February 2019
Although Super Bowl 53 might not have been the highest-scoring game that we've seen, the same can't be said for the performance of the mobile network operators. Despite the 75,000 fans filling the Mercedes Benz stadium, and hundreds of thousands who flooded the city of Atlanta, all four operators managed to keep their heads above water.
Verizon was the overall winner, delivering the fastest download speeds, both during the game itself, and over all of Super Bowl day. Verizon's average download speed during the game was 38.2 Mbps, which was actually slightly higher than the overall average for the 24 hours leading up to the event. During the game, AT&T was in second place for download speed, with an average of 18.6 Mbps. Sprint was in third, with 14.3 Mbps, while T-Mobile came in fourth place with an average download speed of 12.0 Mbps.
Average download speed during Super Bowl game
| Verizon | AT&T | Sprint | T-Mobile |
| 38.2 Mbps | 18.6 Mbps | 14.3 Mbps | 12.0 Mbps |
Download speed doesn't tell the whole picture, however. As well as monitoring the underlying network quality measurements (download speed, upload speed, latency, and signal strength), Tutela also calculated the consistent quality score for all four operators, Tutela's measure for whether a wireless connection is good enough for users to use demanding apps like HD video calling, video-focused social networking (like Snapchat), or stream HD replays of the action.
For all of Sunday, Verizon had the best consistent quality of any operator, at an average of 96.8%. To put that in perspective, it means that 48 times out of 50, a Verizon user could stream HD video or place a FaceTime call in the stadium, over LTE, without experiencing any buffering or delay.
Despite its last-place finish for download speed, T-Mobile was in second place for consistent quality, with an average score of 82.8%. Sprint was just a whisker behind, at 81.1%, while AT&T was in last place on consistent quality at 71.0%.
For the full breakdown of how all four operators performed in the days leading up to the Super Bowl, as well as during the big game itself, you can dig into the live dashboard that Tutela created for the event.
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