AT&T and T-Mobile seem to be stronger than ever: Is Verizon in trouble?

A decade ago, if I had told people that T-Mobile would eventually be considered the fastest network in the US and that the brand would become the de facto leader in many ways, I’m sure I would have had a hard time finding anyone who believed me. Well, at least outside of T-Mobile’s most ardent fans.

Yet, here we are at the beginning of 2026, and slowly but surely we seem to be heading in this direction. In 2025, T-Mobile won several awards from major survey companies, including Ookla, and largely became known as the king of network speed. Even AT&T is finally striking harder at the competition, particularly T-Mobile.

Meanwhile, Verizon is struggling to retain customers and has received a lot of bad press. In late 2025, Verizon massively slashed its workforce, and more recently, it also experienced a major service disruption. This all makes it feel like Verizon is finally starting to be overshadowed for the first time in well over a decade.

Likewise, over the last several months, we’ve seen AT&T and T-Mobile jab at each other left and right. For me, this is major deja vu, but with a strange twist. In the past, Verizon was always the king, with AT&T nipping at its heels, and the rest of the competition dragging behind. Now the order is starting to feel like it has flipped in some ways.

No one seems to be treating Verizon as an immediate threat, or even as a meaningful target for recruiting new users. Don’t let this fool you, Verizon is far from down and out. While it might be seeing declining postpaid subscribers and other moves that point to decline, it’s still the largest network in the US by subscriber count.

Still, the winds seem to be shifting. Should Verizon worry, and what led to these changes in the first place? Let’s jump in and discuss.

What changed in the market to lead to this shift?

For as long as I can remember, Verizon was seen as the very best network in terms of reach, technology deployment, and subscriber base. Even though it was expensive, most were willing to pay because it was widely seen as the best. Unfortunately, this reputation has eroded a little in recent years.

You can credit T-Mobile CEO John Legere with this shift, at least to some degree. His charismatic approach appealed to tons of new subscribers and painted Verizon and AT&T as out of touch. Really, though, T-Mobile’s merger with Sprint in 2020 most clearly marks the beginning of this shift.

Around this timeframe, Verizon was primarily focused on deploying mmWave technology as the foundation of its 5G network. Operating at high-band frequencies above 24 GHz, this tech enabled faster speeds than you’d get with lower-bandwidth coverage. Unfortunately, it also came with the trade-off of limited range and poor obstacle penetration. It was also much harder to deploy mmWave 5G as quickly as other 5G-based solutions from rivals.

T-Mobile particularly led here, thanks in large part to its acquisition of Sprint’s 2.5GHz mid-spectrum. Unlike Verizon, T-Mobile initially focused on Sub-6GHz speeds, which offered widespread coverage and significantly better object penetration. It was also faster and cheaper to deploy rapidly, by comparison. While Sub-6 is often less speedy than mmWave, the gap isn’t necessarily big enough to make a notable difference for average users.

Eventually, Verizon would speed up its 5G rollout by pivoting away from mmWave as its core focus, with C-band filling the gaps instead. Of course, T-Mobile and AT&T didn’t stay static here either. While AT&T has mostly focused on sub-6 5G technology at a wide scale, T-Mobile has ended up with a layered strategy that started with methods that were easier and faster to deploy; these days, it has a solid mix of low, mid, and high-band solutions.

While Verizon’s 5G services are catching up, T-Mobile still leads in terms of 5G availability, speeds, and perception. When you add in Verizon’s high pricing and perceived poor customer service, it’s not surprising that the market is shifting a little. It’s also worth noting that many rural folks used to swear by Verizon over AT&T and T-Mobile. With the latter acquiring US Mobile’s footprint in many markets, Verizon no longer has the clear lead in the rural community that it once did.

What does this mean for Verizon as we head into 2026?

As we continue into the new year, we’re seeing T-Mobile introduce new Value plans for families to attract new customers, and AT&T is pushing more spectrum and growing more aggressive in its advertising as well. The landscape is more competitive than ever before. It’s not just that Verizon has a weaker 5G network, either. Throughout 2025, we saw sustained subscriber growth from AT&T and T-Mobile, while Verizon dropped 7,000 postpaid subscribers in Q3 2025 alone.

This all seems to point towards a future where Verizon is an underdog, but don’t let this fool you. Sure, its reputation isn’t as high as it once was, but the company is far from weak. Not only does it still have the largest subscriber count overall, but it also continues to grow its impressive chain of prepaid value brands. It has also focused hard on free-line promos and other offers that have not only put Verizon on a solid path for revenue growth but also resulted in the addition of 616,000 monthly bill-paying wireless phone subscribers in the last three months of 2025.

It’s true that Verizon is on a rocky road and that staff additions could mean an even heavier reliance on automation. Verizon is definitely more concerned with stabilizing its user base and improving its reputation at the moment. Basically, we are at a point where Verizon could see further decline, or it could make enough positive moves to turn the ship around.

I will admit I was one who felt that Big Red was heading right off a cliff as recently as a month or so ago. Until late last year, I was adamant I was leaving Verizon myself; now I’m not so sure. It’s hard to leave right now with big discounts for existing customers, free lines, and other incentives.

Of course, Verizon does not exist in a vacuum. As it works to repair itself, its rivals will not stand still. If Verizon really wants to stay ahead, it likely needs to take more risks and worry about large profits a bit less. This includes more network infrastructure investments and not just cost-cutting across the board. For example, there’s an expected upper C-band auction in the not-too-distant future that could prove especially important, not just for 5G improvements, but also for the eventual transition to 6G.

At the end of the day, Verizon isn’t going anywhere. It will remain a big player into the indefinite future. What’s less clear is whether it will continue to remain the largest network by subscriber count long-term, or if its competition will eventually outshine it here. If Verizon can hold onto enough of its base and weather this period, it could eventually reclaim lost perception. Of course, it could also slip far enough that AT&T and T-Mobile relegate it to third place. Only time will tell.