According to Ookla, Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) has solidified its position as a structural component of the U.S. residential broadband market. In Q1 2026, combined FWA connections across Verizon, T-Mobile, and AT&T surpassed 17 million, representing 13.74% of the nation’s 123.75 million home broadband subscriptions, per the U.S. Census Bureau’s January 2026 American Community Survey.

Initially positioned as a cost-efficient mechanism for addressing rural connectivity gaps, FWA is now demonstrating meaningful traction in urban and suburban markets. Analysis of Ookla Speedtest Intelligence® data, segmented according to the Census Bureau’s urban-rural classifications, indicates that approximately 70% of Q2 2026 FWA test samples originated from urban users, versus 30% from rural areas. While Speedtest sample volume is not a direct proxy for subscriber counts, it offers a useful directional indicator of the geographic distribution of FWA demand.

Performance characterization across the first half of 2026 reveals steady improvements in both throughput and latency. Notably, this analysis marks the first examination of FWA at the state level: the share of FWA Speedtest users achieving the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) minimum broadband threshold of 100 Mbps downstream / 20 Mbps upstream fell below 40% in 48 states — underscoring the gap between marketed capacity and realized user experience.

Key takeaways:

• T-Mobile dominated Q2 2026 with a median download speed of 222.7 Mbps, (outpacing AT&T Internet Air by 38.8% and Verizon 5G Home by 76%).   T-Mobile’s Q2 2026 median upload speed (18.1 Mbps) also beat AT&T by 79.2% and Verizon by 48.5%.
• All three providers experienced a performance drop in download and upload speeds between Q1 2026 to Q2 2026. This is likely a seasonal impact, as dense leaves on trees can weaken FWA signals.
• AT&T’s median download speed surged nearly 60%—from 104.61 Mbps in Q3 2025 to 167.34 Mbps in Q1 2026. This is likely the result of deploying the additional 50 MHz of spectrum purchased from EchoStar.
• Rural FWA users across all three providers nationwide have lower median download speeds and higher multi-server latency. Urban users benefit from a multi-server latency that is 7 to 13 ms lower than their rural counterparts.
• In only two states (Hawaii and New York) and the District of Columbia 40% or more of FWA Speedtest samples met the FCC’s minimum standard for broadband speed (100 Mbps download/20 Mbps upload).

AT&T’s additional spectrum holdings also translated into measurable gains on the uplink, with median upload throughput rising from 9.23 Mbps in Q3 2025 to 12.55 Mbps in Q1 2026.  Despite this improvement, T-Mobile retains the highest median upload performance among the three national carriers. In Q2 2026, T-Mobile’s median upload speed of 18.12 Mbps was 48.5% above Verizon’s 12.2 Mbps and 80.1% above AT&T’s 10.06 Mbps.

All three providers recorded a quarter-over-quarter decline in both download and upload speeds from Q1 to Q2 2026, with Verizon FWA users experiencing the most pronounced degradation — a drop in median download throughput from 143.64 Mbps in Q1 2026 to 126.53 Mbps in Q2 2026.

It should be noted that the Verizon FWA figures in this report exclude Starry, the FWA operator acquired by Verizon in March 2026, whose service continues to be operated and marketed as a separate offering.

Median Download Speed Decline Q1 2026 to Q2 2026

Median upload speeds saw an even larger decline with T-Mobile FWA users experiencing a 21.5% decline in upload speeds from Q1 2026 to Q2 2026. AT&T users experienced a nearly 20% decline from Q1 2026 speeds of 12.55 Mbps to 10.06 Mbps speeds in Q2 2026.

Median Upload Speed Declines Q1 2026 to Q2 2026

Median multi-server latency also increased slightly from Q1 2026 to Q2 2026, which represents a slightly higher delay for FWA users. However, T-Mobile still maintained the lowest median multi-server latency at 46 ms in Q2 2026.

Median Multi-Server Latency Increases Q1 2026 to Q2 2026

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

While FWA was initially conceived as a means of delivering broadband to rural communities where providers held excess network capacity, the service has since matured into a credible alternative to traditional fixed broadband. However, the latest Speedtest data indicates that, notwithstanding this intended role, rural users continue to face trade-offs in the form of lower median download throughput and elevated latency.

Operators across the board also contend with seasonal and temporal factors that degrade performance — most notably foliage interference during the spring and summer months, compounded by peak-hour network congestion on a daily basis.

T-Mobile maintains a clear performance lead across both overall throughput and latency, while AT&T’s recent spectrum acquisitions have yielded measurable performance gains.

References:

https://www.ookla.com/articles/u-s-fwa-rural-urban-1h-2026

Highlights from Ookla’s U.S. Speedtest Connectivity Report-Mobile & Fixed Networks

Ookla: U.S. dominates global WiFi 7 while adoption grew 4X to 7.2% by Q1-2026

Ookla: AI workloads will force changes in 5G mobile network infrastructure

Ookla: AI platform reliability decreases as outages surge

Ookla on the Global D2D Market

Ookla: Starlink a viable competitor for hybrid 5G/NTN services due to network performance improvements and larger coverage area

Ookla: D2D satellite connectivity surged 24.5% during last 9 months; Starlink’s footprint expansion leads the way