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T-Mobile Boasts Of Improved Speeds, Availability In Q2 2017

Wireless carrier T-Mobile claims that it has the best LTE network in the United States in terms of speed and coverage, besting those from more established competitors like AT&T and Verizon. In a blog released by the carrier’s Chief Technological Officer Neville Ray, he boasts of the carrier’s widening lead over AT&T and Verizon in terms of data speeds. The information for Ray’s claims came from Speedtest.net and another unnamed third-party entity. In the second quarter of 2017, T-Mobile saw its average download speeds increase to 26.9Mbps. In comparison, the subscribers of both Verizon and AT&T experienced slower download speeds within the same time frame. It is important to note that in the previous quarter, all the major US carriers implement their own versions of unlimited data plans. This is not the first time that the carrier made similar statements regarding its competitor’s download speeds, with T-Mobile’s CEO John Legere making the same claim last April.

Aside from improved data speeds, T-Mobile is also boasting that it now beats even Verizon in terms of LTE availability. It was a slim victory for the third largest carrier in the United States, but it still demonstrates the leaps and bounds that T-Mobile has achieved within a relatively short time frame. It is important to note that the network availability only reports on the number of times that a subscriber could connect to the carrier’s LTE network. Hence, the metric may not accurately depict the actual footprint that a certain network covers.

Even in recent surveys, consumers perceive AT&T and Verizon as the carriers with the most extensive LTE network in the United States. T-Mobile, however, is doing its best to catch up with its bigger rivals. Within the last few years, the carrier has rapidly deployed its 700MHz LTE network. The network’s low frequency allows the carrier to reach more areas despite the smaller number of base stations. Not satisfied with this, the carrier went on and purchased a substantial portion of the 600MHz spectrum, which should further improve its coverage. In order for subscribers to take advantage of the new spectrum, T-Mobile will offer devices from both Samsung and LG within the last quarter of 2017.