Summary:
A recent study by Opensignal found that Comcast led fixed broadband performance in download speeds, video experience, and consistent quality, while AT&T delivered the strongest upload speeds and Charter Communications achieved the highest reliability score. The report, covering January to March 2026, analysed broadband services from Comcast, Charter, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. Comcast recorded the fastest download speed at 228 Mbps, whereas AT&T’s fibre infrastructure helped it dominate upload performance with 120 Mbps. The study also highlighted growing competition in the broadband market, with cable providers upgrading networks to compete against fibre, fixed wireless, and satellite services such as Starlink, whose speeds improved significantly during 2025 according to a separate Ookla report.
A recent study by Opensignal found that Comcast topped three fixed broadband performance categories — consistent quality, download speeds, and video experience. AT&T delivered the strongest upload speeds, while Charter Communications achieved the highest reliability rating.
According to Opensignal, its speed metrics reflect the average real-world performance users experience across a provider’s network based on daily device measurements. The consistent quality indicator evaluates how frequently a network satisfies the demands of everyday applications by considering factors such as speed and latency. Meanwhile, the reliability score measures how effectively households can stay connected and complete uninterrupted online activities across multiple devices.
The study covered the period from January 1 to March 31, 2026, and did not account for the recently finalised Verizon-Frontier acquisition or T-Mobile’s fibre broadband business. Providers included in the analysis were Comcast, Charter, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile.
In download performance, Comcast ranked first with speeds of 228 Mbps, followed by Charter at 220 Mbps and AT&T at 201 Mbps.
AT&T significantly outperformed competitors in upload speeds, recording 120 Mbps compared to Verizon’s 58 Mbps in second place. T-Mobile, whose home broadband offering relied entirely on fixed wireless access, posted the lowest upload speed at 26.4 Mbps.
Among cable broadband providers, Comcast surpassed Charter in upload performance as well, registering 46.9 Mbps versus Charter’s 26.8 Mbps.
Opensignal analyst Fiona Armstrong-Mills attributed AT&T’s strong upload results to the company’s expanding fibre infrastructure. AT&T currently covers more than 32 million fibre locations and aims to exceed 60 million by 2030. The company has also adopted a more measured approach toward fixed wireless broadband expansion compared to Verizon and T-Mobile.
Scores for consistent quality remained relatively close across providers, with Comcast leading at 83.7 per cent and Verizon closely following at 83.3 per cent. T-Mobile ranked lowest with 78.8 per cent.
Cable operators dominated the reliability rankings, where Charter scored 761 points and Comcast recorded 758 points on Opensignal’s 1,000-point scale.
The report also noted that cable companies continue upgrading network infrastructure to enhance broadband speeds while bundling fixed and mobile services to better compete against fibre and fixed wireless providers.
Satellite broadband services were not included in the Opensignal study, despite growing competition in rural markets. SpaceX’s Starlink remains the leading low-Earth orbit broadband provider in the US, while Amazon is expanding its Amazon Leo satellite initiative to enter the market.
A separate report from Ookla earlier this month indicated that Starlink’s speeds improved during the second half of 2025, with users recording median speeds of 127 Mbps download and 21 Mbps upload.
Although these speeds remain lower than those offered by terrestrial broadband providers, Ookla noted that the proportion of Starlink users achieving the federal broadband benchmark of 100 Mbps download and 20 Mbps upload increased from 17 per cent to over 44 per cent during 2025, even as the service nearly doubled its subscriber base.
