The Seattle Seahawks weren't the only winners of Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara. Verizon also came out ahead of rivals AT&T and T-Mobile, surpassing them across all key metrics.
All three carriers brought their A-game to Super Bowl LX
Network performance at Levi’s Stadium in January 2026. | Image Credit - Ookla
Connectivity can be poor in stadiums as thousands of users compete for bandwidth at the same time in a confined space, overwhelming the network. AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon made sure that wouldn't be the case for their customers during Super Bowl LX. According to network intelligence company Ookla, all three carriers bolstered their network speeds to provide better service to the estimated 65,000 attendees.
Additionally, Levi’s Stadium upgraded its distributed antenna system (DAS) to 5G in 2024 to ensure it would be blanketed with signals in preparation for the Super Bowl and the FIFA World Cup.
Verizon provided the best experience, thanks in part to its multi-year partnership with the National Football League (NFL). The deal allows Verizon to equip multiple stadiums with 5G tech to improve the fan experience.
The company deployed mmWave and C-band antennas throughout the venue. AT&T also made several upgrades, including expanding its macro sites and small cells and rolling out Cell on Wheels (CoW) and Cell on Light Truck (COLT) to boost coverage, as part of its Turbo Live program.
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The efforts paid off, with Verizon's median download speed surging from 914.30 Mbps in June 2025 to 1464.38 Mbps in January 2026. T-Mobile's median download speed increased from 132.61 Mbps in June to 768.01 Mbps in January, and AT&T saw an increase from 238.56 Mbps to 796.61 Mbps.
Verizon's median upload speed jumped from 115.98 Mbps in June 2025 to 244.06 Mbps in January 2026, while T-Mobile's rose from 18.48 Mbps in June to 101.04 Mbps in January. AT&T's median upload speed nearly doubled from 40.99 Mbps to 79.71 Mbps.
It's worth pointing out that the in-stadium experience was vastly superior to the standard, day-to-day experience. The higher speeds reflect the capability of the network to handle a crowd of more than 65,000 people.
For comparison, during the second half of 2025, the median download speed across all carriers in San Jose, California, which is near Levi’s Stadium, was just 167.57 Mbps, and the median upload speed was 11.8 Mbps.
Other metrics also improved. Verizon's median multi-server latency, which is a measure of network responsiveness, was just 17 milliseconds (ms). AT&T's latency was 24 ms, and T-Mobile's was 34 ms.
The median multi-server latency from all carriers from nearby San Jose, California, was 41 ms in the second half of 2025, for reference.
An important victory
While Verizon outperformed AT&T and T-Mobile at Levi’s Stadium, it's important to remember that the boosted experience was tailored for Super Bowl LX. It was a win for the company, nonetheless, considering how keeping fans connected at stadiums has been a challenge. More notably, the company did significantly better than its rivals.
The win comes at a good time for Verizon. Ookla's Speedtest Connectivity Report for July through December 2025 crowned T-Mobile as the winner, but VerizonoutshoneT-Mobile in a RootMetrics study conducted during the same period.
Does Verizon's performance at Levi's Stadium improve your opinion of it?
mmWave to the rescue
Verizon has faced criticism for its spending on mmWave spectrum licenses, but the short-range signals were primarily the reason why it was able to outshine its rivals during the event. The company has since shifted to a more balanced strategy and is taking stock of all its decisions under new CEO Dan Schulman.
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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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