Are you looking to switch wireless carriers? Well, before you make the jump it might be worthwhile to spend some time with a new report released today by Root Metrics, which analyzes the performance of the four big carriers in Seattle.
The results of the survey — compiled after some 20,000 tests and analyzing factors such as network speed, dropped and blocked calls and fastest text service — aren’t too surprising.
Verizon took the overall crown, and the results were most impressive in the areas of network speed. Verizon’s LTE network outperformed AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile, showing average download speeds of 5 Mbps in 65 percent of tests. That compared to average download speeds of 1.5 Mbps in 50 percent of tests for Sprint.
Interestingly, however, Root Metrics found that Verizon recorded the highest failure rate on its network at 11.7 percent. AT&T, which is often maligned for a network that doesn’t perform, was the best with a failure rate of just 3.4 percent.
All four of the carriers performed about equally in the area of blocked and dropped calls. And T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T all performed well in terms of text message delivery, with Sprint coming in last in that category.
Overall, Root Metrics ranked the carriers in this order in terms of overall performance: Verizon, T-Mobile, AT&T and Sprint.
