Watch CBS News

Report: T-Mobile 'Clear Winner' Among Wireless Providers In Philly

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Among the big four wireless providers, a crowdsourced study finds a clear winner in Philadelphia when it comes to fast, reliable cell phone service.

Beating the rest of the mobile networks in every measurement, according to OpenSignal analyst Kevin Fitchard, is T-Mobile:

"They actually ran away with the 4G speed award. 22.98Mbps was its average 4G download speed," he said.

AT&T ranks second speediest in Philly, followed closely by Verizon and distantly by Sprint.

"It's one of the few markets where T-Mobile and Verizon weren't running neck and neck," Fitchard said.

ALSO READ: New Technology Looks To Prevent Sleeping Behind The Wheel

T-Mobile slipped past Verizon in 4G network availability; both were above 90 percent.

"This is a really big deal because Verizon has always had this reputation for having the most reliable network, most consistent network, and the highest coverage," he said.

Both it and AT&T appear to have suffered since rolling out unlimited data plans to keep up with T-Mobile and Sprint.

It's been a financial success, but has led to more network congestion.

T-Mobile's challenge, Fitchard says, will be to maintain the success it's seen in cities as it expands to suburban and rural areas.

OpenSignal tracked more than five billion measurements from a couple hundred thousand devices whose owners downloaded the app and agreed to turn their phones into guinea pigs to collect this data from March to June 2017.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.