Verizon and AT&T's network took a slight performance hit after competition from T-Mobile and Sprint forced them to bring back unlimited data plans last year (plans Verizon executives repeatedly told customers they neither wanted nor needed). The slowdowns weren't monumental; AT&T for example saw its average downstream speeds drop from 13.9 Mbps in February of 2017, to 12.9 Mbps in August of last year. The drops were notable enough however to give T-Mobile top honors in a speed report by Open Signal last year.
Open Signal's now
back with a new report that states both AT&T and Verizon's networks have started to bounce back from the impact of unlimited data.
"After six straight months of tracking decreases in LTE speeds, in September speeds for both operators leveled out in our measurements, and in Verizon’s case, speeds started creeping back upward," notes the tracking firm. "The bad news is in November, both AT&T and Verizon were still well short of their 4G speed highs established in February."
However, the firm notes that Sprint and T-Mobile speeds have steadily increased over the same 11-month period. T-Mobile was nearly 3 Mbps ahead of Verizon in the company's 4G speed metric in November, locking down its lead in the LTE speed race, while Sprint "had closed much of the speed gap between itself and AT&T," the report states.
Open Signal states that over the next six months, both AT&T and Verizon's average speed scores dropped considerably, both hitting lows in August of 12.1 Mbps for AT&T and 14.4 Mbps for Verizon. But starting in the July-September test period, the firm notes those declines stopped. AT&T’s speeds remained relatively steady for the next few months, but Verizon’s speeds began to climb -- and by the end of November, Verizon’s average 4G speed had increased 1.5 Mbps in just three months.
"It looks like both AT&T and Verizon have figured out how to keep the data deluge from unlimited plans in check," said the report. "The question now is if they can fully recover, bringing their average speeds back to pre-unlimited plan levels," something the report states will be easier for Verizon than AT&T based on the current trends. Regardless, Sprint set new speed records during the period and T-Mobile still tops the charts for the fastest LTE offerings in Open Signal's report.
"But even if both operators fully recover, they will likely find that the unlimited crisis has cost them major stakes in the 4G race," notes the firm.