As AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon gradually roll out fixed wireless access (FWA) to more locations, it's worth asking whether the tech is living up to its hype. FWA provides a broadband connection via 4G LTE and 5G radio signals. Ookla just published its observations from the first half of 2026, highlighting an urban and rural gap.
T-Mobile outdid its rivals with a median download speed of 222.7 Mbps in Q2 2026, earning it a 38.4% lead over AT&T Internet Air and a staggering 76% edge over Verizon 5G Home.
T-Mobile also offered the highest upload speeds. | Image by Ookla
AT&T's deployment of 50 MHz of low-band and mid-band spectrum acquired from EchoStar gave a 60% boost to its median download speed in Q1. Upload speeds also increased from 9.23 Mbps in Q3 2025 to 12.55 Mbps in Q1.
However, T-Mobile still led in upload performance with a median speed of 18.12 Mbps in Q2 2026, beating Verizon by 48.5% and AT&T by 80.1%.
Download and upload speeds and median multi-server latency for all three took a hit in Q2 due to seasonal foliage and hotter temperatures.
FWA speeds are the fastest in late evening and early morning due to low usage, while they decline during the afternoon and early evening as traffic increases.
The fastest 10% of T-Mobile users can break 600 Mbps during off-peak hours, while the top 10% AT&T Internet Air customers can reach 500 Mbps. Since Verizon imposes a speed limit of around 300 Mbps, its top speeds don't rise when there's no congestion.
The urban-rural divide
Urban vs rural download speeds. | Image by Ookla
While FWA was initially touted as a savior for underserved rural communities, urban locations seem to be getting preferential treatment. That's not necessarily by design, as short-range but fast 5G mmWave spectrum is easier to deploy in dense urban areas where homes are closer to small cells and cell towers.
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Urban users across all three networks enjoyed higher download speeds, but the gap was smallest for T-Mobile. Latency was also higher in rural areas.
Urban vs rural upload speeds. | Image by Ookla
T-Mobile and Verizon also delivered higher upload speeds to urban users, though the reverse was true for AT&T.
How should this gap be addressed?
Not meeting the speed threshold
Only Hawaii, New York, and the District of Columbia had more than 40% of users meet the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) standard of 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload. 38 states were able to deliver these speeds to only 30-39% of users.
The reason behind the disparity is that while a state like Hawaii doesn't pose any geographical challenges to placing antennas optimally, providing coverage can be an uphill task in a place like Maine, which has a lot of trees.
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Anam Hamid is a computer scientist turned tech journalist who has a keen interest in the tech world, with a particular focus on smartphones and tablets. She has previously written for Android Headlines and has also been a ghostwriter for several tech and car publications. Anam is not a tech hoarder and believes in using her gadgets for as long as possible. She is concerned about smartphone addiction and its impact on future generations, but she also appreciates the convenience that phones have brought into our lives. Anam is excited about technological advancements like folding screens and under-display sensors, and she often wonders about the future of technology. She values the overall experience of a device more than its individual specs and admires companies that deliver durable, high-quality products. In her free time, Anam enjoys reading, scrolling through Reddit and Instagram, and occasionally refreshing her programming skills through tutorials.
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