(Image: Bob Al-Greene)
In 2022, T-Mobile isn't just America's fastest network, it's also the best.
For this year's nationwide mobile network tests, we've changed everything. We drove more than 10,000 miles across the country with new software that tracks dropped calls and provides a better measure of reliability. That turned this year's project into a search for America's best mobile network—not just the fastest, as we’ve called this project in previous years. (For more, see "Our Testing Methodology" below.) We've also shifted the way we drive, using electric and hybrid cars for portions of our route. (Read more about the actual drive in the "Going Electric" section below.)
This time around, we hit 30 cities and six rural regions using the latest Samsung Galaxy S22+ phones to see how , T-Mobile, and Verizon compare. T-Mobile wins 18 of our 30 cities to Verizon's eight and AT&T's four.
Look purely at speed, and the difference is even more stark. AT&T's entire advantage is in places where it has greater network reliability than T-Mobile. T-Mobile wins 19 cities on speed, to Verizon's nine and AT&T's two.
T-Mobile is also doing better than ever before in rural areas, although it gets docked slightly for still having more rural data dead zones outside the Northeast than the other two carriers do.
Why Rate Mobile Networks?
Mobile internet is the internet, now more than ever as many people work from home and virtually everywhere else. According to Ericsson(Opens in a new window), between 2018 and 2022, mobile data traffic in North America quadrupled from 22 exabytes to 86 exabytes. Most of that growth is driven by the revolution in mobile video, which has risen from 60% to 70% of mobile data traffic. That’s almost 20 gigs of usage, per person, per month.
Meanwhile, there’s a lot of noise around 5G. The carriers haven’t made anything easy or clear. They conflate different types of 5G with different performance characteristics. They claim very broad coverage for forms of 5G that act just like 4G. Sometimes, they put icons on your screen that make it difficult to tell which “G” you’re on, or why you should care. Someone needs to cut through the marketing language and tell you what’s really available, and which phone you need to use with it.
A lot of ratings are out there, and they’re confusing because they’re largely opaque. We started the Fastest Mobile Networks project aiming to be as transparent as possible. Each year, we show you exactly where we go, which devices we use and why, and give you every component of our overall scores. We want you to have as much power here as possible when making a buying decision on a wireless carrier.
Best Mobile Networks 2022 Explained
5G Continues to Improve
Yes, you need a 5G phone to hit these high speeds. On both T-Mobile and Verizon, the difference between 4G and 5G is becoming huge now, and it can be the difference between a stalled connection in a congested lane and speeding along in the HOV lane of mobile internet. AT&T isn't quite there yet, but it likely will be next year. Check out our story on the eight cities we found where AT&T and Verizon users should really upgrade to a 5G phone immediately.
To test, we're using the Samsung Galaxy S22+ because it has shown the best network performance in our tests. With its Qualcomm X65 modem, the S22+ can hold onto weak signals longer than phones from previous years, and it supports all the new 5G bands carriers are implementing, including the frequencies AT&T is launching later this year.
Since we used new software this time around, our results aren't directly comparable to those from previous years. But some trends are difficult to ignore. Both T-Mobile and Verizon see dramatically increased nationwide speeds this year as they expand their mid-band 5G networks. But AT&T's speeds decline, as it has added very little capacity while data demands grew.
The speed results and dropped-call results appear completely decoupled. In general, all three carriers show very low rates of dropped calls in cities. But AT&T is noticeably more reliable on calling in rural areas—able to keep that little bit of voice connectivity going even if there isn't massive data capacity for streaming and gaming.
We use people, not square miles, to determine our scores. Rural areas comprise 16% of our score, similar to the 14-20% of the US population classified as rural.
Bringing Networks Home
As mentioned, our mobile network measurements matter more than ever because there's a new use for 5G: breaking your local cable company's home internet monopoly.
Smartphones are ubiquitous in America now, and since 2010, we've been giving you the most transparent, consistent measurements to help you choose your carrier. But it's completely legitimate to wonder why you need more than 100Mbps on your smartphone at all.
There are two major reasons. First, that average speed also tends to define the floor. You may not feel you need 100Mbps, but you probably always want at least 25Mbps, and those greater average speeds tend to link up with more consistently reliable minimums.
