Denver led the list of 4G Cities, followed by Portland and Minneapolis

When it comes to wireless networks, everyone loves speed. And with more data-intensive activities taking place on mobile devices, the race to 4G is serious and intense. But how is is your city actually doing when it comes to these high-speed wireless networks?

66 percent of tests on Verizon's network qualified as 4G

A new report from Bellevue’s RootMetrics takes an inside look at that question, analyzing 4G networks across 27 different markets. According to the findings, there are 11 “Upper Tier 4G Cities” across the U.S. In order to meet that threshold, a market needed to record 4G speeds (data download speeds of greater than 3 Mbps) in more than 50 percent of RootMetrics’ tests.

Denver led the pack, with 4G speeds recorded in 61.8 percent of tests. The mile high city was followed by Portland (61.5 percent); Minneapolis (60.2 percent); San Jose (59.2 percent); and Dallas (57.6 percent). Seattle just made the upper tier category at 50 percent.

The worst cities for 4G, meanwhile, were Riverside-San Bernardino; Virginia Beach; and Buffalo — none of which saw 4G speeds more than 25.5 percent of the time.

The RootMetrics’ report also analyzed each of the major carrier’s 4G networks. And the findings were pretty clear. Verizon’s LTE network was by far the fastest, with the 66 percent of RootMetrics’ tests on the Verizon network showing 4G speeds. In fact, Verizon took top honors in 24 of the 27 markets surveyed.

“In several markets, Verizon’s average download speeds actually exceeded the maximum speeds of the other carriers,” according to the report. However, when Verizon’s new LTE network is not available, it showed some of the slowest network speeds for data delivery.

Here’s a look at download speeds on Verizon in each of the 27 markets studied by RootMetrics.

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