Quantifying the US Urban 5G Experience: Understanding mmWave 5G

The type of 5G spectrum used by carriers greatly affects the experience that users enjoy. Some of these spectrum bands are more commonly used in cities and so it’s important to look at these urban locations separately from national measures. Looking at five US cities — Atlanta, Houston, Los Angeles, New York and Washington DC — we see the average 5G Download Speed using Verizon is very significantly faster than the other US carriers. In every city, the average 5G Download Speed is over three times faster using Verizon than on either AT&T or T-Mobile. However, most of these measurements were taken before Verizon’s launch of 5G using lower frequency bands which Verizon calls “nationwide 5G” and that change in technology will affect future results and likely cause the variation in the 5G experience on different carriers to narrow.

When we look at 5G Upload Speed we see a mixed picture. In two cities — New York and Washington DC — the 5G Upload Speeds we see using T-Mobile and Verizon are statistically tied ahead of AT&T. But in Houston AT&T is tied with T-Mobile with Verizon lagging and in Atlanta and in Los Angeles T-Mobile has a clear lead. However, all the 5G Upload Speeds we see are considerably slower than the 5G Download Speeds.

In future, all carriers will deploy multiple types of 5G spectrum which will work in tandem to offer the best possible mobile experience for users. But today, each US carrier has had to work with the spectrum they have currently available, until further 5G spectrum auctions happen and the mid-band 5G assets auctioned by the Federal Communications Commission in mid-2020 become available for use.