But also, both T-Mobile and Verizon are selling home internet service now. That's where you really will want 100Mbps or more, and our results show where you can probably get it. It’s always good to ask your friends and neighbors how well the service works or to test drive a unit yourself. But some solid third-party scores can really help you decide whether it's a service worth considering.
T-Mobile's Triumph
You can clearly see T-Mobile's triumph in these charts of overall results collected by speed bins. In the cities, T-Mobile has by far the least connections under 50Mbps, and it really pulls away from the competition in connections between 300 to 600Mbps, which is the mid-band 5G zone. This shows where T-Mobile probably has sufficient capacity for its new $50-per-month home internet service, too. In rural areas, the effect is less pronounced, but it's still there.
Looking at dropped calls in the cities, the results are all over the map. In rural areas, T-Mobile suffers because of two specific regions: the rural Northwest, going from northern California to Washington; and Georgia. In the Northeast, coverage is solid.
On parts of our drives, we were able to check whether our phones were showing 4G or 5G, and what kind of 5G. T-Mobile showed the best 5G coverage—and the best high-quality 5G coverage—in both cities and rural areas.
Focusing on the good stuff, mid-band 5G, which works and feels better than 4G, in rural areas T-Mobile showed "5G UC" 43% of the time, compared with Verizon's 5G UW 9% and AT&T's 5G+ 2%. And the same goes for cities. Across 19 cities where we felt we had sufficient data, we saw T-Mobile's high-quality 5G UC 78% of the time, compared with Verizon's 5G UW 20% of the time and AT&T's 5G+ 7% of the time. This is all because T-Mobile had a head start, building its mid-band network from Sprint's airwaves, while Verizon and AT&T had to wait for later spectrum auctions. Verizon and AT&T are racing to catch up, and they very well could—just not yet.
Mid-Band Rules
T-Mobile's winning secret is mid-band 5G, which it calls "ultra capacity." The math of wireless network performance can be pretty simple: Use more airwaves with more reach and you have more performance.
With its purchase of Sprint in 2020, T-Mobile nabbed a massive cache of spectrum that it has quickly repurposed for 5G. That spectrum can reach a few miles from a tower, in best-case circumstances, so it's good for covering cities and suburbs.
T-Mobile's mid-band is present not only in cities and suburbs, but in rural areas too. Many interstate corridors nationwide showed T-Mobile's "UC" icon, which signifies mid-band connections, and they also showed mid-band speed in our testing.
The orange spots show where we saw T-Mobile’s “UC” network in our testing.
In a few Northeast cities where we were able to take samples, we found T-Mobile using 10-15MHz of low-band n71, and 40-100MHz of mid-band n41. Sometimes, T-Mobile would combine the two for between 50-110MHz of n41/n71.
Verizon and AT&T are closing the gap. Both of the carriers purchased mid-band in an auction ending in February 2021; Verizon started building its C-band network immediately, while AT&T has been largely waiting for equipment that will combine its C-band mid-band with some more spectrum it bought in early 2022.
We saw a significant amount of Verizon's "UW" icon nationwide and less of AT&T's "5G+." Both icons can signify mid-band or the even faster high-band spectrum. AT&T had the most mid-band-like characteristics in Detroit, Texas, and southern Florida. But both AT&T and Verizon are using less mid-band than T-Mobile is right now. While T-Mobile uses up to 110MHz, AT&T generally uses 40MHz and Verizon 60MHz.
This all affects speed. Simply put, more mid-band is good. T-Mobile has the most of it right now, so it's the fastest network; Verizon has the second-most, so it's the second-fastest; and AT&T is likely to hustle to catch up over the next year.
What About Dish?
There's a new player coming to town. Dish aims to be the fourth national carrier, and has launched in more than 120 cities and towns in June—in places as big as Raleigh-Durham, NC, and as small as Eagle, ID.
Its current service is $30 per month, with only one phone offered (a Samsung Galaxy S22), though the company promises more phones in the future. Early testers say performance on Dish's network reaches about 200Mbps down, and the phones roam onto AT&T when they're outside Dish's limited coverage area. So to some extent, you can use AT&T's results as a guideline for Dish speed and reliability until it has been built out further.
