Opensignal is at it again, releasing not one but two comprehensive new mobile network experience reports based on a massive amount of data collected around the nation between March 16 and June 13, 2023. As always, the goal is to try to find the US wireless service provider best positioned to deliver the highest speeds and greatest reliability to the most subscribers possible, and as always, proclaiming just one big winner is no easy task.
If anything, it seems harder than perhaps anytime in the last couple of years or so to pick an overall victor, with T-Mobile ranked first in six of the eight "mobile network experience" categories for July 2023, but Verizon actually emerging as the winner of five out of seven 5G-specific battles as of this month.
That does make the name of the overall loser pretty obvious, but let's first focus on the positives:
Is Verizon the nation's big 5G winner? Not so fast!
While Verizon customers are more likely to be satisfied with their 5G video, 5G live video, 5G gaming, 5G voice app, and 5G upload experiences than their T-Mobile and AT&T counterparts, it's still the "Un-carrier" that takes home probably the two most important 5G trophies out there.
We're talking about the 5G download speed and 5G availability crowns, and perhaps more importantly, the distance between T-Mobile and the competition in both these key sections of the latest Opensignal 5G experience report is absolutely mind-blowing.
Believe it or not, Verizon and AT&T's combined numbers are still lower than those of T-Mobile in both categories, and remarkably, Magenta is inching closer to hitting an average nationwide 5G speed score of 200 Mbps while already breaking the 50 percent 5G coverage barrier that essentially means its users are connected to the new technology more than half of the time spent on their phones.
Incredibly enough, T-Mo's 5G availability supremacy is even more impressive when viewed through a regional rather than national lens, as the "Un-carrier" somehow manages to reign supreme in this field across all 50 US states.
Still, Verizon can certainly be proud of its five-award harvest, including the first-ever 5G live video experience title, and perhaps most importantly, a 5G upload speed category where T-Mobile remains a very close second and AT&T falls well behind its arch-rivals... similar to all the other fields.
Big Red's clearest victory comes in the 5G games experience department, while AT&T is ranked dead last among the top three US carriers everywhere apart from the 5G availability contest, which Verizon is losing very badly at the moment.
T-Mobile offers the best overall mobile experience... statistically speaking
Before you start shouting in the comments section about all the issues and sluggishness you've historically experienced on T-Mo's network, you may want to keep in mind how data and statistics work.
There's no such thing as an infallible carrier, as proven by the sub-100 scores registered by all three operators across all categories of Opensignal's combined 3G + 4G + 5G research, but T-Mobile is definitely the one that comes closest to 100 in the most contests, which means you're much more likely to be satisfied with its overall mobile network experience wherever you live.
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That's especially true if you're primarily interested in things like video streaming, live video, and gaming, while Verizon comes out on top as far as voice app quality is concerned. Interestingly, AT&T reigns supreme in terms of overall network availability, which however doesn't mean as much as you think it does considering the teeny-tiny gaps between the three carriers and their near-ubiquitous 4G LTE signal nowadays.
Last but certainly not least, T-Mobile is found to be the most overall "consistent" wireless service provider in the US by Opensignal's data analysts, and the same operator absolutely crushes its rivals in both download speeds and upload speeds as well, which is hardly surprising given Magenta's incredible edge in the 5G speed department and the rapid spread of that blazing fast technology.
All in all, it might not be its clearest win ever, but we feel pretty confident in naming T-Mobile as the US speed champion, followed closely by Verizon, which can flaunt a rather impressive number of "experience" victories of its own. Unfortunately, that leaves AT&T far behind the silver medal position, which must be disheartening to see for Ma Bell's devotees.
Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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