Ookla confirms T-Mobile is the fastest carrier for 5G with the best coverage

By Samuel Contreras
last updated

T-Mobile 5G network on the OnePlus 7T Pro
T-Mobile 5G network on the OnePlus 7T Pro (Image credit: Andrew Martonik / Android Central)

What you need to know

  • T-Mobile is the fastest 5G provider according to Ookla
  • T-Mobile has the greatest consistency score with 84.8% of results showing at least 5Mbps down.
  • T-Mobile 5G now covers 287 million people and 125 million have Ultra Capacity 5G.

T-Mobile customers on 5G get better speeds, consistency, and coverage than any other carrier. T-Mobile, citing results from the Ookla (opens in new tab), can once again say its the fastest 5G network. Ookla makes the popular Speedtest app and speedtest.net website and has used data collected from tests on its platform to confirm that T-Mobile is America's fastest 5G network. In the first quarter of 2021, T-Mobile's median 5G download speed was 82.35Mbps compared to AT&T in second place with 76.60Mbps. Verizon followed closely with 67.24Mbps. This result helped T-Mobile take the top spot as the fastest carrier according to Speedtest's overall Speed Score.

More impressive than the download speeds is T-Mobile's consistency with 84.8% of results showing at least 5Mbps down and 1Mbps up. There are only a couple of percentage points between the top three with AT&T and Verizon getting 83.5% and 81.6% This result mainly shows that speeds are good across large areas of coverage and not in just a few ultra-fast pockets. T-Mobile customers with a 5G phone also connected to 5G 65.4% of the time showing just how dense T-Mobile's 5G network has become. AT&T followed far behind with 36.2% and Verizon even further with 31.0%.

T-Mobile's President of Technology Neville Ray said:

Ookla's report is just the latest to prove T-Mobile is America's leader in 5G, with real customer data showing T-Mobile delivers the fastest 5G speeds and a 5G signal more often. While the other networks play catch up, T-Mobile 5G will keep layering on even more capacity and speed to the nation's largest 5G network.

T-Mobile also has the largest 5G coverage area by far. T-Mobile's 5G dominance is driven by its focus on building a layered 5G network with T-Mobile's Extended Range 5G covering 287million people. To help increase download speed and capacity, T-Mobile has also deployed its mid-band Ultra Capacity 5G to 125 million people and expects to cover 200 million by the end of 2021. With a high-performance network and some of the best cell phone plans, T-Mobile is a great choice and has a ton of potential to keep growing.

Samuel Contreras
Samuel Contreras

When Samuel is not writing about networking or 5G at Android Central, he spends most of his time researching computer components and obsessing over what CPU goes into the ultimate Windows 98 computer. It's the Pentium 3.

6 Comments
  • Those speeds don't look better than LTE.
  • I was getting 60-65 out of T-Mobile years ago. Jumping to 80 is not significant. Jumping to 800, that would be significant.
  • Lmao a bunch of lies I'm on tmobile lte speeds are ok 5G is trash horrible signal too
  • It's not a bunch of lies it depends on where you are. I'm in la I'm also driven all across the country from Georgia to California and I had really great signal and great speeds too. And I pulled out about 2 or 300 on 5G
  • My 5g speeds are great depending where you go of course. It's not in the gigs but I've been getting around 64mbps to 330mbps.
  • Recently moved from AT&T to T-Mobile mainly for 5G access. My OnePlus 8T did NOT get any 5G on AT&T, nor was 5G even a choosable option... whereas the moment I put the T-Mobile SIM in my 8T... 5G was added as an option and connected immediately! I average in the mid-to-high 70'S for down speed. Also, because of being able to get the Magenta Max with 55+ plan I am saving a little over $5.00 per month with better coverage, 5G, and great hot-spot access.