Spectrum named fastest internet provider

Spectrum beat four leading internet service providers for internet speed, shared analytics company Opensignal in their latest report, USA Fixed Broadband Experience. At 169 Mbps, Spectrum was faster than Xfinity’s 158 Mbps or Verizon’s 142 Mbps. 

The report focused on AT&T, Spectrum (Charter), T-Mobile, Verizon and Xfinity (Comcast) because these “providers are the only ones with a claim to having a nationwide footprint, with each passing more than a third of U.S. homes, per Opensignal’s Q4 2023 service territories, which leverage proprietary crowdsourced network data and the latest data from the FCC.”

It’s also important to note that the report didn’t take into account the type of internet connection, so the results show a mix of cable, DSL, fixed wireless and fiber. 

The report also found that:

• Xfinity comes first in 2 of 4 metrics: Broadband Consistent Quality and Broadband Video Experience.
• AT&T was ahead for Broadband Upload Speed.
• Charter and Comcast win the most head-to-head matchups against Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T.
• Verizon outperforms T-Mobile in all head-to-head comparisons.

Consistent quality

Xfinity scored 84.3% for consistent quality, which measures how often the experience is sufficient to watch videos, video conference call or game. 

“Both Verizon and Spectrum also score above the 80% milestone, while T-Mobile and AT&T are above the 70% threshold. AT&T’s relative underperformance is reflective of the fact that more than a third of its subscribers are on non-fiber technologies.” 

Video experience

Xfinity also received a score of 75/100 points for video experience. The report shared that “all analyzed ISPs rate as Very Good (68-78) — meaning that our users are, on average, able to stream video at 1080p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling.”

Head-to-head matchups

Opensignal also compared the network experience head-to-head between ISPs in the areas where their services overlap:

• Spectrum won against AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile for download speed, consistent quality and video experience in areas where each service overlaps with Spectrum. 
• Xfinity beat Spectrum, T-Mobile and Verizon for video experience and AT&T and T-Mobile in consistent quality.
• AT&T beat all of its direct competitors for broadband upload speed at 81 Mbps — mostly due to its symmetrical fiber plans. 
• AT&T beat T-Mobile and Verizon for speed and video experience in areas where both operators provide services. 
• T-Mobile won against AT&T for consistent quality. 
• Verizon beats T-Mobile in all four comparisons and won against Xfinity for speed and quality.