Research: AT&T has the fastest mobile network in the US in 2019, displacing Verizon from the top spot after five years
Sascha Segan / PCMAG :
Context & Ripple Effects
Verizon's hold on the US speed crown dates back to city-by-city tests in 2015 that showed it with the best speed and coverage, and even when rivals closed the gap — OpenSignal ranked T-Mobile fastest on 4G in early 2016 — Verizon stayed at or near the top. PCMag's 2019 results break that streak, handing AT&T its first outright win in this test cycle after five years of Verizon dominance.
The timing matters because the ranking was about to be reset anyway: within two years, [[a:969940|T-Mobile's 5G rollout swept the same PCMag testing, winning 24 cities to AT&T's eight and Verizon's two]], and by mid-2024 Ookla still had T-Mobile far ahead on combined Speed Score. AT&T's 2019 win is best read as the last turn of the 4G-era leaderboard before 5G re-sorted the field.
First-order effects
- AT&T gains the industry's most quotable marketing claim — 'fastest network' — just as carriers were leaning hardest on speed benchmarks in advertising, while Verizon loses a five-year talking point it had defended since 2015.
Second-order effects
- Verizon faces pressure to respond in the next test cycle, and the rotating crown sharpens the benchmark war: each carrier's capital spending and spectrum bets get judged against PCMag- and Ookla-style scores that competitors can weaponize.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, single-generation speed leadership is inherently temporary — 4G optimization gave AT&T its window, then 5G handed T-Mobile a commanding one — meaning sustained advantage depends on being first through each network transition rather than winning any one ranking.
The trend: US mobile speed leadership rotates with each network generation, and the 5G era has so far rewarded whoever deploys new spectrum fastest rather than the incumbent champion.