Ookla: AT&T Standout Performer in 2026
The company found the three major carriers are increasing download speeds and investing in 5G networks.
WASHINGTON, July 15, 2026 – AT&T is the standout performer in the first half of 2026, Ookla found in its State of the Mobile Union report.
The internet metrics and data company partnered with RootMetrics technicians to conduct over 3 million tests, including over 6,900 indoor locations to measure the performance of the big 3 carriers in the U.S., Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T.
In the first half of 2026 report, Ookla Industry Analyst Mike Dano explained that the three big networks continue to make large investments to improve their networks. He wrote, “RootMetrics data helps to highlight the networking investments - of all kinds - that AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have made.”
Ookla found that AT&T is the standout, shifting from second place in the second half of 2025 to share many of the awards with Verizon while winning the Call RootScore Award and sharing the Network Speed RootScore Award with T-Mobile.
Verizon won the most awards, tying with AT&T to win the overall performance and network reliability U.S. RootScore Awards. The internet service provider also won best network responsiveness, data performance and video performance. T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon all tied for best text performance.
Ookla found that the U.S. median download speeds increased for all three companies in 2026. Dano noted that the overall mobile speeds have risen from around 193 Mbps in the first half of 2024 to 334 Mbps in the first half of 2026.
AT&T increased its median download speed from 193 megabits per second (Mbps) to 228.7 Mbps. Verizon increased its speeds from 226.5 Mbps to 302 Mbps. T-Mobile speeds increased from 374.5 Mbps to 392 Mbps in 2026, making it the fastest among carriers.
Dano also explained that 5G in the U.S. has seen improvements with “the percentage of all RootMetrics download tests using 5G (either SA or NSA) increased from around 84% in the first half of 2024 to 93% in the first half of this year.” All three companies continue to invest in expanding 5G networks.
