Why You Can Trust CNET Verizon Named in New Ookla Report as the Fastest Broadband Provider in the US
The speed testing company's first report of 2022 keeps Verizon in the top spot with the fastest median download speeds among major internet providers.
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Verizon can claim bragging rights: Ookla's Speedtest Intelligence report, which pulls from millions of customer-run queries on Speedtest.net, named the company the fastest fixed broadband provider in the US during the first quarter of 2022. Verizon has finished on top of every quarter since the start of 2020.
Verizon finished the quarter with a median download speed of 184 megabits per second. Xfinity was close behind at 179Mbps, Cox was third at 174Mbps, Spectrum was next at 166Mbps, and AT&T rounded out the top five at just over 140Mbps.
Despite dominating the top of the speed chart, Verizon missed out on winning Ookla's Consistency Score, which measures how often a provider hits the minimum broadband threshold of 25Mbps download speed and 3Mbps upload speeds. Xfinity was at the top, with a score of 90.6%, while Spectrum was right behind at 90.3%. Verizon came in third at 89.4%, followed by Cox and AT&T in fourth and fifth slots, respectively.
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While Verizon flexed its dominance within several categories, other providers made gains as the fastest within the 100 most populated cities in the US. AT&T Internet was the speediest ISP in 19 cities, while Cox was the fastest in 14 metros. Among the top 10 fastest US cities, Google Fiber showed up the most, earning a spot as the fastest provider in four top 10 metro regions, with a median download speed averaging approximately 242Mbps.
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