Cell Phone Carrier Internet Speed Rankings 2017

The results are in for Wirefly's 2017 Internet Speed Rankings. Results for mobile internet speeds in general and by carrier are below.

The 2017 Internet Speed Rankings Report by Wirefly is based on Wirefly Speed Test Data captured in Q1 and Q2 2017 by the Wirefly Speed Test. The report is a joint research partnership between Wirefly and SourceForge, the leading open source software repository on the web. The Wirefly Speed Test is an HTML5 speed test that was built from the ground up by Wirefly engineers. The Wirefly Speed Test can measure data speeds on any device, and does not require Flash or Java to run.

During the first half of 2017, thousands of unique mobile devices performed thousands of speed tests using Wirefly's test. Wirefly has analyzed these tests in order to determine average download speeds and upload speeds across the United States, and announce which mobile carrier has the fastest data speeds in the country based on these results.

Average Mobile Data Speed in the United States (First Half of 2017)

Average mobile data speeds in the United States are 19.76 Mbps download and 12.44 Mbps upload based on Wirefly Speed Test results.

Average Overall Speed Capability by Carrier in the United States (First Half of 2017)

Ranking The Fastest Carriers in the United States

The Wirefly 2017 Internet Speed Rankings Report rank the fastest mobile carriers in the United States as follows:

1. T-Mobile - 21.06
2. Verizon Wireless - 20.91
3. AT&T - 16.33
4. Sprint - 14.82

The above ranking is based on Wirefly's Overall Speed Capability which gives download speed a 90% weight, and upload speed a 10% weight.

Average Download Speed by Carrier in the United States (First Half of 2017)

Ranking The Fastest Download Speeds By Carrier

This year, T-Mobile edged out Verizon Wireless as the carrier with the fastest average download speed based on Wirefly Speed Test results.

1. T-Mobile - 22.18 Mbps
2. Verizon Wireless - 21.45 Mbps
3. AT&T - 17.00 Mbps
4. Sprint - 15.76 Mbps

Average Upload Speed by Carrier in the United States (First Half of 2017)

Ranking The Fastest Upload Speeds By Carrier

This year, Verizon Wireless finished as the carrier with the fastest average upload speed based on the Wirefly Speed Test results.

1. Verizon Wireless - 16.06 Mbps
2. T-Mobile - 11.06 Mbps
3. AT&T - 10.23 Mbps
4. Sprint - 6.35 Mbps

All the plans from the carriers listed in this report can be compared here.