Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumers' connectivity experiences. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding what happens when people use their mobile and broadband connections in their daily life.
Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumers' connectivity experiences. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding what happens when people use their mobile and broadband connections in their daily life.
Our American users once again have the most consistent quality of experience on T-Mobile’s network. Users on T-Mobile have enjoyed a three percentage point boost in score since the previous report, up to 83.1%. T-Mobile and Verizon jointly win Opensignal’s new Reliability Experience award with equal scores of 898 points on a 100-1000 point scale. Reliability Experience measures the ability of our users to connect to and successfully complete (basic) tasks on operators’ networks.
Our American users continue to have the best overall Coverage Experience on Verizon’s network, as the operator wins the award outright for a third consecutive report — making Verizon the only American operator to win this award since its introduction in the January 2024 mobile network experience report. Verizon wins this time with a score of 9.6 points on a 10-point scale, slightly ahead of second-placed AT&T. Coverage Experience measures the extent of mobile networks in the places people live, work and travel.
As was the case in the last report, T-Mobile wins overall Games Experience, while Verizon continues to top the leaderboard for 5G Games Experience. T-Mobile takes home overall Games Experience with a score of 71.6 points on a 100-point scale — Verizon wins 5G Games Experience outright with a score of 82.3 points. AT&T places third for both awards.
T-Mobile remains in front for 5G Coverage Experience — T-Mobile is the only American operator to win this award since it was introduced in the January 2024 mobile network experience report. T-Mobile’s score of eight points on a 10-point scale is one point ahead of runner-up, AT&T.
T-Mobile finishes first for three out of four speed awards — Download Speed Experience, Upload Speed Experience and 5G Download Speed. T-Mobile has become the first operator in the U.S. where our users have experienced overall average download speeds exceeding 150Mbps, reaching an impressive 158.5Mbps — three times those seen on AT&T in second place. Verizon wins the final speed award, 5G Upload Speed, with a score of 20.4Mbps.
Verizon and T-Mobile retain their respective titles for best 5G Live Video Experience and overall Live Video Experience. However, our users have an Excellent (58 or above) experience streaming live video on all three operators’ networks, both overall and when connected to 5G, meaning that they are able to stream video at least at 1080p with low loading times, little stalling and a satisfactory live offset.
This is the first American mobile network experience report in which Opensignal has included its Reliability Experience metric. However, we reported on the Reliability Experience of T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T earlier in the year. Since that analysis, scores have improved across all three carriers, and Verizon has drawn level with T-Mobile.
Aside from the inclusion of Reliability Experience, there has been no movement on the awards table when it comes to winners — although the gap between first and second place has shrunk for a few metrics, such as overall Video Experience. T-Mobile remains the most awarded operator and once again takes home all five overall experiential awards. Verizon continues to claim all but one award relating to 5G experience and AT&T holds on to its singular win for Availability.
Following the May 2024 announcement of T-Mobile’s agreement to acquire UScellular’s wireless operations, both Verizon and AT&T have inked deals to purchase UScellular’s spectrum holdings, provided the deal between T-Mobile and UScellular completes — which UScellular expects to occur in mid-2025, subject to regulatory approvals. Verizon is set to spend $1 billion on PCS licenses and spectrum in the 850MHz and AWS spectrum bands, while AT&T plans to pay $1.01 billion for spectrum in the 700MHz and 3.45GHz bands. T-Mobile’s acquisition will include around 30% of UScellular’s spectrum holdings across the 600MHz, 700MHz, AWS, 2.5GHz, and 24GHz bands. T-Mobile will also gain UScellular’s wireless customer base and retail outlets through its $4.4 billion agreement. As mid-band (1-6GHz) spectrum plays a critical role in 5G deployment, offering a balance of coverage and speed, these expanded mid-band resources will boost 5G performance across all three providers.
In December 2024, T-Mobile opened registration for beta testing of its planned T-Mobile Starlink direct-to-cell satellite service. This announcement followed the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) recent approval for SpaceX to use its Starlink satellite broadband to deliver Supplemental Coverage from Space (SCS) to T-Mobile customers in the U.S. The approval comes with the condition that the service does not interfere with existing networks. This initiative aims to extend coverage to locations where terrestrial networks struggle to provide reliable connectivity.
