Sprint Just Beat T-Mobile Everywhere It Doesn't Matter

Each time a new study comes around regarding domestic carriers, there's one overarching theme: the big guys keep getting bigger, and Sprint is constantly a distant last place. AT&T and Verizon might jostle for the top spot now and then, but when it comes to things we actually care about on a day-to-day basis, Sprint is almost always dragging well behind the rest. The energetic, upwardly mobile T-Mobile often (routinely, really) makes a solid showing, too. Sprint got over on T-Mobile this time, though.

Sadly (not really), Sprint's win came with technology we've taken for granted and moved past. According to RootMetrics, Sprint moved into third place among US-based carriers when it came to call reliability and texting. Speaking to CNET, Sprint CTO Stephen Bye pointed to Sprint's tower upgrades, moving from 3G to LTE. Sprint's data speeds still lag well behind the rest of the field.

To recap: Sprint upgraded their 3G towers to LTE, and customers got better texting. Thanks?

However, if you enjoy slow data transfer, Sprint had the most markets where 0-6Mbps download speeds were normal. If you enjoy 20Mbps or better, Sprint had no markets in RootMetrics' study. RootMetric tested over 120 markets in their study, nationwide.

If you need a takeaway, here it is: Verizon is a juggernaut, and likely can't be slowed down at this point. They were far and away the best carrier in this study. AT&T was a close second overall, but their top-end data transfer was behind both Verizon and T-Mobile, so don't expect blazing fast speeds on their network.

T-Mobile made another solid showing, but the study shows they have work to do outside of data, but lets be honest — data is a much bigger concern to consumers than calls or texting. In that vein, T-Mobile's top data speeds via this test were on par with Verizon, and the second-tier data speed tested — 10-20Mbps — was a close third to AT&T. RootMetrics was also highly complimentary of T-Mobile's work in improving their data speeds and reliability, so RootMetrics' next study might just be a 'rude awakening' for the larger carriers.

Sprint made significant gains with call reliability and text performance, but we stopped caring about that long ago. Between data-centric chat apps and our move toward technologies like VoLTE, Sprint's "win" here rings hollow.

Source: RootMetrics