LTE Speeds Lift AT&T Over Verizon in Race to be Top Carrier

By Daniel Santa Cruz

Verizon Wireless’ reign as the top carrier might be over, at least for now.

Based on early results from a new study by RootMetrics, the wireless testing firm, AT&T is setting the standard among the nation’s largest carriers, according to CNET.

The study measured both speed and reliability. While Verizon still continues to lead in reliability, AT&T has a huge speed advantage that helped it pull ahead overall.

The 60 market test, which began in July and is expected to be completed during the course of the year, has been described as a “horse race” by RootMetrics CEO Bill Moore.

With different carriers trying to stand out from one another, Verizon and AT&T are using their best attributes from the study in the hopes of luring more customers.

This was not the case several years ago when AT&T had excusive rights to the iPhone. Users of the Apple device overwhelmed the carrier’s network and that resulted in numerous dropped calls. AT&T has invested a large amount of time and money fixing this problem and is now challenging for  if not taking over the top spot.

Sprint and T-Mobile trail Verizon and AT&T, especially in reliability, according to Moore, but both are making significant improvements.

Moore hopes that with this study, and by releasing details on the scores, consumers will be more educated and better network improvements will come as a result.