T-Mobile had the best U.S. wireless network during the first half of 2025 says new report
T-Mobile dominates Ookla's Speedtest Connectivity Report for the first half of 2025.
T-Mobile had the best mobile network in the U.S. during the first half of 2025, according to the Speedtest Connectivity Report released by Ookla. Overall, the nation's second-largest wireless carrier delivered a median download speed of 245.48 Mbps. The wireless provider's median 5G download speed was 299.36 Mbps. T-Mobile's Speedtest Connectivity Score of 79.95 topped Verizon's 75.49 tally and AT&T's 72.47. T-Mobile also had a top-ranked 5G Connectivity Score of 73.22.
T-Mobile was the best U.S. wireless provider during the first half of this year, according to the Speedtest report
According to Ookla, the Speedtest Connectivity Score reliably measures a carrier's overall mobile network connected experience using a combination of scores based on speed, web browsing, and video streaming. It wasn't close when deciding which carrier was fastest in the U.S. during the first half of this year. With a score of 74.45, T-Mobile trounced Verizon (65.72) and AT&T (63.16). The order was the same for 5G speeds, with a leading 58.02 for T-Mobile, 52.57 for Verizon, and 44.36 for AT&T.
T-Mobile had the fastest 5G wireless speeds in the U.S during the first half of the year. | Image credit-Ookla
When it comes to video streaming, Verizon scored the best with a result of 76.53. T-Mobile was thisclose to Verizon at 76.38. AT&T's streaming video score came in at 71.91. Verizon had a bigger lead over T-Mobile in 5G video streaming as the latter's 79.95 5G video streaming tally trailed Verizon's leading 82.57 score by a larger margin. AT&T was third as its 5G video streaming score was 76.05.
If Verizon is the network for those who love to stream videos, T-Mobile is the carrier for gamers, according to Ookla's numbers. The wireless provider had leading scores of 86.61 for gaming (and 87.31 for 5G gaming). Verizon and AT&T were 2nd and 3rd with scores of 84.10 (86.33 for 5G gaming) and 82.81 (83.71 for 5G gaming), respectively.
A lot of consumers in the U.S. subscribe to Verizon because they believe that the carrier has superior coverage. The Speedtest numbers show that Americans have this one right, as Verizon's Coverage Score was 29.9% with AT&T second at 24.9%. T-Mobile was third at 22.9%.
U.S. consumers consider T-Mobile to be the best wireless carrier in the U.S. | Image credit-Ookla
When you must have a 5G connection, the T-Mobile network is your best bet as the wireless provider had a leading 90.8% 5G Availability Score. This means that nearly 91% of the time they were connected to T-Mobile, subscribers had an active connection to a 5G signal. That occurred 87.5% of the time for AT&T subscribers, and only 54.2% of the time for Verizon customers.
When ranking carrier consistency, Ookla measures the percentage of time each carrier met or exceeded 5 Mbps with its download speed and 1Mbps with its upload speed. T-Mobile met these thresholds 87.6% of the time (77.6% for 5G). Verizon was next with a score of 84.7% (75.8% 5G), followed by AT&T's 80.9% (66.6% 5G).
15 years ago, if you asked the average wireless user in the U.S. to rank the top carriers, the results might have been in this order: Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile. We've often discussed T-Mobile's amazing turnaround, and I feel honored to have chronicled one of the most incredible worst-to-first stories that the business world has ever seen. The latest Consumer Sentiment scores have T-Mobile with a leading 3.78 out of 5 reading. Verizon placed second with a 3.40 score, and AT&T was third with a 3.12 tally.
T-Mobile won the most categories scored by Ookla for the H1 2025 Speedtest Connectivity Report
The fastest region in the U.S. was the District of Columbia, with a median mobile download speed of 200.29 Mbps. T-Mobile was the fastest carrier in that region. Among the U.S. cities with the largest populations, San Antonio had the fastest median mobile download speed at 249.15 Mbps. T-Mobile was the fastest carrier in that city.
The carrier with the largest number of trophies received was T-Mobile.
T-Mobile
- Best Mobile Network
- Best 5G Network
- Fastest Mobile Network
- Fastest 5G Network
- Game Score
- 5G Game Score
- Top Rated
Verizon
- Video Streaming Score
- 5G Video Streaming Score
AT&T was not at the top of any category measured by Ookla. To be clear, the data covered the first six months of this year.
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