The greater Dayton area is lagging behind most metro cities in downloading speed for smartphones, according to a report released by Seattle-based Rootmetrics.

The independent mobile measurement company measures not only download and upload speeds, but call failures, text delivery and overall carrier performance. Dayton was the 10th slowest download city of the 75 cities measured. Buffalo was the slowest, Orlando the fastest. Ohio had two cities among the 10 slowest — Toledo was sixth.

Downloading is important to those who download videos and documents as speeds can range from a few minutes to a few seconds.

Rootmetrics publishes its results on its website, and has an app that can be downloaded to allow carrier customers to compare and do tests of their own. Through that app, consumers can allow their phones to be tested, but Rootmetrics says it does not know who owns the phone, only the area where it’s located.

“We are taking a very independent approach to this,” said Julie Dey, vice-president of marketing at Rootmetrics. “We are on the side of the consumer. We want to provide information that hasn’t been readily available before.”

Rootmetrics tested six carriers, with the four largest - Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint - showing better results than Metro PCS and Cricket.

Verizon tested the best in the Dayton area because it is the only carrier to have already installed LTE (Long Term Evolution) lines here. The lines are considered the fastest technology yet. The other carriers are working on moving that technology to Dayton — AT&T is doing extensive work in Englewood.

“The initial launch of our 4G LTE in the Dayton area was June, 2011,” said a Verizon spokesperson. “We’re not just in Dayton, but also Springfield, Centerville and other surrounding communities.”

While Verizon seems to be a little ahead of the crowd, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint are also working on installing the technology, spending billions nation-wide to do so.

“We have not yet launched LTE service in Dayton,” said John Adams of Sprint. “We know that we’ve had challenges in Dayton, but our data speeds improved in 2012. Our Network Vision project (not yet in Dayton) is expected to significantly improve speed issues.”

LTE technology is considered 2-3 times and as much as 10 times faster than other current technology, Dey said.

“We’re seeing a lot of really, really cool changes in regards to technology,” Dey said. “ It’s a great thing for consumers. It’s great especially for consumers who are streaming videos or downloading large files.

“In absence of LTE, a lot of carriers are bolstering their support network to very, very fast and quite reasonable data speeds as well.”

Rootmetrics, which has been in business for five years, travels to the cities it monitors twice a year and is looking at expanding the list.