Dallas: T-Mobile Has the Best Speeds
In the Big D, T-Mobile came up big, posting the best average download and upload speeds in LTE tests across the metroplex.
T-Mobile averaged a 47.4 Mbps download speed in our Dallas testing. The only carrier to come close to that was also using T-Mobile's network — Metro by T-Mobile, which posted a 45.3 Mbps. Those speeds were more than double Verizon's 20.5 Mbps result.
T-Mobile was also a big winner for upload speeds, too, with an 18.8 Mbps average. After Metro's 14.7 Mbps result, the next closest carrier was Verizon, which averaged 10.4 Mbps on uploads.
| Average Download Speed, Dallas | Average Upload Speed, Dallas | Average App Download Time (Min:Sec) | |
| T-Mobile | 47.4 Mbps | 18.8 Mbps | 0:34 |
| Metro | 45.3 Mbps | 14.7 Mbps | 1:26 |
| Verizon | 20.5 Mbps | 10.4 Mbps | 0:19 |
| AT&T | 16.3 Mbps | 8.1 Mbps | 0:33 |
| Straight Talk | 14.1 Mbps | 9.8 Mbps | 0:32 |
| Boost | 12.3 Mbps | 2.2 Mbps | 2:59 |
| Sprint | 9.4 Mbps | 2.5 Mbps | 1:00 |
| Cricket | 5.3 Mbps | 5.6 Mbps | 0:41 |
The only area where T-Mobile didn't finish on top in Dallas was in our app download test. Here, Verizon posted the best average time at 19 seconds. Both Straight Talk (32 seconds) and AT&T (33 seconds) finished just ahead of T-Mobile's 34 second time.
Cricket's cap on data speeds makes it hard for the carrier to compete. But even though Cricket posted a back-of-the-pack average download speed of 5.3 Mbps, it still managed to download Discord in an average time of 41 seconds. Sprint needed a full minute to download the app, and its 9.41 Mbps average download speed in Dallas won't excite anyone.
Our results reflect an average of five Speedtest.net tests conducted at six sites around Dallas. At each test site, we also downloaded the 40MB Discord app from the Google Play store onto Galaxy S9 phones tied to each carrier.
T-Mobile may be the top network in Dallas, but Verizon takes the overall crown as the fastest wireless network in the U.S. Check out our full national results.
Looking Ahead to 5G: While our speed testing focuses entirely on LTE, the reality is that carriers are beginning to launch 5G service in some markets. In Dallas, Sprint has launched its 5G network, and we've had a chance to test out the carrier's 5G network with a 5G-ready LG V50 ThinQ. So far, we've found Sprint's effort to be more reliable than Verizon's initial 5G network, though it's not as fast.