We found in our tests that AT&T provides a highly reliable network, and that advantage is magnified more in rural areas. In upstate New York, for example, where Dish intends to launch seven cities this month, AT&T coverage dominates (although T-Mobile provides much higher speeds where it has coverage.)
Dish launched too late for our tests, which ran in May, but we'll have ongoing coverage of its progress throughout the year.
Our Testing Methodology
A lot has changed this year. The biggest shift is switching from the Ookla software we used from 2016 through 2021, to a new package called Ookla Wind.(Note: Ookla is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag's parent company.)
Wind gives us the ability to test phone calls as well as speed. During our 10,000-mile drive, our phones would run a speed test to the nearest Ookla server, followed by a 30-second phone call to a recorded message, then pause for a minute to cool down before repeating.
With this continual activity, the phones run hot, so we strapped Razer Chroma phone coolers to the back of each handset, which can bring down the temperatures by as much as 10 degrees Fahrenheit.
As before, we tried to stop in at least 12 locations per city for at least 15 minutes each. Speed results for a city are the average of all locations, with tests run on the move given the weight of two stationary locations. Reliability results are simply the success percentage of all tests taken in the city.
Measuring dropped calls means our scoring has to change, too. There's generally a very small difference between the carriers' dropped-call percentages, but it's meaningful to consumers. And there are huge differences between average speeds, but they aren't as meaningful to many people as a small difference in reliability.
So our scoring is now rank-based. For each component of our score, we rank the carriers and assigned points based on rank. So the third-place carrier always receives the same amount of points no matter what the difference is between it and the first-place carrier. The effect is to magnify reliability, which is what we're looking for.
This year, our score consists of:
Speed (60%)
Average download - 10%
Downloads above 25Mbps - 20%
Average upload - 10%
Uploads above 5Mbps - 10%
Latency - 10%
Reliability (40%)
Call success - 20%
Data success - 20%
Click through our city and rural area links below (or from the drop-down menu up top) to see the results where you live, work, or play.
Going Electric
This year, we've made a big shift in not only how we test networks in America, but how we drive around it. We worked with Hertz to rent a Tesla Model 3 Long Range for the longest leg of the trip, a 4,500-mile loop around the West Coast, to prove that it's possible to take a truly epic road trip in an electric car.
The blue lines show our driver routes for testing.
Hertz is transforming its rental fleet with up to 160,000 Tesla and Polestar vehicles over the next few years, making it the first large-scale electric car rental operation. We talk to Hertz about why it's making that shift. Our testers have some views as well. Veteran driver, Angela Moscaritolo, found the Tesla to be a luxurious experience, while first-time Best Mobile Networks driver, Rob Pegoraro, had some gripes. See how our drivers, who are well outside of the Tesla fan bubble, found their EV driving experiences.
FAQs
Who has the best cell phone coverage in 2022? ›
In 2022, T-Mobile isn't just America's fastest network, it's also the best. For this year's nationwide mobile network tests, we've changed everything. We drove more than 10,000 miles across the country with new software that tracks dropped calls and provides a better measure of reliability.
Which network is best in 2022? ›India's 4G-only operator, Jio, is victorious on 4G Availability as our users on its network spent the greatest proportion of time connected to 4G services — 99.5%. Airtel is in second-place with a 4G Availability score of 98.3%, followed by Vi's score of 92%, while BSNL lagged further behind with 63.6%.
Who will have the best 5G network in 2022? ›T-Mobile U.S. wins 5G Availability with a score of 40.4% and 5G Reach with 7.8 points on a 10 point scale. The operator also saw the second greatest improvement in 5G Download Speed between the first half of 2021 and 2022 — an increase of 98.9%, 5.2 percentage points behind the front- runner, Croatia's HT.
Which carrier has the strongest signal? ›Verizon has the best 4G LTE coverage that spans across 70% of the United States. That's 2% more than AT&T and 8% more than T-Mobile. It covers 327 million people over 2.68 million square miles. Depending on your location, you may be covered by Verizon's 5G.
Who is better AT&T or Verizon? ›Broadly speaking, Verizon offers better 4G LTE coverage, while AT&T currently has the edge when it comes to 5G (for the moment anyway). AT&T's prices are lower, and the company includes more high-speed cellular data with its unlimited plans. However, Verizon arguably offers better perks.
