Big Red has some boasting to do. According to Rootmetrics, Verizon has been named the No. 1 mobile service provider in 83 of the 89 metro areas where Rootmetrics operates. In other words, Verizon is ranked the best network, either alone at the top or tied with another network, a hefty 93 percent of the time.
The news follows a report from earlier this year that said Verizon was ranked the best network in all six performance categories — including reliability, data, speed, and call and text performance.
“Customers enjoy our network to stay connected and share their experiences, and more importantly, depend on us when they need us most, like in times of severe weather,” said Nicki Palmer, Verizon chief network officer, in a statement. “We work 24/7 to ensure industry-leading performance and reliability – providing by far the best network experience available.”
So how did Roometrics, which offers scientifically collected and crowdsourced mobile network performance information to consumers and the industry, come up with its scores? Basically, it purchased a Samsung Galaxy S7 from each of the four major wireless networks in the U.S., then conducted testing of things like data speeds, texting, calling, and so on. Testing went on 24 hours per day for a number of days in each of the testing areas, and included both indoor and outdoor testing.
Of course, the best network isn’t cheap — Verizon is pretty consistently ranked among the most expensive networks. Still, prices do seem to have evened out between networks over the past few years, and Verizon appears to have at least attempted to keep up with changes implemented by the likes of T-Mobile. One of Verizon’s main selling points is that it’s the largest network around, a distinction that allows the company to gain customers by being the only option in some areas.
