According to the latest Opensignal 5G experience report, Verizon remains the sole winner of the experiential measures, which include the gaming and voice app experience, but T-Mobile US “dominates in both the speed metrics and in the two measures of a network’s extent.” Further, T-Mobile US, overall, demonstrated more notable improvements in all categories when compared to Verizon and AT&T.
“T-Mobile reported it hit its 2021 goal of covering 200 million people with what it calls its “Ultra Capacity 5G” service which relies on the 2.5GHz band. AT&T and Verizon have little similar mid-band 5G spectrum able to support their users’ experience because they have seen C-band 5G launches delayed,” commented Opensignal.
The delay in question resulted from concerns raised by the aviation industry that 5G operations in the C-band spectrum could interfere with some radio altimeters used for low-altitude aircraft flight.
5G Availability and reach
T-Mobile users experienced both better 5G availability and reach than AT&T and Verizon users, connecting more than double the amount of to 5G than measured on second-placed AT&T. T-Mobile users, according to the report, were on 5G services 35.4% of the time, while AT&T users were connected to 5G 16.5% of the time to 5G networks, and Verizon 9.5% of the time.
For 5G reach, T-Mobile scored 7.4 points on a 10-point scale, which represents an increase of 0.2 points since Opensignal’s October 5G Experience report. AT&T places second with 5.2 points — a 0.3-point increase since October — and Verizon saw a 0.2-point increase, scoring 3.7 points.
5G speeds
T-Mobile US also claimed first place in 5G download and upload speed, both of which increased since the last Opensingal experience report. The carrier now averages download speeds of 150 Mbps, up from 118.7 Mbps in October, and an upload speed of 17.9 Mbps, an 1.8-Mbp increase. Opensignal also pointed out that a year ago, T-Mobile users saw a 5G Download Speed score of 58.1 Mbps, demonstrating the carrier’s continued upward trend, likely the result of the carrier’s deployment of 2.5 GHz spectrum.
This user experience differs quick drastically from the one that Verizon and AT&T are currently offering, according to the report. Verizon users saw no statistical change since the previous report in their average 5G download speeds of 56.2 Mbps, while AT&T users saw a 2.4 Mbps decline that brought it down to 49.1 Mbps.
For upload speed, Verizon placed second with a score of 14.1 Mbps and AT&T came in last with 9.9 Mbps.
