Your wireless carrier’s internet speeds can make or break your experience with your mobile device. And while AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile all claim to have the best speeds, Ookla’s Q3 2023 Speedtest Global Index study finds that one carrier clearly reigns supreme.
T-Mobile Has the Fastest Mobile Network
Across nearly every dimension in the test, T-Mobile comes out on top—just like last quarter. In terms of median download speeds, T-Mobile’s was at 163.59Mbps in Q3. That’s slightly down from 164.76 in Q2 2023 and 165.22 in Q1, but still almost twice as fast as Verizon and AT&T.
T-Mobile also had the fastest median upload speed in the US, at 11.31Mbps. Again, that’s slightly down from Q2’s speed of 12.16Mbps, but still well above the competition.
In terms of multi-server latency, T-Mobile came out on top with the lowest median score of 53 milliseconds, followed by Verizon (59ms), and AT&T (66ms).
It’s the same story for the consistency of each carrier’s performance. “We found that T-Mobile had the highest consistency in the US during Q3 2023, with 85.2% of results showing at least 5Mbps download and 1Mbps upload speeds,” the study says. “Verizon Wireless and AT&T followed at 80.8% and 78.4%, respectively.”
If you frequently watch videos on your phone, T-Mobile also ranks highly for that. Ookla gave each carrier a “video score,” measuring their mobile playback performance. T-Mobile scored the highest (74.82), followed by Verizon (71.59), and finally AT&T (69.54). The ranking was the same for videos played over a 5G connection specifically.
The carrier also came out on top in PCMag’s Best Mobile Networks testing last year, and was our Readers’ Choice pick this year for carriers in North America.
iPhones Are the Speediest Devices
So, let’s say you’re on a T-Mobile plan, and you want to optimize performance further. The study considered the most popular devices in the US during Q3, and measured their download and upload speeds, as well as latency.
The iPhone 15 Pro Max, a PCMag Editors’ Choice winner, came out on top, followed by the iPhone 15 Pro. Samsung Galaxies claimed the next two spots, including the Galaxy S23 Ultra and Galaxy Z Fold 4. The Google Pixel 7 Pro rounds out the last spot on the top five.
Fastest US Cities and States
If you have an iPhone on T-Mobile, the next question is where it’ll perform best. Illinois ranks number one with the fastest median download speed (110.08Mbps), followed by Minnesota (101.96Mbps), and the District of Columbia (100.83Mbps).
Many of the fastest cities, however, are in other states. Glendale, Arizona, ranks number one, with an impressive 181.74Mbps download speed. Plano, Texas, comes in second (172.87), followed by Indianapolis, Indiana (162.46 Mbps).
Disclosure: Ookla is owned by PCMag’s parent company, Ziff Davis.
