Speeds of 4G LTE dropped by up to 50% in the US: TwinPrime
LTE speeds in the US have dropped by up to 50% in the last year in some of the country’s largest markets, according to mobile app speed start-up TwinPrime. All four major carriers in the US are affected by the drop, which has been caused by a lack of change in the amount of data permitted by carriers, alongside an enormous increase in the number of users and the amount of data they are using. T-Mobile is the fastest carrier with the lowest latency, but this could change as it garners a larger user base.

If your phone's cellular download speed seems to be slower than it used to be, you're not crazy.

In big markets in the United States, LTE's median speeds have dropped by as much as 50% in the last year, according to a study done by TwinPrime, a startup that makes tools to speed up mobile apps.

The study does not break down speeds by carrier, but the trend is something all four major carriers in the United States are seeing.

The reason why LTE speeds are declining is because while the amount of data the carriers can carry has remained mostly the same over the past year, the number of users and the amount of data they're using is skyrocketing.

Twin Prime says T-Mobile is the fastest carrier overall with the lowest latency — but that could change as it attracts more customers.

Here's a chart showing the rise of data usage:

Twin Prime

So as more people stream video and send snaps, the whole network slows down.

The effect is even worse in the big cities, where there are more people overloading the networks:

Twin Prime

Take a look at the entire report at Twin Prime.