Over the past few years, T-Mobile has done a lot to shake up the mobile industry. They were the first big carrier to do away with contracts, and were one of the first carriers to give customers the ability to buy phones outright through a monthly payment plan that allowed them to upgrade whenever they wanted. On Tuesday Sprint’s confirmed that T-Mobile had officially surpassed Sprint as the third largest mobile carrier in the nation.
T-Mobile Has 58.9 Million Subscribers
In the report, Sprint indicated that the company gained an additional 675,000 subscribers over the past quarter, boosting its overall subscriber total up to 56.8 million. Last month, T-Mobile reported that it was up to 58.9 million customers, which puts them ahead of Sprint by just over 2 million customers. Both carriers still have a lot of catching up to do when it comes to trying to match AT&T and Verizon’s 123.9 million and 109.5 million customers, respectively.
Ookla Reports That T-Mobile Has the Fastest Mobile Network
More good news comes to T-Mobile through a separate report published by Ookla, the company responsible for one of the most popular internet speed testing sites.
According to Ookla, T-Mobile has the fastest average network speed with an average download speed of 19.62 Mbps and an average upload speed of 9.90 Mbps. Verizon Wireless trails hot on T-Mobile’s heels with average download and upload speeds of 18.52 and 7.27, respectively.
The report breaks regular internet service providers (ISP) and mobile network providers into separate reports, but the site also allows users to check which networks are fastest by state.
Sprint is in The Rough
Unfortunately for Sprint, this puts the company between a rock and a hard place. The carrier really needs to invest in its infrastructure to pull away from the stigma the company has become known for when it comes to its scope of coverage (or lack thereof). Ookla’s report also shows Sprint to be trailing behind, significantly, the other carriers in terms of network speed.
Sprint Chairman Masayoshi Son said that he was optimistic about Sprint’s future despite being dethroned by T-Mobile, and investors seemed to agree as Sprint’s stock rose 4.5 percent after its earnings call.