In this report we examine the mobile network experience of the three main mobile network operators in the U.S. — AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon — over a period of 90 days starting on September 1, 2024, and ending on November 29, 2024, to see how they fared. In the regional analysis, we also include UScellular (U) in 19 states where it offers cellular services, along with GCI (G) in Alaska.
T-Mobile remains the outright winner of the Video Experience award, scoring 63.8 points on a 100-point scale. T-Mobile’s score gives it a slight lead over second-placed Verizon and third-placed AT&T, although all three operators place in the Good (58-68) category.
A Good (58-68) rating means that our users are, on average, able to stream video at 720p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling.
AT&T’s score increased by two points since the last report, Verizon’s by one point and T-Mobile’s by under one point, reducing the gap between the three operators.
Video Experience scores account for adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR), a technology that allows Opensignal to accurately represent users' real video experience including video streams up to 4K quality.
Opensignal’s Video Experience quantifies the quality of video streamed to mobile devices by measuring real-world video streams over an operator's networks. The metric is based on an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach, built upon detailed studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters, including picture quality, video loading time and stall rate, with the perceived video experience as reported by real people. To calculate video experience, we are directly measuring video streams from end-user devices and using this ITU approach to quantify the overall video experience for each operator on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions — including Full HD (FHD) and 4K / Ultra HD (UHD) — and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
In addition to Video Experience, we report on the following metrics related to video experience:
T-Mobile’s score of 65.8 points for Live Video Experience is two points ahead of AT&T’s, and two points ahead of Verizon’s — making T-Mobile once again the outright winner of overall Live Video Experience. However, T-Mobile’s lead has shrunk since the previous report due to users on AT&T and Verizon seeing larger boosts in score — five points and four points, respectively — than those on T-Mobile, three points.
All operators place in the Excellent (58 or above) category, meaning that on all three networks our users are, on average, able to stream video at least at 1080p with low loading times, little stalling and a satisfactory live offset.
Operators’ Live Video Experience scores are determined using a range of measures that impact users’ perceived live streaming viewing experience, including picture quality, video loading time, and stall rate, but also live playback offset — the time difference between real-time and the current playback position a viewer sees.
Unlike Video Experience, which represents on-demand video streams, Live Video Experience quantifies live video streaming used for current events. For example when users watch live sports, game streams, music concerts, or news where the event is happening at that moment in time.
Opensignal’s Live Video Experience quantifies the quality of real-time video streamed to mobile devices by measuring video streams over an operator's network. The metric extends the existing International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach used for Opensignal's on-demand Video Experience metric, built upon detailed studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters, including live playback offset, picture quality, video loading time and stall rate, with the perceived live video experience as reported by real people. To calculate live video experience, we are directly measuring live video streams from end-user devices and using this extension of ITU's approach to quantify the overall live video experience for each operator on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
There is no change to the rankings for Games Experience in this report. T-Mobile wins the Games Experience award outright with a score of 71.6 points on a 100-point scale. Verizon and AT&T place second and third, respectively.
Verizon and T-Mobile place in the Fair (65-75) category, while AT&T places one category lower, in Poor (40-65). A Fair (65-75) rating means that users find the experience to be ‘average’. In most cases the game is responsive to the actions of the player with most users feeling like they have control over the game. The majority of players notice a delay between their actions and the outcomes in the game.
Opensignal’s Games Experience measures how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator’s network. Measured on a scale of 0-100, it analyzes how our users’ multiplayer mobile gaming experience is affected by mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter.
Games Experience quantifies the experience when playing real-time multiplayer mobile games on mobile devices connected to servers located around the world. The approach is built on several years of research quantifying the relationship between technical network parameters and the gaming experience as reported by real mobile users. These parameters include latency (round trip time), jitter (variability of latency) and packet loss (the proportion of data packets that never reach their destination). Additionally, it considers multiple genres of multiplayer mobile games to measure the average sensitivity to network conditions. The games tested include some of the most popular real-time multiplayer mobile games (such as Fortnite, Pro Evolution Soccer and Arena of Valor) played around the world.
Calculating Games Experience starts with measuring the end-to-end experience from users’ devices to internet end-points that host real games. The score is then measured on a scale from 0 to 100.
In addition to Games Experience, we report on the following metrics related to games experience:
T-Mobile continues to win the Download Speed Experience award outright. It does so this time with an impressive score of 158.5Mbps, triple that of the next fastest operator, AT&T. T-Mobile’s lead has increased since the previous report, as while AT&T’s and Verizon’s scores both increased by 3Mbps, T-Mobile’s rose by 19Mbps.
