Comcast fastest ISP, T-Mobile fastest US wireless carrier: Ookla

Comcast operates the fastest broadband network in the US, according to Ookla, the developer behind the popular speedtest.net website, while it named T-Mobile as the fastest wireless carrier in the US.

Ookla found that Comcast Xfinity narrowly pipped Verizon's FiOS service to the No 1 position in speed, while T-Mobile edged out Verizon Wireless as the fastest wireless carrier. The data involved 26 million unique broadband users, performing over 111 million tests across Ookla's service, while about 3 million unique devices were used in the mobile space, to generate 14 million tests, generating a comprehensive look at how each service performed both nationwide and over time.

Across both wired and wireless tests, Ookla worked out its own ''speed score'' for measuring such factors as latency, and how the networks in question varied from region to region.

According to Ookla's tests, the factor which was most important in increasing broadband speeds was the transition to DOCSIS 3.1 modems. The development was instrumental in increasing speeds dramatically and made pricing innovations, such as a $69 gigabit package offered by Verizon, feasible.

According to Ookla, the average US speeds for the first and second quarters of 2017 was 64Mbps down, and 22.8Mbps up.

Ookla's findings are based on a sophisticated analysis of data from millions of speedtests conducted by real-world users and is a ''big-data'' approach to network testing. The testing relied on the sheer number of data points to paint an accurate picture of each operator's network.

T-Mobile took the top spot on the two most important metrics: overall speed and ''acceptable speed ratio,'' how often a user has a usable data connection (faster than 5Mbps, enough for streaming HD video). T-Mobile narrowly beat Verizon on the speed score, 23.5Mbps to 23.21.

According to commentators, the number was not just an average of all the speed tests on one network; rather it is a weighted combination of tests from the fastest, slowest, and median.