What's better AT&T or T-Mobile? ›Overall, AT&T has better coverage than T-Mobile, thanks to its superior 4G LTE network. However, T-Mobile does beat out AT&T with its 5G coverage.
Who is the #1 cell phone provider? ›Verizon Wireless is our best cell phone provider for 2021, and has been at the top of our guide for the past three years. Why? It's one of the biggest, sure, but it gets superior scores for reliability, speed, and network coverage.
Which network is best now? ›Jio remains top in 4G Availability and 4G Coverage Experience, as 4G Access grows in India. Jio has now surpassed the 99% 4G Availability milestone with a 0.5 percentage points increase since Opensignal's last report. At the same time, Airtel's score rose by 1.8 percentage points to 97.4%.
Which is the best and fastest network? ›Highlights. Bharti Airtel, the second-largest telecom operator in India, has the fastest mobile network in the country.
Is T-Mobile 5G better than Verizon? ›T-Mobile Has Most Reliable 5G Network Over AT&T and Verizon, Say Two Studies. T-Mobile comes out ahead of other US carriers in recent Umlaut and Ookla network studies.
Is T-Mobile 5G better than AT&T? ›
As for 5G data speeds, specifically, T-Mobile's 5G network is significantly faster than AT&T's 5G network, according to Ookla. T-Mobile's 5G network delivers a median speed of 187.33 Mbps, while AT&T's 5G networks deliver a median of 71.54 Mbps.
Who has the strongest 5G network? ›5G Coverage Analysis: 5G vs 4G LTE. When comparing carrier 5G coverage maps, T-Mobile comes in first with the best 5G network overall at 53.79% nationwide coverage, AT&T slides in at second at 29%, Verizon is in third at 12.77%, and U.S. Cellular clocks in at just 1.8%.
Which carrier has the most towers? ›According to another PCMag study, the Android with the best reception is the Samsung Galaxy S22 series. When tested, the S22 devices outperformed its predecessors and Google's latest Pixel. PCMag dubbed the S22 a low-signal beast.
Which carrier has the most 5G towers? ›As of March 2021, T-Mobile holds the largest area of 5G coverage in the United States (US) out of the three leading telecommunication companies in the US, with 1.6 million square miles covered by their 5G network.
Is it worth switching to ATT from Verizon? ›It really comes down to small differences in price and perks. AT&T's plan is $5 cheaper, but Verizon's will get you a six month subscription to Disney+. Also, while AT&T's Unlimited Starter plan gives you free 5G access, Verizon's Start Unlimited plan does not. You'll have to pay $10 a month if you want access to 5G.
Is AT&T overpriced? ›AT&T's plans are a little too pricey for what it currently offers. Even with the company's fast download speeds and high data caps, we would expect even better coverage and more perks for an unlimited plan that starts at $65 a month. Let's compare AT&T with the competition to prove its overly priced nature.
Is Verizon really the best service? ›Drive testing done by RootMetrics has consistently rated Verizon's coverage above that of competitors, most recently in the second half of 2021, but Opensignal's crowdsourced app testing also rated Verizon tops in 4G coverage in January 2022.
What carrier is better than T-Mobile? ›Generally speaking, Verizon gets you better urban and rural coverage, whereas T-Mobile delivers 5G in more places. Overall, we like Verizon's impressive network, although T-Mobile edges out the competition with affordability, perks, and customer service.
Is T-Mobile the most reliable network? ›umlaut once again names T‑Mobile as the most reliable 5G network with the fastest active 5G speeds and best 5G coverage in the U.S.
What phone carrier is better than T-Mobile? ›
While there's still plenty to like about T-Mobile, we'd steer you toward Verizon if you want the best phone carrier overall. That doesn't change the fact that T-Mobile offers a great mix of data plans, coverage and perks.
Which is the No 1 mobile network in USA? ›Largest U.S. wireless providers
Verizon: 142.8 million (Q2 2022) T-Mobile US: 110.0 million (Q2 2022) AT&T Mobility: 101.8 million (Q2 2022) Dish Wireless: 8 million.