Measured in Mbps, Download Speed Experience represents the typical everyday speeds a user experiences across an operator’s mobile data networks.
In addition to Download Speed Experience, we report on the following metrics related to download speeds:
Our users’ fastest overall average upload speeds are once again on T-Mobile’s network, meaning that T-Mobile wins the Upload Speed Experience award outright. T-Mobile’s score of 14.3Mbps is 6Mbps more than second-placed Verizon’s and 8Mbps more than AT&T’s.
Upload Speed Experience measures the average upload speeds for each operator observed by our users across their mobile data networks. Typically upload speeds are slower than download speeds, as current mobile broadband technologies focus resources on providing the best possible download speed for users consuming content on their devices. As mobile internet trends move away from downloading content to creating content and supporting real-time communications services, upload speeds are becoming more vital and new technologies are emerging that boost upstream capacity.
In addition to Upload Speed Experience, we report on five supporting metrics related to upload speeds:
Verizon remains the outright winner of the 5G Video Experience award. Its score of 70.8 points on a 100-point scale puts it three points ahead of T-Mobile, which places in second. AT&T comes third with a score of 66.9 points.
Verizon is the only operator to place in the Very Good (68-78) category. T-Mobile and AT&T place one category lower, in Good (58-68). This means that, on average, our users on Verizon’s 5G network are able to stream video at 1080p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling. Users on T-Mobile’s and AT&T’s networks are able to stream video at 720p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling.
5G Video Experience scores account for adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR), a technology that allows Opensignal to accurately represent users' real video experience including video streams up to 4K quality.
5G Video Experience quantifies the quality of mobile video experienced by Opensignal users on real-world video streams when they were connected to 5G. The metric is based on an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach, built upon detailed studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters, including picture quality, video loading time and stall rate, with the perceived video experience as reported by real people. To calculate 5G Video Experience, we are directly measuring video streams from end-user devices and using this ITU approach to quantify the video experience observed by our users on each operator’s 5G network on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions — including Full HD (FHD) and 4K / Ultra HD (UHD) — and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
The best experience streaming live-video over 5G is still with Verizon. Verizon wins the 5G Live Video Experience award outright with a score of 73.9 points on a 100-point scale. T-Mobile and AT&T are slightly behind the leader, placing second and third, respectively.
Our American users’ experience streaming live-video over 5G rates as Excellent (58 or above) on all three national operators.
Operators’ 5G Live Video Experience scores are determined using a range of measures that impact users’ perceived live streaming viewing experience, including picture quality, video loading time, and stall rate, but also live playback offset — the time difference between real-time and the current playback position a viewer sees.
Unlike 5G Video Experience, which represents on-demand video streams, 5G Live Video Experience quantifies live video streaming used for current events. For example when users watch live sports, game streams, music concerts, or news where the event is happening at that moment in time.
Opensignal’s Live Video Experience quantifies the quality of real-time video streamed to mobile devices by measuring video streams over an operator's network. The metric extends the existing International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach used for Opensignal's on-demand Video Experience metric, built upon detailed studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters, including live playback offset, picture quality, video loading time and stall rate, with the perceived live video experience as reported by real people. To calculate live video experience, we are directly measuring live video streams from end-user devices and using this extension of ITU's approach to quantify the overall live video experience for each operator on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
5G Live Video Experience quantifies the quality of mobile video experienced by Opensignal users on real-world live video streams when they were connected to 5G.
Verizon is first for 5G Games Experience. Verizon’s score of 82.3 points on a 100-point scale gives it a lead of four points over T-Mobile, with both operators placing in the Good (75-85) category. AT&T places one category lower, in Fair (65-75).
A Good (75-85) rating means that most users deem the experience acceptable. The gameplay experience is generally controllable and the user receives immediate feedback between their actions and the outcomes in the game. Most users do not experience a delay between their actions and the game.
5G Games Experience measures how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator's 5G network. It analyzes how our users’ multiplayer mobile gaming experience was affected by mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter. 5G Games Experience for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.
