Verizon has scooped a bunch of awards for its network quality, making it the official Most Awarded Brand for Network Quality in the US (via PhoneArena).
The top 3 carriers in the US are neck and neck, with fewer network issues than ever
So says the latest report from J.D. Power
It’s the 35th time in a row that Verizon has won the Most Awarded gong, which basically means this is less of an accolade than business as usual for the company. However, it’s not going to stop Big Red from continued job cuts.
Verizon continues its long streak
But other companies grabbed some key awards too
After nabbing awards from other companies, Verizon is back with even more awards, having been named Best 5G Network, Fastest 5G Network, and Most Reliable 5G Network by RootMetrics, while J.D. Power’s 2025 U.S. Wireless Network Quality Study – Volume 2 gave Verizon the nod as the Most Awarded Brand for Network Quality. As mentioned, that’s the 35th time in a row that Verizon has been granted that particular gong. They might as well just name the trophy after Verizon at this point, since it’s clearly not going anywhere in the near future.
It wasn’t a clean sweep for Verizon this awards season though. T-Mobile swooped in and grabbed awards for the best US cellular network from Ookla, with particular emphasis on T-Mobile’s network speed and city coverage compared to its rivals. AT&T was also given awards by RootMetrics for the reliability of its network.
Honestly, it’s a bit of a toss-up between the Big Three when it comes to these sorts of metrics — but sadly, these accolades won’t be stopping the jobs cuts at Verizon from continuing.
More job cuts on the horizon
Verizon expects AI to fill in the cracks
Verizon’s second quarter earnings call also happened a few days ago, and while revenue has grown, Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg was clear that Big Red is still very much in cost-cutting mode, and will be continuing in that same vein for the time being. Verizon is down heavily in terms of employees, having fallen from over 180,000 in 2012 to just under 100,000 by the end of 2024.
Why does Verizon think it can go on cutting staff? As ever in 2025, the answer is AI. Verizon’s last annual report mentioned “We are using AI in our network deployment and maintenance as well as our customer and employee support services.” As ever with AI, it remains to be seen how effective it can be in this particular role.
