Ahead of the upcoming Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix race on November 18, 2023, Opensignal has analyzed the mobile network experience of our users around two iconic streets in Las Vegas — the Las Vegas Strip, renowned for its resort hotels and casinos; and Fremont Street, famous for the Fremont Street Experience shopping mall and the more vintage Vegas feel — to see how U.S. wireless carriers have been tuning their engines for this event.
Formula 1 is returning to Las Vegas for the first time since 1982 — drivers will compete for the title of the fastest driver while racing down the Las Vegas Strip. But which mobile carriers are true speed demons around this area when competing in 5G categories? T-Mobile leads the pack for 5G Download Speed with a score of 171.9Mbps — around 52% faster than its statistically-tied competitors. However, Verizon leaves its rivals eating dust on the 5G Upload Speed race track, with a score of 24.6Mbps — 14% faster than second-placed T-Mobile and 83.4% faster than AT&T, which brings up the rear.
T-Mobile takes the pole position for 5G Availability with a score of 66.8%, which reflects the percentage of time our 5G users with a 5G subscription have an active 5G connection. The carrier commands a colossal lead over both of its competitors, as our T-Mobile 5G users spend nearly triple the proportion of time connected to 5G services than on Verizon’s network and almost six times more than on AT&T’s network. This means that our users on T-Mobile’s network are likely to benefit from lightning-fast 5G download speeds much more often than their peers on other networks. During the Las Vegas Grand Prix, T-Mobile plans to launch an additional 5G network around the city circuit area to boost its 5G performance even further for the event.
Spectators gathered around the Las Vegas City Circuit will rely on video live streaming, to closely follow the fast-changing situation on the other side of the track. Verizon comes first for 5G Live Video Experience with a score of 63.1 points on a 100-point scale and a winning margin of around 11.2 points over statistically-tied AT&T and T-Mobile. For 5G Live Video Experience, Verizon places in the Excellent (58 or above) category. This means our users are, on average, able to stream video at least at 1080p with low loading times, little stalling, and a satisfactory live offset. Verizon also has the highest score for 5G Games Experience, 85.6 points on a 100-point scale — and rates as Excellent (85 or above). Nearly all users feel like they have control over the game and they receive immediate feedback on their actions — and there is not a noticeable delay in almost all cases.
Our users have the most consistent quality of mobile services on T-Mobile’s network, as the carrier comes first for Consistent Quality, with a score of 78.1%. To calculate the metric value, the proportion of tests that pass the requirements of Consistent Quality is multiplied by the test success ratio, which is the proportion of completed tests to all tests conducted. Tests that pass indicate that activities such as video calling, uploading an image to social media, or using smart home applications will be possible without noticeable lag or slowdown.
Compared to the same data collection period 12 months earlier, all U.S. national carriers observe notable relative increases in their average 5G download speed scores around the Las Vegas Strip and Fremont Street. AT&T’s 5G Download Speed has nearly doubled, while Verizon sees an increase of 68.8%. AT&T and Verizon have been catching up with T-Mobile’s 5G download speeds thanks to the 5G roll-outs in the C-band — although T-Mobile’s lead over both its competitors for 5G Download is still very substantial. In August 2023, Verizon gained access to 160MHz of spectrum, which it purchased during the auction in March 2021, which nearly triples its 5G spectrum assets available in Las Vegas and is likely to lead to even better 5G performance for this carrier.
While AT&T and Verizon have been closing the gap for 5G Download Speed between them and T-Mobile around the Las Vegas Strip and Fremont Street — T-Mobile has increased its lead for 5G Availability. Our 5G users on this network observe an increase of 14.3 percentage points of their time spent with an active 5G connection — which is a more substantial growth in 5G Availability in the area than in the case of Verizon (6.6 percentage points) or AT&T (1.7 percentage points).
The Las Vegas Grand Prix is a great opportunity for U.S. wireless carriers to show off their 5G capabilities. Las Vegas has been a testing ground for mobile innovation, as Dish first launched its 5G services in this city. In addition, Halo.Car introduced what it claims is the world-first driverless delivery of electronic vehicles in Las Vegas. They are remote-piloted over T-Mobile’s 5G network to the customers hiring them, with support from AT&T and Verizon for additional stability. Live sporting events continue to be focal points for investment and innovation for 5G operators. Opensignal will continue to quantify these advances in experience in 2024 and beyond.
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