Localized analysis reveals huge network experience gaps between mobile users in the U.S.

In this new analysis, Opensignal has segmented the mobile network experience of our U.S. users, to look at their distribution across different quality categories, at various geographical levels — ranging from the national level down to a city borough. We focused on three key metrics, essential for understanding the potential of meaningful mobile connectivity for our users — Video Experience, Download Speed Experience, and Time with no signal.

While some of our mobile users enjoy stunningly fast average download speeds or video experience rated as Very Good or Excellent — a substantial proportion of others suffer from subpar mobile network experience. Noteworthily, the distribution of quality of mobile network experience substantially varies at different geographies i.e. states or city boroughs.

Opensignal looked at the mobile network experience in New York City across its five boroughs, to determine the proportion of New Yorkers who have on average poor quality video services, low download speeds, and severe issues with connecting to the mobile networks.

10.6% of Opensignal smartphone users in Staten Island experience video services rated as Poor (below 48 points), on average, followed by Brooklyn (11.7%) and Queens (11.9%). Meanwhile, a higher percentage of our users in Manhattan and the Bronx see Poor Video Experience — 14% and 15.3%, respectively. The Poor rating means that our users, on average, encounter very high loading times or high levels of stalling or are only able to stream the video at resolutions below 720p. Looking at the group of users with an Excellent Video Experience rating (78 points or above) — 10.9% of users in Staten Island and 10.6% in Manhattan enjoy the highest quality of video services, while the percentage of users with this rating on average varies between 7.3% to 8.4% in other boroughs. Excellent Video Experience means that our users are able to stream video at 1080p or better with fast loading times and no stalling.

FCC defines broadband as download speeds of at least 25Mbps and upload speeds of at least 3Mbps — and we have used this definition as a benchmark for segmenting mobile users by their network experience. Opensignal looked at New York City boroughs, to see how many mobile users experience average download speeds below 25Mbps — despite download speeds in the New York City area averaging 84.4Mbps in the analyzed period. Staten Island has the lowest proportion of users with average download speeds below 25Mbps— 16.3%. More than a fifth of mobile users in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens don’t surpass this threshold — 23.9%, 22.8%, and 22.2%, respectively. Meanwhile, 32.6% of their peers in the Bronx see average download speeds below 25Mbps. 

NYC boroughs have vastly different population densities — while Staten Island (Richmond County) has 8,618.2 people per square mile, this figure is much higher in Manhattan (New York County), reaching 74,781.6. This explains why proportionally fewer users in Staten Island have speeds lower than 25Mbps than in Manhattan or Brooklyn, as network congestion in densely populated areas hampers the experience of mobile users, despite active 5G roll-outs in the local area. 

Across all New York City boroughs, Staten Island has the smallest proportion of users who enjoy average download speeds of 100Mbps or faster — only 17.4%, slightly lower than the Bronx (18.9%). Manhattan (27.8%), Brooklyn (33.3%), and Queens (34%) observe much higher segments of users with average download speeds above 100Mbps — and see a much higher variance in their average users’ scores than Staten Island.

Between December 1, 2022 and February 28, 2023, the U.S. national average for time with no signal was 0.8%, while the New York City average was 1%. Opensignal looked at the mobile network experience in New York City across its five boroughs, to determine the proportion of New Yorkers who have severe issues with connecting to the mobile networks — and spend over 5% of their time with no signal, more than five times the national or city average.

Staten Island sees the smallest proportion of users who struggle with connecting to mobile networks — only 2.1% of mobile users in this borough spend 5% or more of the time with no signal, followed by the Bronx (3.2% of mobile users) and Brooklyn (4.4%). On the other hand, Manhattan and Queens dwellers find it even more challenging to connect to a mobile signal, as 8% of users in each of these boroughs spend 5% or more of their time with no signal. Notably, 5% of mobile users in Queens see even higher time with no signal — 10% or more of the time — which is the highest proportion of users in this segment across all New York City boroughs.

The scale of Opensignal's data allows this analysis to be performed at a more local level. Here we look at the proportions of users across the Bronx who struggle with the mobile network experience. We observed a varying picture across the borough after we split it into 1-mile radius hexagonal bins. In some areas of the southwest part of the Bronx, more than 15% of our users have Poor Video Experience. However, even less than 10% of our users in the northern part of this borough struggle while using video services.

Looking at our users who see average download speeds below 25Mbps — in some areas of the southwest part of the Bronx, more than 40% of users have average download speeds below the broadband threshold. Meanwhile, in the Bronx’s southeast corner, less than 20% of users experience download speeds below 25Mbps. In terms of time with no signal, less than 1% of users observe time with no signal exceeding 5% of the time in the southeast corner of the Bronx and partly in its northern area. Meanwhile, more than 10 or even more than 15% of users struggle with no signal exceeding 5% in some areas of the southwest part of the borough, close to Manhattan.

We've seen that New York City — which as one of the most densely populated urban areas in the U.S. is prioritized by mobile carriers in terms of their infrastructure investment and 5G deployments — has areas where the mobile network experience is relatively poor. The same story plays out at the national level as a substantial number of American mobile users struggle with subpar mobile network experience.

17.5% of Opensignal U.S. smartphone users experienced video services rated as Poor (below 48). Only 5.9% of our users place in the Excellent (78 or above) category for Video Experience. 3.3% of our smartphone users have no signal for more than 5% of the time — which is more than five times higher than the national average of 0.8%. 35.7% of Opensignal smartphone users deal with average download speeds lower than 25Mbps — below what the FCC defines as broadband. Meanwhile, only 10.8% of our smartphone users enjoy average overall download speeds clocking in at over 100Mbps — and this could be soon the new, revised threshold level for broadband connectivity definition in the U.S.

Across the U.S. states — Vermont (10%), Hawaii (10%), and West Virginia (9.4%) see the highest percentage of users that have no mobile signal for more than 5% of the time. Mississippi has the highest percentage of users with average download speeds below 25Mbps and with Poor Video Experience across all the American states — 61% and 30.3%, respectively.

Users with inferior mobile network experience should be a concern for carriers

Opensignal segmented our user base by different geographies and quality buckets to get a more thorough and granular view of the distribution of the overall mobile network experience across mobile users. This approach allows us to highlight specific local areas where a high percentage of users struggle with inferior mobile network experience. We have used the FCC definition of broadband as download speeds of 25Mbps as our benchmark for Download Speed Experience — however, this definition was set back in 2015 and might soon be revised up to 100Mbps for downloads and 20Mbps for uploads, to catch up with the fast rate of technological advancement. In this case, only 10.8% of mobile users in the U.S. would experience mobile network services that qualify as broadband, should the FCC update its definition. 

A large proportion of mobile users with subpar network experience in local areas poses a risk of potential lost revenues for carriers. These users are either likely to switch operators to their competitors in pursuit of a better experience — or they won’t be able to benefit from additional services offered by mobile operators that require stellar and seamless mobile connectivity.

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