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February 18, 2015

RootMetrics Review: Verizon and At&T Top List

RootMetrics, formerly known as Root Wireless, offers scientifically collected, as well as crowdsourced mobile network performance information to consumers and the industry. Its testing process is intense and designed to capture how consumers experience their mobile networks in real-world situations. Recently the firm released its most comprehensive assessment of U.S. mobile coverage in a report entitled “2nd Half 2014 U.S. Mobile Network Performance Review” authored by Patrick Linder.

The firm tests each network’s performance when making phone calls, uploading and downloading files from the internet, browsing the Web and using apps, downloading email, as well as sending and receiving text messages (SMS). Tests are conducted with unmodified smartphones that are purchased off the shelf at regular mobile phone stores. The company tests mobile networks at various locations and hours, both indoors and outdoors and while driving, using a random sampling methodology to prevent bias.

To give you an idea of the scope of RootMetrics’ test procedures, during the 2nd half of 2014, RootMetrics testers drove nearly 293,000 miles, visited 6,200 indoor locations and conducted 5.7 million tests across all 50 states. All of this was accomplished using the same phones consumers can buy from the carriers’ stores. The RootMetrics review provides the most complete and accurate picture of mobile network performance at the national, state and metro levels.

It seems that in general, Verizon can indeed claim to lead the pack. Verizon swept in the overall performance, reliability and speed categories. With the exception of AT&T taking top honors in the text category, it came in a very close second to Verizon in all other categories. In results for reliability, speed, data performance and call performance, AT&T was on average about two percentage points behind Verizon.

It seems however that when it comes to overall rankings, there are two distinct tiers with AT&T and Verizon being in the top tier and Sprint and T-Mobile being considered as operating in the second tier. Both Sprint and T-Mobile have been making major improvements to the network structure and because of this, while they remain in the second tier, both carriers are cutting into the lead held by Verizon and AT&T.

According to Bill Moore, who is the CEO of RootMetrics, “It’s no longer a luxury to have fast and reliable mobile service, it’s a requirement. Whether a person is calling into a work meeting from the road, streaming videos, or simply looking to text a friend to say they’ll be late, consumers are no longer satisfied with spotty connections and slow speeds. Our scientifically-rigorous testing and reports give consumers easy-to-understand, fiercely independent information about mobile performance in everyday life conditions, providing a true picture of the mobile consumer experience they can use to make better-informed mobile decisions. And the good news is that our testing shows every network is getting better.”

Bill’s first sentence is definitely true when you consider that there are more mobile subscriber connections than people in the U.S. Current numbers show a U.S. population of about 317.9 million people and a mobile subscriber base of 335.7 million connections. This should give you an understanding of just how important being connected by smartphone truly is. That is why sections such as the Speed Index  that includes how quickly a network could download and upload files, send emails, perform typical Web and app-related tasks, as well as send/receive texts is important to consumers and businesses alike.

An interesting note is that Sprint leapfrogged over T-Mobile to take the third place slot. This is due to the fact that Sprint displayed an increase in call reliability and text rankings. Both Sprint and T-Mobile are also showing tremendous improvement in the major metro areas of the U.S. Although still considered as second tier carriers, both are making gains at a rather quick pace.

Bill Moore also mentioned that "While Verizon and AT&T top the charts, all networks are getting better. We saw improvements across the board in data speed and data reliability, which are fast becoming keys to everyday mobile experience. The biggest improvement stories belong to T-Mobile and, especially, Sprint with its marked call improvement. Although T-Mobile finished lower in our national results, it recorded the third most awards at the metro level and remained ahead of Sprint at this level of our testing. The upgrades from these two networks are clearly starting to take hold and are impacting performance, in particular, at the metro level. In short, performance is trending in a positive direction and consumers are benefiting from the changes we’ve seen."




Edited by Maurice Nagle


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