RootMetrics crowns Verizon top US carrier following nationwide testing

I’m usually the first to criticize Verizon’s pricing, but one thing I really can’t fault it on is its coverage. Time and again we see it come away with top honors in network quality and reliability studies, and a new national study by RootMetrics is no exception. In it, Verizon emerged victorious in four of the five categories tested.

The study was carried out over the second half of 2013 and targeted reliability, speed, call quality, data performance and text messaging. RootMetrics drove nearly 220,000 miles and tested in over 6,300 indoor locations. In the end, Verizon posted an overall score of 89.7 out of 100, while AT&T was a close second with 86.2 points. Sprint and T-Mobile were close to one another but far behind the front runners, with scores of 68.2 and 64.3, respectively.

The lone category that AT&T managed to wrest from Verizon was speed. That was by the narrowest margin of any category, though, with AT&T scoring an 88.7 compared to Verizon’s 88.5. Sprint and T-Mobile fans are not likely to be pleased with the results of this study, as text messaging and call performance were the only two categories that didn’t have them lagging by double digits. In the case of data performance, they were over 30 points behind Verizon or AT&T.

Unsurprisingly, T-Mobile CEO John Legere took to Twitter with his opinion on the results.

 

Congrats to our competitors –you guys really knocked it out of the park on that report, LAST year when the tests were done. #uncarrier #BGR

— John Legere (@JohnLegere) March 5, 2014

The data from @rootmetrics #1yearlater might still be true for our competitors, but when you move as fast as @TMobile – it’s #oldnews

— John Legere (@JohnLegere) March 5, 2014

Those aren’t completely unfounded complaints, as T-Mobile’s network has made a number strides over the last year. Still, we’re only a couple months into 2014 and the study took place during the final 6 months of 2013, so it’s difficult to imagine that there would be a monumental shift in the results if the study had ended today. RootMetrics will be performing the study all over again during the first half of 2014, so we’ll have to check back sometime around September to see if Legere is vindicated.

If you are interested in reading more about RootMetrics’ test methods and findings, I recommend taking a look at its website. I had some fun playing around with its coverage map, which gives a much more granular view of things and, depending on how much you travel, that could be a lot more meaningful than how the carriers performed nationwide.

source: androidandme