Which carrier offers the best performance at the 50 busiest airports across the United States? According to a new report from network testing firm RootMetrics, it's Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ), which beat out T-Mobile US (NYSE:TMUS). The testing covered the first half of 2015. Although Verizon's 29 wins were two fewer than what it earned in the second half of 2014, Verizon still won more "RootScore Awards" than any other carrier, according to RootMetrics. "Verizon continues to offer outstanding performance and a marginal drop in award tally is more a sign of increasing competition from other networks than a slip from Verizon," the firm said.
RootMetrics said T-Mobile won 20 awards out of a possible 50, and "delivered solid performance but still recorded slower-than-ideal speeds in a large number of airports. If speeds can improve at those slower airports, T-Mobile could become an even more attractive option."
AT&T Mobility (NYSE: T) secured 13 awards, RootMetrics said, and was a leader in reliability. The testing firm was able to connect to AT&T's network in at least 97 percent of its tests at 47 of the 50 airports. However, RootMetrics said that "AT&T's speed performance, however, left it in the middle of the pack and clearly behind speed leader Verizon."
While Sprint (NYSE: S) did not win any RootScore Awards for overall performance at any of the top 50 airports, RootMetrics said that "the good news for Sprint customers, however, is that the network showed across-the-board improvement in reliability. We were able to connect to Sprint's network in more than 97% of tests at 31 airports, compared to only 21 airports in our last round of testing." Yet the firm also said "the biggest performance drawback for Sprint is speed, which continues to trail those of the other networks." Article