5G Games Experience quantifies the experience when playing real-time multiplayer mobile games on mobile devices connected to servers located around the world. The approach is built on several years of research quantifying the relationship between technical network parameters and the gaming experience as reported by real mobile users. These parameters include latency (round trip time), jitter (variability of latency) and packet loss (the proportion of data packets that never reach their destination). Additionally, it considers multiple genres of multiplayer mobile games to measure the average sensitivity to network conditions. The games tested include some of the most popular real-time multiplayer mobile games (such as Fortnite, Pro Evolution Soccer and Arena of Valor) played around the world. Calculating 5G Games Experience starts with measuring the end-to-end experience from users’ devices to internet end-points that host real games.
T-Mobile scoops up another win for 5G Download Speed. Its average 5G download speeds of 238.3Mbps give it a 83Mbps lead over AT&T and more than a 100Mbps lead over Verizon.
Both AT&T’s and T-Mobile’s scores have risen since the previous report, by 13Mbps and 12Mbps, respectively. Verizon's score decreased by 14Mbps.
5G Download Speed shows the average download speed experienced by Opensignal users across an operator’s 5G network. 5G Download Speed for each operator is calculated in Mbps (Megabits per second).
Our American users once again enjoy the fastest average 5G upload speeds on Verizon’s network. Users on Verizon see average speeds 2Mbps faster than those on T-Mobile and 7Mbps faster than those on AT&T.
Scores have dropped slightly across the board, with all three operators seeing decreases in 5G Upload Speed of less than 1Mbps since the last report.
5G Upload Speed measures the average upload speeds experienced by Opensignal users across an operator’s 5G network. 5G Upload Speed for each operator is calculated in Mbps (Megabits per second).
Verizon successfully defends its title for best overall coverage, again winning the Coverage Experience award outright — this time with a score of 9.6 points on a 10-point scale. AT&T and T-Mobile place second and third, respectively.
The Opensignal Coverage Experience metric measures the extent of mobile networks in the places people live, work and travel. The metric represents the experience users receive as they travel around areas where they would reasonably expect to find coverage.
Traditional coverage metrics typically estimate either a percentage of land area covered, or a percentage of population covered; often neither will be an accurate measurement of the true user expectation and experience. In many markets there are areas where neither population density nor geographic area reflect the importance of coverage to users. For example, in a large mountain range most users will not expect coverage in the wilderness, but poor coverage in the relatively small area of a ski resort is critical for the enjoyment of a holiday. Estimates based purely on population give undue significance to coverage in the most densely populated areas.
Coverage Experience measures geographic coverage of populated areas and therefore more accurately reflects the coverage expectations and experience of typical users. It can give a result that is somewhat different to traditional estimates based on either geographic or population measures. The metric uses a scale from 0 to 10.
T-Mobile wins the 5G Coverage Experience award outright with a score of eight points on a 10-point scale and a lead of one point over AT&T. Verizon is in third place, slightly behind AT&T. Scores on all three operators have increased by less than one point since the previous report.
The Opensignal Coverage Experience metric measures the extent of mobile networks in the places people live, work and travel. The metric represents the experience users receive as they travel around areas where they would reasonably expect to find coverage.
Traditional coverage metrics typically estimate either a percentage of land area covered, or a percentage of population covered; often neither will be an accurate measurement of the true user expectation and experience. In many markets there are areas where neither population density nor geographic area reflect the importance of coverage to users. For example, in a large mountain range most users will not expect coverage in the wilderness, but poor coverage in the relatively small area of a ski resort is critical for the enjoyment of a holiday. Estimates based purely on population give undue significance to coverage in the most densely populated areas.
Coverage Experience measures geographic coverage of populated areas and therefore more accurately reflects the coverage expectations and experience of typical users. It can give a result that is somewhat different to traditional estimates based on either geographic or population measures. The metric uses a scale from 0 to 10.
5G Coverage Experience shows the proportion of places Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription had an active 5G connection.
AT&T keeps holds of the Availability award, retaining its outright win with a score of 99.5%, although Verizon and T-Mobile are not far behind.
Our availability metrics are not a measure of a network’s geographical extent. They won’t tell you whether you are likely to get a signal if you plan to visit a remote rural or nearly uninhabited region. Instead, they measure what proportion of time people have a network connection, in the places they most commonly frequent — something often missed by traditional coverage metrics. Looking at when users have a connection rather than where, provides us with a more precise reflection of the true user experience.
We also keep track of the instances that leave mobile users most frustrated: when there is no signal to connect to at all. The most common dead zones users struggle with occur indoors. As most of our availability data is collected indoors (as that’s where users spend most of their time), we’re particularly astute at detecting areas of zero signal.
