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RootMetrics report: AT&T Tied with Verizon for Top-Performing Network in Washington, D.C.(PR Web Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) BELLEVUE, Washington (PRWEB) July 11, 2013 AT&T tied with Verizon for the top-performing carrier in Washington, D.C., but T-Mobile’s recent launch of LTE service is boosting the carrier’s data speeds significantly. That’s according to independent mobile analytics firm RootMetrics™, which conducts mobile performance tests designed to replicate real-world consumer behavior. AT&T and Verizon shared top honors in Washington, D.C. in the combined performance category, which includes results from data, call, and text tests from five carriers. The final combined performance RootScore rankings: 1 – AT&T (93) 1 – Verizon (93) 3 – T-Mobile (91) 4 – Cricket (82) 5 – Sprint (76) T-Mobile gains ground in Washington, D.C. T-Mobile, which recently introduced LTE service, for the first time had the fastest average download and upload speeds among all carriers RootMetrics tested in Washington, D.C. T-Mobile’s average download speed almost doubled since previous testing in December 2012, and its average upload speed was nearly five times faster than in December. Data speed affects how quickly consumers can perform various tasks online. For example, in an ideal situation, uploading medium-sized pictures (1 MB) to Facebook or other online albums typically takes 25 to 45 seconds at speeds below 3.0 Mbps. At speeds above 6.0 Mbps, uploading a similar picture generally takes less than 1 second. Average download and upload speeds by carrier T-Mobile: 15.1 Mbps download/8.2 Mbps upload AT&T: 13.5 Mbps download/7.2 Mbps upload Verizon: 11.3 Mbps download/4.5 Mbps upload Sprint: 3.1 Mbps download/0.8 Mbps upload Cricket: 0.6 Mbps download/0.4 Mbps upload You’ve got mail — how long does it take to get it? RootMetrics measured the average time it took each carrier to download a set of 10 emails. T-Mobile and Verizon led the pack with statistically comparable times of 2.9 seconds or less, with AT&T following closely at 3.1 seconds. Sprint clocked in a much slower 7.3 seconds, and Cricket was last at 9.0 seconds. Which carriers can you count on? AT&T and Verizon led in network reliability testing, with AT&T scoring 99.3 and Verizon registering 98.8. T-Mobile closely trailed the two leaders at 97.4, Cricket scored a 96.8, and Sprint followed with a 95.7. The scores are based on how often each carrier successfully connected to the network and how reliable each carrier was in completing tasks. Making the call Call performance was strong for all five carriers. Cricket and Verizon had a stellar call failure rate of only 0.7%. To put this in perspective, roughly 7 in 1,000 calls would fail (drop or block) at this rate. Text me While Cricket had the strongest performance in the texting category in Washington, D.C., the city has plenty of great options for texting services. All five carriers delivered texts in less than 10 seconds at least 96% of the time. Cricket and Verizon each had fewer than 0.1% of text messages fail to send on average during testing. More than 58,000 tests in the nation’s capital To evaluate the mobile experience in the Washington, D.C. area, RootMetrics conducted 58,294 call, data, and text tests on the networks of AT&T, Cricket, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon during all hours of the day and night from May 31 – June 8, 2013. The tests were conducted using the RootMetrics RootScout app running on Android-based, off-the-shelf consumer smartphones purchased from each of the five carriers’ stores. Tests were conducted both indoors (at 64 locations) and outdoors during drive tests (covering 1,510 miles). Mobile performance varies depending on where people live, work, or otherwise spend time. Because a variety of factors can influence performance, examples that show what data speeds mean while performing various mobile activities are a general look at data speeds for illustrative purposes and aren’t specific to Washington, D.C. For details about the results, see the methodology section of the online report. About RootMetrics™ Based in Bellevue, Wash., RootMetrics™ is an independent company that provides accurate and unbiased mobile performance data with market-specific RootScore Reports, geographical coverage maps, and a free downloadable CoverageMap app for use on either Android or iOS devices. To ensure that RootMetrics testing reflects a typical consumer’s mobile experience, testing is conducted based on where, when, and how consumers use their devices most often. Read the full story at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/7/prweb10918695.htm (c) 2013 PRWEB.COM Newswire |