T-Mobile has achieved a historic first that’s changing the wireless landscape: real customers now rate the carrier as having the best network quality in more regions than ever before, according to a major new study released January 15, 2026.
Based on feedback from over 20,000 wireless customers surveyed across the country, a J.D. Power study shows T-Mobile has pulled ahead in five of six U.S. regions: the Southeast, Southwest, and three regions where it’s tied with Verizon (the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and West).
This is the first time in the company’s history that customers have given T-Mobile top marks in so many parts of the country simultaneously. The achievement is particularly significant because it breaks a 35-year streak where a single carrier dominated the rankings in every report.
The momentum reflects years of major investment T-Mobile has made in building out faster, more reliable networks. Customers consistently report experiencing faster download speeds, clearer voice calls, and more stable connections compared to competitors.
These real-world improvements aren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet: they’re what people actually experience when they’re using their phones every day, whether they’re streaming videos, taking calls, or browsing in rural areas.
What makes this recognition meaningful is that it’s coming directly from customers who live and work with these networks daily. For T-Mobile, this validates what independent testing organizations have been saying for months.
In recent reports, the carrier has also earned top marks from Opensignal (winning 12 of 16 performance categories) and Ookla‘s Speedtest data, which named T-Mobile America’s best overall network last summer based on more than half a billion real-world tests.
The competitive landscape is shifting. Historically, one carrier held a commanding lead in customer perception of network quality. Now, the picture is more dynamic, with T-Mobile proving it can compete neck-to-neck or exceed expectations across most of the country.
The Southeast and Southwest regions particularly favor T-Mobile, while other regions show a more competitive split. The only region where another carrier retained the top spot is the North Central area, where Verizon continues to lead.
T-Mobile’s success comes as the company continues expanding 5G Advanced service nationwide and laying groundwork for 6G technology. The carrier says its advantage comes from a combination of having strong wireless spectrum holdings, owning more cell towers than competitors realize, and using cloud-based network architecture designed for intelligence and performance.
The timing matters because more Americans are streaming video, gaming, and using their phones for work than ever before. Younger users in particular are straining networks with intensive streaming and video call habits, which means network quality has become a critical factor in how people choose their carrier.
In fact, network performance is now the second most important reason customers stay with or switch from a carrier—second only to price.
This milestone represents a turning point in how people view wireless carriers. The old narrative (that one company simply dominated) no longer holds true. As customers in more regions experience what T-Mobile is offering, the competitive dynamics of the wireless industry continue to shift.