In the US there are three major networks: AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon. All three offer services directly and have robust nationwide networks that offer 4G LTE (fast) and 5G (really fast) data.
Is T-Mobile coverage good? ›For most Americans, T-Mobile's coverage is excellent. A mere 8% difference in nationwide area coverage between the first- and third-place networks is very little in terms of population coverage. As mentioned, T-Mobile provides network service to 99% of Americans, offering fast 4G LTE speeds and broad 5G coverage.
Which service provider has the best signal? ›Vodacom has the best 4G coverage in South Africa and rival MTN has the fastest download and upload speeds, according to a new report from mobile analytics company Opensignal.
What is the latest fastest mobile network? ›Telenor is Norway's Speedtest Awards Winner for mobile network speed during Q3-Q4 2022. To win this award, Telenor achieved a Speed Score of 150.09, with median download speeds of 143.82 Mbps and median upload speeds of 18.66 Mbps.
What is the current fastest network? ›Google Fiber is the fastest internet provider in the United States, delivering the fastest average speeds to its customers on the most consistent basis. With maximum advertised speeds up to 2,000 Mbps and 12-month average download speeds of 167.1 Mbps, the fiber provider earns an integrated speed score (ISS) of 185.2.
Who has the fastest LTE network? ›- C-band coverage is key.
- The numbers by state.
- The fastest smartphones.
Austria. Three is Austria's Speedtest Awards Winner for 5G mobile network speed during Q3-Q4 2022. To win this award, Three achieved a Speed Score of 185.50, with median download speeds of 234.02 Mbps and median upload speeds of 20.40 Mbps.
What is the fastest mobile network 5G? ›Fastest 5G devices in the United States are new iPhones
Speedtest Intelligence reveals the new Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max and iPhone 14 Pro were the fastest popular 5G devices in the U.S. with a median 5G download speed of 177.21 Mbps and 175.08 Mbps, respectively, during Q3 2022.
Will T-Mobile surpass Verizon? ›
A momentous day. The market is closed and for the first time ever, T-Mobile has surpassed Verizon at $184 billion in market cap vs $183 for Verizon. I believe it is now the highest value telecom company in the world by capitalization.
Is T-Mobile 5G slower than LTE? ›Still, while T-Mobile's low-band 5G service using 600 MHz was easier to find across all five cities, results didn't look that much different than its 4G LTE speeds. T-Mobile's fastest 5G speed of 147.8 found in Chicago, was much slower than Verizon in the city, and slower than its own 4G LTE maximum of 235.5 Mbps.
Did Verizon buy out T-Mobile? ›The carrier will pay its rival nearly $2.37 billion and give it spectrum worth $950 million for some valuable low-frequency bands to help build its LTE network.
Is it worth switching from ATT to T-Mobile? ›In most cases, yes. T-Mobile and AT&T's plans tend to be pretty similar when it comes to features, but T-Mobile's are usually about $5 cheaper while offering higher data caps. And you'll save even more with T-Mobile if you bundle up in a family plan.
Is T-Mobile owned by AT&T now? ›On March 20, 2011, AT&T and T-Mobile announced that they had entered into a definitive agreement to merge. AT&T would acquire T-Mobile in a cash and stock transaction valued at $39 billion.
Who owns T-Mobile now? ›T-Mobile US, Inc. is an American wireless network operator headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas and Bellevue, Washington, U.S. Its largest shareholder is a multinational telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom AG, which as of August 2022, holds 48.4 percent of the common stock.
Who is the leader in 5G? ›In 5G, Qualcomm once again played the role of technology innovation leader, contributing important new ideas and expanding on this 4G base layer. For example: Using OFDM with greater flexibility and adaptiveness to network and spectrum conditions.
What is the best 5G phone right now? ›- Samsung Galaxy A53 5G. Best cheap 5G phone. ...
- Apple iPhone SE (2022) Best cheap 5G phone from Apple. ...
- Google Pixel 6a. Best cheap 5G phone from Google. ...
- OnePlus Nord N20 5G. Best cheap 5G phone for T-Mobile users. ...
- Samsung Galaxy A13. Best cheap 5G phone under $250.
