Mobile Experience in Rural USA - An Operator Comparison

US mobile operators are launching 5G networks in a multitude of cities, with urban smartphone users now experiencing some of the fastest real-world mobile download speeds to date to build on the existing state of US mobile experience. However, many rural users will likely have to wait several years before they see a 5G connection even with moves to launch 5G on lower frequency bands. In the meantime, rural users will have to settle for connecting to legacy 4G and 3G networks.

• Opensignal users on Verizon’s network experienced the highest 4G Availability across the rural U.S. Unlike users on other carriers, our Verizon users on average connected to 4G more than 80% of the time in all types of rural locales from Fringe to Remote.

• Opensignal’s users on AT&T and T-Mobile's networks enjoyed a faster Download Speed Experience across the rural U.S. than users on other carriers, including Verizon. In the Distant and Remote rural areas AT&T users experienced average download speeds of 15 Mbps and 14.6 Mbps respectively compared with 13.8 Mbps and 12.3 Mbps for users on Verizon.

• Our users on Verizon’s network saw the fastest Upload Speed Experience across all types of rural locales compared with users connecting with AT&T, T-Mobile, or Sprint. Verizon users experienced speeds of 5.4 Mbps, 3.7 Mbps and 3.7 Mbps in Fringe, Distant and Remote rural areas.

• Across all of the rural US, our AT&T users on average experienced lower latencies than their peers on other networks. Even small latency differences affect the experience of real-time applications like multiplayer games. For example, our Verizon rural users experienced latencies between 3.7 and 4.5 milliseconds slower compared with users on AT&T in rural locales, while our T-Mobile users’ latencies were between 4.9 and 8.8 milliseconds slower.

• Across the rural U.S. Sprint users had a weaker mobile network experience in all of our metrics compared with our users on other networks. After the T-Mobile-Sprint merger completes, the new company will aim to transition rural Sprint users to a stronger experience — Opensignal will monitor how the new company’s mobile experience changes.