Comcast’s reign at the top of Ookla’s download speed ranking was short lived. After finally breaking into the top spot in Q4 2022, the operator fell back into second place in Q1 2023 as rival Charter Communications claimed the downlink crown.
The cable companies – including Cox Communications – beat out the likes of AT&T, Verizon and Frontier Communications in the download speed and consistency categories in the recent quarter, but were significantly behind when it came to upload rates.
Charter posted a median download speed of 234.80 Mbps in Q1, beating Comcast’s 232.85 Mbps by just a hair. Cox was close behind with a rate of 219.20 Mbps. Altice USA’s Optimum service ranked fourth with a median speed of 195.97 Mbps, and was followed by Frontier (190.15 Mbps), Verizon (186.45 Mbps) and AT&T (179.78).
The rankings represent a bit of shakeup from a year ago, when Verizon was in the lead, followed by Comcast, Cox and Charter. At the time, Verizon topped the list with a median download speed of 184.36 Mbps.
On the state level, Comcast was the fastest in 11 and Charter in 10. Google Fiber and Verizon each claimed wins in five states. Results were too close to call in 11 states, while Allo, Bluepeak, C Spire, Cox, EPB, GCI, MetroNet and Midco each took top honors in one state.
The cable companies performed in the same order as they had on download rates when it came to consistency, which measured how often service providers were able to deliver speeds of at least 25 Mbps downstream and 3 Mbps upstream. Charter came in with 91.8%, Comcast with 91.7% and Cox with 90.7%. They were again followed by Altice (89.3%) with Verizon (88.6%), AT&T (82.5%) and Frontier (81.8%) rounding out the bottom.
But the order was flipped when it came to upload rates. Frontier had the fastest, providing a median uplink speed of 151 Mbps. AT&T was close behind with 139.79 Mbps and Verizon was in third with 96.56 Mbps. Altice trailed significantly at 29.57 Mbps while Comcast (21.29 Mbps), Charter (13.22 Mbps) and Cox (10.80 Mbps) brought up the rear.
A year-on-year comparison figure from Q1 2022 wasn’t immediately available. But using Q2 2022 as a comparable measure, Frontier and AT&T’s uplink speeds were up significantly from 113.21 and 112.27, respectively, while Verizon’s fell from 111.36. Cable’s speeds were relatively flat, with Comcast having posted 18.88 Mbps in Q2 2022, Charter 11.70 Mbps and Cox 10.60 Mbps.
As Fierce has previously noted, the disparity in upload speeds can partially be attributed to moves by fiber players to prioritize symmetrical service offerings. Cable companies have been slower to adopt such a strategy.