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.
T-Mobile now wins the Reliability Experience award outright, an award it shared with Verizon in our last report. T-Mobile also wins once again for Consistent Quality, this time with a score of 80.6%. Consistent Quality is our measure of network capability to support common mobile application requirements at a level that is ‘good enough’ for users to complete various typical demanding tasks.
Verizon wins the 5G Video Experience award, as well as the 5G Live Video Experience award. Our Verizon users are, on average, able to stream video at 1080p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling when streaming online videos on-demand over 5G connections.
AT&T scores 99.6% in our Availability award, with just a whisker of a lead over second-placed Verizon, which scores 99.5%. Availability looks at the proportion of time our users spend with a 3G or better connection.
T-Mobile leads for both overall Download Speed Experience and 5G Download Speed Experience with blistering scores of 177.5Mbps and 252.4Mbps, respectively. T-Mobile leads its competitors by more than 80Mbps for 5G Download Speed, and nearly 120Mbps for overall Download Speed Experience.
Verizon scores 9.6 on a 10-point scale for Coverage Experience and takes home first place. Coverage Experience represents the extent of mobile networks in the places people live, work and travel. This is the fourth consecutive report where Verizon has won this award.
The awards table in this Mobile Network Experience Report is nearly identical to that seen inOpensignal’s last report, with the exception of Reliability Experience — which T-Mobile now wins outright. This is against a backdrop of big changes in the industry with T-Mobile’s acquisition of UScellular due to complete in mid-2025, while both AT&T and Verizon are in the process of making acquisitions to build out their converged offerings. AT&T agreed to buy Lumen’s consumer fiber business, and Verizon has received approval from the FCC for its acquisition of Frontier.
In this report, T-Mobile once again takes the lion’s share of awards. This time its tally comes to nine wins, covering all three of Opensignal’s experiential metrics (Video Experience, Live Video Experience, Games Experience), as well as overall Download Speed Experience and 5G Download Speed, and both consistency metrics (Consistent Quality and Reliability Experience). Verizon is in first place for 5G Video Experience, 5G Live Video Experience, and 5G Games Experience, as well as for 5G Upload Speed and overall Coverage Experience. AT&T remains the network on which our users experience the best Availability, as AT&T users spend 99.6% of the time with a mobile broadband connection.
T-Mobile has been bullish on its 5G efforts, announcing in April that it is now delivering a nationwide 5G Advanced service, and it was the first wireless network in the U.S. to offer the technology.
Meanwhile, operators are working to strengthen their networks with direct-to-cell satellite technology — T-Mobile has launched its beta offering, which will allow users to send texts even when outside of conventional cell tower coverage, while Verizon has enabled satellite texting on select Android devices as of March 2025. Both AT&T and Verizon have also trialled video calls connected via satellite. Once this technology is fully available to the public, it will mark a step change in where mobile users can expect connectivity, especially once data connections are enabled. However, what users can expect in terms of reliability and consistency of service remains to be seen.
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 February 1, 2025, and ending on May 1, 2025, 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 once again wins the Video Experience award, scoring 65.3 points on a 100-point scale. Verizon then places second, less than two points behind, while AT&T comes in third. All 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.
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 is the outright winner of the Live Video Experience, with a score of 67.4 points on a 100-point scale. Verizon comes in second with 66.2 points, overtaking last report’s second-placed AT&T. While all three operators have improved since the last report, Verizon has improved slightly more, just short of three points versus less than two for T-Mobile and AT&T.
All operators place in the Excellent (58 or above) category, meaning that 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.
T-Mobile wins the Games Experience award with a score of 74.3 points on a 100-point scale, however the gap between it and its rivals is closing. Verizon comes in second with 73.4 points, while AT&T remains in third with 68.1 points, both gaining nearly five points since the last report. T-Mobile has improved by three points.
All operators place in the Fair (65-75) category for Game Experience. 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:
Once again, T-Mobile wins the Download Speed Experience award by an impressive margin. It comes first with a score of 177.5Mbps, over 100Mbps faster than second-placed AT&T. All three operators have improved since Opensignal’s previous report, though T-Mobile has improved by the most — 19Mbps — while AT&T’s and Verizon’s scores have increased by 8Mbps and 15Mbps, respectively.
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 T-Mobile users see the fastest average overall upload speeds— 14.4Mbps. Verizon is in second-place with 8.7Mbps, and AT&T places third with 6.8Mbps. The results are largely unchanged from our last report, with no operator rising by more than 1Mbps.
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 wins the 5G Video Experience award outright with a score of 71.4 on a 100-point scale. It has a lead of three points over T-Mobile, which places second, while AT&T places third with 67.6.
Verizon and T-Mobile place in the Very Good (68-78) category, while AT&T places one category lower, at the upper end of the Good (58-68) category.
A Very Good (68-78) rating means that our users are, on average, able to stream video at 1080p 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.
Verizon wins the 5G Live Video Experience award with a score of 73.8 points on a 100-point scale. However, the pack is tight with T-Mobile (72.2) and AT&T (71.2) close behind.
All operators place in the Excellent (58 or above) category. This rating means that 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’ 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 retains the 5G Games Experience award with a score of 83.6 points on a 100-point scale. However, its lead over second-placed T-Mobile has shrunk slightly — from nearly four points in our last report to less than three points in this latest report. AT&T comes third with a score of 72.8 points, and has improved by about three points since the previous report.
Verizon and T-Mobile place in the Good (75-85) category, while 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. 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.
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.
Our users on T-Mobile’s 5G network experience the fastest 5G connections in the U.S., and T-Mobile wins the 5G Download Speed award with a score of 252.4Mbps. Its lead over second-placed Verizon is an impressive 83Mbps, but the gap is decreasing — Verizon’s users experience speeds 33Mbps faster now than in our previous report, while T-Mobile has gained 14Mbps.
AT&T is now in third place for 5G Download Speed with a score of 167.8Mbps, less than a mere 2Mbps behind Verizon.
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).
Verizon wins the 5G Upload Speed award with a score of 18.1Mbps. It leads second-placed T-Mobile by less than 1Mbps. AT&T comes third with a score of 13Mbps.
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 holds on to its title for best overall coverage with a score of 9.6 on a 10-point scale. AT&T places second with 9.3, and T-Mobile comes in third.
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 leads for 5G coverage experience with a score of 8.1 on a 10-point scale. AT&T and Verizon are just over a point behind with identical scores of 7.0. All operators’ scores have increased slightly from those seen in our last report with Verizon improving the most — its score has risen by about half a point.
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 its hold on the Availability award with a score of 99.6%. However, the race is tight with less than one percentage point separating first and 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.
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 award for Consistent Quality outright for the fifth report in a row. Its score of 80.6% is three percentage points ahead of second-placed Verizon, and nearly eight percentage points ahead of AT&T.
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 throughput, upload throughput, 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 previous report, Verizon and T-Mobile tied for the lead in reliability. Now, however, T-Mobile wins the Reliability Experience award outright with a score of 917 points on a 100-1000 point scale. Verizon is just three points behind, while AT&T comes third with a score of 903 points.
All operators have improved since our last report — T-Mobile's score has increased by 19 points, Verizon's by 16 points, and AT&T's by 14 points.
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.
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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