Is your cellular data faster than your home Internet service? For some customers, that might be the case when they're in a particularly strong wireless coverage area, new data suggests.

RootMetrics divided the US into eight geographic regions, measured the maximum downlink speed offered by carriers in each one, and then created a nationwide ranking using a population-weighted average of those regional maximums. Verizon led the way with a speed of 57.21Mbps, while T-Mobile came in second at 42.63Mbps. AT&T nearly tied T-Mobile with 42.39Mbps, and Sprint lagged far behind at 22.23Mbps. Maximum downlink speeds were generally more than double maximum uplink speeds.

Verizon and T-Mobile were the only carriers to top 60Mbps in any of the eight regions. Verizon did so in the Rocky Mountain and Great Lakes areas, while T-Mobile did so in New England.

The data was collected in the first three-quarters of the year and published today by FierceWireless. RootMetrics conducts thousands of tests nationwide at all hours of the day and night, but it's possible each network can be even faster than the fastest speeds observed by the company. "T-Mobile US, for example, noted in its third-quarter earnings materials that customers in markets where it has deployed at least 15x15 MHz of spectrum for LTE are seeing real-world peak downlink speeds of up to 145Mbps," the article said.

Obviously, the maximum speeds aren't reflective of typical use; wireless speeds tend to fluctuate depending on the time of day and what area you're in. Typical performance is what's most important. Previous RootMetrics reports ranked the carriers based on typical rather than maximum speeds, but the results were reported on a 100-point scale rather than with specific megabit per second values. In the latest report on typical performance, Verizon was first nationwide in speed, followed by AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint.

While T-Mobile excels in big cities, the company acknowledged recently that its network struggles over long distances (i.e. rural areas) and indoors. Sprint has conceded that its network lags behind the other three big carriers.

If you're wondering which part of the country has the fastest maximum speeds, it's New England:

"New England was the 'fastest' region overall, offering a 51.75 Mbps weighted maximum downlink speed and 22.5 Mbps weighted maximum uplink speed," FierceWireless wrote today. For more information on each region, check out the FierceWireless story.