Fifth-generation mobile technology, called 5G, is a relatively new channel for telecommunications that reached the public in 2019. It’s an improvement on 3G, 4G and 4G LTE networks, promising a more reliable connection as well as faster download and upload speeds.
Some major phone providers provide better 5G services than others.
Network analytics group Opensignal recently released their latest Mobile Network Experience Report, which ranked the leaders in 5G connectivity between March and May 2024. They determined their rankings through individual data collected from over 100 million devices globally.
T-Mobile reigned supreme for its general overall experience, but Verizon beat it in overall 5G experience.
T-Mobile also beat out Verizon for the best 5G download speeds, but Verizon won in the other four 5G subcategories: 5G video experience, live video, gaming and upload speeds.
AT&T won for its availability for the fifth time in a row, which Opensignal defines as the “proportion of time our users spend with a 3G or better connection.” Although, Verizon was a close second. AT&T placed third in most categories.
Here’s a breakdown of the scores. First, let’s look at the overall experience scores, ranked between zero and 100 points.
Video experience
- T-Mobile: 63.7
- Verizon: 59.8
- AT&T: 59.3
Live video experience
- T-Mobile: 62.6
- AT&T: 59.4
- Verizon: 59.0
Games experience
- T-Mobile: 71.7
- Verizon: 68.8
- AT&T: 63.4
The next categories are measured in megabits per second.
Download speed experience
- T-Mobile: 139.3 Mbps
- AT&T: 49.9 Mbps
- Verizon: 42.6 Mbps
Upload speed experience
- T-Mobile: 13.9 Mbps
- Verizon: 8.3 Mbps
- AT&T: 6.6 Mbps
Now, let’s get into Opensignal’s rankings for 5G experience. Once again starting with a zero to 100 point scale.
5G video experience
- Verizon: 70.2
- T-Mobile: 67.9
- AT&T: 65.4
5G live video experience
- Verizon: 70.9
- T-Mobile: 68.7
- AT&T: 65.7
5G games experience
- Verizon: 82.6
- T-Mobile: 77.9
- AT&T: 69.8
The following scores are measured in megabits per second.
5G download experience
- T-Mobile: 226.7 Mbps
- Verizon: 150.5 Mbps
- AT&T: 142.1 Mbps
5G upload speed
- Verizon: 21.2 Mbps
- T-Mobile: 18.8 Mbps
- AT&T: 14.1 Mbps
Opensignal’s rankings for mobile network experience in this most recent report are relatively unchanged from the previous, with T-Mobile consistently winning the most awards.
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