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Opensignal conducted a study to determine which US fixed broadband providers are the best for users. The analytics company looked at four metrics - Download Speed, Upload Speed, Consistent Quality (whether a network is good enough to support common use cases such as playing games), and Video Experience - to determine which companies provide the best experience.
The first set of tests focused on the five Internet Service Providers (ISPs) with the broadest nationwide footprint: AT&T, Spectrum (Charter), T-Mobile, Verizon, and Xfinity (Comcast).
They included different technologies including cable, DSL, FWA, and fiber. As CNET notes, this could be one reason why cable companies did well on many tests, as while Spectrum and Xfinity only offer cable internet, mobile network operators provide different services, some of which are not very good.
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For the second part of the report, Opensignal carried out head-to-head comparisons to see how each company competes against its direct rivals based on the extent of each provider's shared coverage areas.
The long and short of the findings is that Xfinity is the best when it comes to Consistent Quality and Video Experience. Spectrum was crowned the winner in the Download Speed category, while AT&T came out at the top for Upload Speed.
Charter and Comcast emerged as winners in most direct comparisons against Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T. T-Mobile lost to Verizon in all head-to-head matchups.
Since broadband service providers offer services in different areas and in any given area, consumers may have limited options, Opensignal also compared the experience between companies in only the areas where both provide services.
For each test, a company was compared against its direct competitors, which were chosen based on the percentage of the common areas they both had a presence in. The percentage overlap denotes how many households a rival can reach within the area served by the main provider compared to the number of houses that can be reached by the company that's being analysed. So, for instance, if the overlap is 52 percent, it means the competitor can also reach 52 percent of the houses passed by the main provider.
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A "Win" in this category means that the company that's being analysed fared better than its competitors.
Spectrum pummelled AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile for Download Speed, Consistent Quality, and Video Experience in places where all the companies offer services.
Xfinity also defeated AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile in the Download Speed and Video Experience categories. AT&T owned Xfinity, Spectrum, T-Mobile, and Verizon in the Upload Speed category.
Neither Verizon nor T-Mobile completely dominated any of of the categories, with the former beating the Un-carrier in all direct comparisons.
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Anam Hamid is a computer scientist turned tech journalist who has a keen interest in the tech world, with a particular focus on smartphones and tablets. She has previously written for Android Headlines and has also been a ghostwriter for several tech and car publications. Anam is not a tech hoarder and believes in using her gadgets for as long as possible. She is concerned about smartphone addiction and its impact on future generations, but she also appreciates the convenience that phones have brought into our lives. Anam is excited about technological advancements like folding screens and under-display sensors, and she often wonders about the future of technology. She values the overall experience of a device more than its individual specs and admires companies that deliver durable, high-quality products. In her free time, Anam enjoys reading, scrolling through Reddit and Instagram, and occasionally refreshing her programming skills through tutorials.
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