Sprint network speeds second in KC, PCMag says

A second look at Kansas City’s wireless competition released Monday has put Verizon ahead of the crowd with Sprint Corp. second and “once again competitive.”

PC Magazine’s online report for this area focused specifically on network speeds and comes after last week’s declaration by RootMetrics that Sprint and Verizon were in a tie here.

Last week’s RootMetrics rankings were all inclusive, looking at cellular calls, texting and data performance along with speed and reliability scores for the final rankings.

Sprint chief executive Marcelo Claure has launched a marketing push in the Kansas City area to win customers on the RootMetrics results.

In an emailed statement Monday, a Sprint spokeswoman said the magazine’s report reflected the company’s efforts to improve service locally.

“We’re encouraged by today’s PC Magazine network scores in Kansas City. And, when you take into account last week’s RootMetric’s study, it’s further validation of the positive results we’re seeing with our network in KC and across the country. The third-party testing has revealed approximately 160 network wins in cities around the country and we intend to continue improving.”

PC Magazine focused on data, how quickly the four national cellular networks downloaded data for apps and video from the Internet, and how quickly they uploaded photos and other data. It also looked at which carriers were quickest with the first byte of data and soonest to complete web pages.

On the speed front, the two tests seem to agree. PC pegged Verizon fastest followed by Sprint. The speed component of RootMetrics’ tests similarly placed Verizon first and Sprint second.

In both tests, the new results were a boon for Overland Park-based Sprint, which has fared poorly in prior results in the Kansas City market.

“Hometown hero Sprint comes in second place, bumping its average download speed from 7 Mbps (megabits per second) last year to 13 Mbps this year,” PC Magazine’s report said.

The magazine, however, declared Verizon’s speed lead “commanding” at 99, out of 100 on the magazine’s scale, thanks to posting the fastest results on “every one of our measures.” Sprint’s reading was 80.

AT&T and T-Mobile fared less well, with PC Magazine noting that “Kansas City is a surprising slow city for T-Mobile,” though its speed index of 73 edged AT&T’s 72.

Nationally, the competition is closer, the magazine said, with Verizon “keeping its edge over the AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint, although just barely.”

This story was originally published June 22, 2015 at 11:51 AM with the headline "Sprint network speeds second in KC, PCMag says."