T-Mobile is fastest in North America but U.S. carriers are MIA in major categories worldwide

According to data compiled by Opensignal from July 1st, 2023 to December 27th 2023, T-Mobile is the fastest wireless provider in North America. The carrier had an average download data speed of 109Mbps topping the second-fastest wireless provider on the continent, Canada's Bell, by a whopping 46.3%. Canada's Telus was third with an average download data speed of 73.1 Mbps. T-Mobile's average download data speed was twice as fast as the first runner-up in the U.S.

T-Mobile had the fastest download data speed in North America as we said. But how did it fare globally? Compared to other carriers doing business in countries that are characterized by Opensignal as Group 1 (markets with a land area of more than 200,000 square kilometers), T-Mobile's average speed of 109Mbps was the second fastest after Norway's Telenor which had an average download data speed of 124.3 Mbps. Overall, T-Mobile had the sixth fastest download speed worldwide. However, T-Mobile subscribers ended up with a 4G or 5G signal only 98.4% of the time compared to U.S. leader AT&T (99.2%) and runner-up Verizon (99.1%).

T-Mobile also had the best overall video experience in the U.S. which means that subscribers viewing streaming video enjoy a better experience than Verizon and AT&T customers. That's despite the Opensignal report showing that no U.S. carrier finished among the top 15 in Video Experience in Group 1. No U.S. carrier finished among the top 15 in Consistent Quality for Group 1. T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T were also absent from the list of the top 15 carriers with the fastest upload data speeds in Group 1.

Opensignal's Global Mobile Network Experience Report points out that the number of 5G connections year-over-year (per GSMA Intelligence) rose 58% to reach 1.59 billion connections last year. That data indicates that 18% of all connections in 2023 featured 5G connectivity. Before we move on from 5G, that figure has to get larger since the current number shows that less than one in five connections worldwide is made over 5G.