Best overall: T-Mobile
T-Mobile's 5G network covers more than 305 million people in the U.S., including a lot of coverage in rural areas. This is mostly thanks to T-Mobile's low-band 600Mhz (n71) spectrum, which offers excellent coverage and speeds comparable to fast LTE.
Over 100 phones were tested. The phones that emitted the lowest amount of mobile radiation and subsequently had the best-functioning antennas were the Samsung Galaxy 11 Pro Max and the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra.
Which smartphone has the best signal strength? ›
According to SmartphonesReveales, Samsung S21 has the best score in signal strength based on antenna quality. The S21 smartphone tops the list with a score of 9/10, which is much higher than the OnePlus, Motorola, and iPhone 12 that have 7/10.
Which cell phone has less problems? ›Comparing the two top sellers—Apple and Samsung smartphones—Bellhouse found that Apple iPhones were the more reliable devices.
Is there a booster for better cell phone reception? ›The Cel-Fi GO X Smart Signal Booster Kit is one of the best carrier-specific signal boosters. It's great if you live or work in rural areas with an extremely weak signal. It will improve 4G and 4G LTE signal for any single carrier – Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and US Cellular.
What state has no 5G coverage? ›When it comes to 5G coverage maps, T-Mobile's (which is now also Sprint's) is the most impressive, with coverage in all 50 states. Not only that, but all states except Alaska have 5G coverage in multiple cities.
Why is Verizon 5G coverage so small? ›Verizon's lack of 5G coverage is tied to its strategy of using millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum to differentiate its 5G from 4G; mmWave signals don't travel far or penetrate buildings very well but offer super speeds.
Who has more 5G towers Verizon or T-Mobile? ›T‑Mobile has over 4x more 5G coverage vs. Verizon, and 5G speeds nearly 2x as fast as AT&T and Verizon. Typical download speeds on T‑Mobile's nationwide 5G network are 75 – 335 Mbps with peaks over 1Gbps. Capable device required; coverage not available in some areas.
Which cell phone carrier has the most coverage? ›- Verizon: This company has a nationwide network coverage of about 70%. ...
- AT&T Network: This is the second best network vendor covering almost 67% of the nationwide coverage, which is only three percent less than Verizon.
Verizon has the best cell phone coverage overall, spanning 70% of the country with its 4G LTE service. AT&T comes in second with 68%, and T-Mobile slides in at third with 62%.
What cell phone company has the best area coverage? ›Without question, Verizon's 4G LTE network has the best coverage, with 70% nationwide coverage, followed by AT&T with 68%, T-Mobile with 62%, and Sprint with 30%. Because of Verizon's robust network coverage, Let's Talk ranks Verizon as the winner, with the most coast-to-coast coverage.
What is a cell phone signal stronger than? ›4G and 5G cellular signal strength are measured using RSRP ( Reference Signal Received Power ). Excellent signal strength on the RSRP scale is anything stronger than about −85 dBm; poor signal strength is anything less than −115 dBm: RSRP (dBm)
Is Verizon a better carrier than T-Mobile? ›
If you're wondering whether T-Mobile is better than Verizon, the answer is a solid "it depends." The Un-carrier gets you more 5G, better customer service, and lower prices, while Verizon offers a more reliable 4G LTE network and many plan perks.
Who has the best cell service in USA? ›Best Overall Verizon
Verizon's plan and device flexibility, combined with excellent business features, makes it the clear winner in our best overall cell phone provider category. In over 50 large cities, Verizon offers its 5G mmWave coverage, while its lower-band 5G has wider availability.
This all means that if you want to look at who has the best mobile network coverage as of 2022, Verizon comes out on top.
Who has the same towers as Verizon? ›Verizon 5GB Shared Plan »
Verizon is one of the three major wireless carriers operating within the U.S., and Visible runs on its network. Verizon owns Visible, and while the two have the same towers and a similar amount of coverage, there are distinctions between them. First, they offer different cell phone plans.
5G Coverage Analysis: 5G vs 4G LTE. When comparing carrier 5G coverage maps, T-Mobile comes in first with the best 5G network overall at 53.79% nationwide coverage, AT&T slides in at second at 29%, Verizon is in third at 12.77%, and U.S. Cellular clocks in at just 1.8%.