Our availability metrics take a user-centric, time-based approach that complements the user-centric and geographical-based methodology used by our reach metrics.
Availability shows the proportion of time all Opensignal users on an operator’s network had either a 3G, 4G or 5G connection.
T-Mobile wins the 5G Availability award outright with a score of 71.7% — AT&T comes second and Verizon is in third place.
Our availability metrics are not a measure of a network’s geographical extent. They won’t tell you whether you are likely to get a signal if you plan to visit a remote rural or nearly uninhabited region. Instead, they measure what proportion of time people have a network connection, in the places they most commonly frequent — something often missed by traditional coverage metrics. Looking at when users have a connection rather than where, provides us with a more precise reflection of the true user experience.
We also keep track of the instances that leave mobile users most frustrated: when there is no signal to connect to at all. The most common dead zones users struggle with occur indoors. As most of our availability data is collected indoors (as that’s where users spend most of their time), we’re particularly astute at detecting areas of zero signal.
Our availability metrics take a user-centric, time-based approach that complements the user-centric and geographical-based methodology used by our reach metrics.
5G Availability shows the proportion of time Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription had an active 5G connection.
T-Mobile wins the Consistent Quality award outright for the fourth report in a row. T-Mobile’s of 83.1% gives it a lead of two percentage points over Verizon and three percentage points over third-placed AT&T.
Scores have increased for all three operators — AT&T's and T-Mobile’s scores by three percentage points; Verizon's by two percentage points.
This metric measures if the network is sufficient to support common mobile application requirements at a level that is ‘good enough’ for users to maintain (or complete) various typical demanding tasks on their devices. It assesses a number of experience indicators such as download speed, upload speed, latency, jitter, packet loss, and time to first byte.
Consistent Quality measures if the network is sufficient to support common mobile application requirements at a level that is ‘good enough’ for users to maintain (or complete) various typical tasks on their devices.
We combine different experience indicators such as download speed, upload speed, latency, jitter, packet discard, and time to first byte to calculate Consistent Quality. These components are evaluated against thresholds recommended by various more demanding common applications used for a range of common tasks.
To calculate the metric value, the proportion of tests that pass the requirements of Consistent Quality is multiplied by the test success ratio, which is the proportion of completed tests to all tests conducted. Tests that pass indicate that activities such as video calling, uploading an image to social media, or using smart home applications will be possible without noticeable lag or slowdown.
In the first inclusion of the Reliability Experience award in American mobile network experience reports, Verizon and T-Mobile share first place with identical scores of 898 points on a 100-1000 point scale and a lead of nine points over AT&T.
Opensignal’s Reliability Experience measures the ability of our users to connect to and successfully complete (basic) tasks on operators’ networks. It consists of the following components:
% time connected — The proportion of time Opensignal users can successfully connect to a mobile network
Data Connectivity — the proportion of time when the network is available and the device can connect to the internet
Task completion — whether tasks initiated by the user’s device are completed
Sufficiency — The probability that (basic) tasks will be executed sufficiently well for the user
Opensignal’s Reliability Experience measures the ability of Opensignal users to connect to and successfully complete (basic) tasks on communication service providers’ (CSP) networks. It analyzes how much Opensignal users’ experience is affected by the radio access and core network, along with issues that prevent them from connecting to the internet even if they have a connection to their CSP’s network. It also factors in users’ ability to successfully use lower performance applications including SD video, over-the-top voice calls and web browsing.
Collecting billions of individual measurements daily from over 100 million devices globally, Opensignal independently analyzes mobile and broadband user experience on every major network operator around the globe.
Opensignal is the leading global provider of independent insights into consumers' connectivity experiences and choice of carrier. Our proprietary insights into mobile and broadband networks give operators the solutions they need to profitably compete and win, from executive level scorecards and public validation to pin-point level engineering analytics and consumer decision dynamics.
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For every metric we calculate statistical confidence intervals indicated on our graphs. When confidence intervals overlap, our measured results are too close to declare a winner. In those cases, we show a statistical draw. For this reason, some metrics have multiple operator winners.
In our bar graphs we represent confidence intervals as boundaries on either sides of graph bars.
In our supporting-metric charts we show confidence intervals as +/- numerical values.
Why confidence intervals are vital in analyzing mobile network experience