5G Experience Report October 2021

US carriers have further expanded their 5G coverage using their low band 5G networks. However, the largest and most notable improvement was driven by the expansion of mid-band 5G. AT&T and Verizon are about to receive the first tranche of C-band spectrum (3.7–3.98 GHz) — which will be released in December 2021, and have made plans already to deploy their own mid-band 5G and follow the path T-Mobile pioneered with the deployment of its 2.5 GHz spectrum. 

T-Mobile wins the 5G Download Speed award for the fourth time in a row, increasing once again its lead on Verizon and AT&T, with T-Mobile users’ average 5G download speeds breaking through the 100 Mbps mark. T-Mobile leds by an impressive 62.7 Mbps and with a 5G Download Speed that’s more than twice as fast as AT&T and Verizon’s scores. T-Mobile users saw average 5G download speeds of 118.7 Mbps, ahead of our users on Verizon and AT&T which scored 56 Mbps and 51.5 Mbps, respectively. T-Mobile users spent over one third of their time — 34.7% — with an active 5G connection compared with 16.4% for AT&T users and 9.7% on Verizon. T-Mobile wins the 5G Upload Speed award with a score of 16.1 Mbps, which shows a 0.9 Mbps improvement. Verizon places second at 14.4 Mbps. AT&T follows behind with 9.7 Mbps.