T-Mobile crushes Verizon and AT&T to be the fastest carrier in the US

Ookla, the company behind the iconic Speedtest.net, has released fresh insights about the leading carriers in the US based on their network speeds. According to this report, T-Mobile has emerged as the top service provider for the second half of 2025, with the highest download speeds. It repeats this feat after being established as the fastest carrier in the first half of 2025 as well.

This report, according to Ookla, is based on speed tests performed by millions of users across the US. According to Ookla’s findings, T-Mobile’s average network speed stood at roughly 260Mbps, while its average 5G speed was nearly 310Mbps. Verizon, on the other hand, only recorded an average top speed of about 130Mbps, less than half of T-Mobile’s.

In addition to being the fastest network, T-Mobile dominates the rankings as the most consistent, the network with the fastest 5G, and the most reliable for video streaming and gaming overall. It was closely followed by Verizon across most categories, while AT&T ranked third in most scenarios. These observations align with Opensignal’s report from earlier this month, which hailed T-Mobile as the best network in the US. Overall, T-Mobile was the winner on eight out of nine parameters, while Verizon won in one. Interestingly, these findings also contradict those of another analytics company, RootMetrics, which recently declared Verizon the most reliable network.

While T-Mobile was christened the fastest and most reliable network, Ookla notes that it was far from being the most widely available mobile network. Verizon was the network with the most sweeping coverage, despite the fact that T-Mobile is the only operator in the US that hasn’t fully transitioned away from a 2G network, though the process is still underway. T-Mobile lags behind even AT&T in this comparison.

However, it rebounds based on its 5G network coverage, which, Ookla states, is the widest in the US. Despite that, Verizon took a lead in video streaming, specifically while on a 5G network.

In addition to its findings for wireless carriers, Ookla also noted the best-performing internet service providers (ISPs) for home and office. AT&T Fiber was the fastest and most reliable ISP, with an average download speed of nearly 370Mbps and upload speeds of 310Mbps. Frontier Fiber, on the other hand, was rated the best for gaming.