. 3 at 61.1% and Sprint again at No. 4 at 56.5% of the time with consumers connected to its LTE network.
As for LTE connectivity trends, OpenSignal found a year-over-year increase for most carriers, with significant improvements posted by T-Mobile US and Sprint.
T-Mobile US went from no connectivity (obviously) before it launched services in early 2013 to the greater than 60% connectivity the report found over the past three months. Sprint was also starting from scratch when it launched LTE services in mid-2012 to its mid-50% connectivity metric for the first quarter of this year. While still trailing its rivals, OpenSignal did give Sprint the “most improved coverage (past six months)” award, with the carrier showing a 29.5% increase in “time on LTE.”
The most telling aspect of the chart is the speed in which T-Mobile US surpassed its larger rival in the scope of its LTE offering, something that may have had a connection with recent executive changes in Sprint’s network operations.
As for the two larger operators, Verizon Wireless has seen improved connectivity year-over-year, though the OpenSignal findings showed a significant dip in coverage through the middle of 2012, before rebounding in early 2013. AT&T Mobility saw a similar dip in LTE connectivity through most of 2012, before steadily improving coverage through the remainder of the reported period.
Verizon Wireless’ coverage dominance comes on the heels of similar reports from RootMetrics and J.D. Power and Associates, both of which found the carrier to provide superior network coverage.
T-Mobile US CEO John Legere protested the RootMetrics results, claiming the testing was conducted during the second half of last year and that the carrier has made significant strides in bolstering its network through the first part of this year.
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