F1 made a grand return to Las Vegas last year, with the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix exceeding expectations and thrilling fans. During the race week, the event recorded 16 billion social media impressions, much of it shared and viewed over mobile connections. Opensignal’s analysis of user experience leading up to the event showed how operators leveled up their networks and infrastructure, ready to deliver a seamless user experience and handle the massive volume of traffic.
In this new analysis, we assess the performance of the three national operators — T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T — in the area around the race location, the Las Vegas Strip and Fremont Street, to give insights into the mobile experience users can expect at the event. We also compare these results to the previous year’s to see how network improvements have improved performance.
Key Findings:
- T-Mobile provides the fastest average download speeds around the race location. T-Mobile boasts a Download Speed Experience score of 145.9Mbps — twice as fast as its closest competitor, Verizon — and its 5G Download Speed clocks in at 200Mbps.
- The quality of experience is high on Verizon’s network. Verizon tops the leaderboard for Consistent Quality and shares the top spot for Reliability Experience with AT&T.
- T-Mobile’s 5G users spend almost three quarters of their time with an active 5G connection. Around the Las Vegas Strip and Fremont Street, T-Mobile’s 5G Availability is at just under 75%, over 53-56 percentage points ahead of Verizon and AT&T.
- Experience has improved across the board. Compared to a year prior, Download Speed Experience, 5G Download Speed and Consistent Quality have improved on all three operators; AT&T’s and T-Mobile’s 5G Availability has also risen.
User experience isn’t defined solely by fast speeds. Mobile users increasingly prioritize reliability when evaluating their wireless carriers, ranking it just below cost in importance. Opensignal’s Consistent Quality and Reliability Experience metrics provide a more rounded picture of the stability of a network.
Along the the Las Vegas Strip and Fremont Street, Verizon is the highest scoring operator for Consistent Quality, and shares first place for Reliability Experience and Live Video Experience. Verizon’s Consistent Quality score of 84.1% is a large improvement over the national results, where it ranks lowest — although it does come first for Consistent Quality in Nevada. Verizon’s network upgrades around the Las Vegas area, along with millimeter-wave (mmWave) deployed along the Strip and Fremont Street, have helped boost its performance and provide exceptional user experience.
Looking at the amount of time our 5G users spend with an active 5G connection — 5G Availability — T-Mobile remains out in front. T-Mobile’s impressive 74.7% is 53 percentage points higher than second-placed Verizon, although all three operators score higher than they do on a national level. Higher 5G Availability allows users to benefit more from the enhanced experience that 5G provides.
Live streaming plays a major role in the race-week festivities. At the 2023 event, T-Mobile introduced an immersive driving experience app, while Verizon enabled content creators and drivers to deliver real-time entertainment via Mobile Creator Studio. All three operators statistically tie for Live Video Experience, with their scores placing them in the Excellent (58 or above) category. This means that our users were, on average, able to stream video at least at 1080p with low loading times, little stalling and a satisfactory live offset.
T-Mobile remains in pole position for both Download Speed Experience and 5G Download Speed, maintaining a sizable lead over the competition. Our T-Mobile users’ overall average download speed is over twice that of those on Verizon, and 2.4 times AT&T’s score. Additionally, its 5G Download Speed has reached the 200Mbps threshold. T-Mobile’s Download Speed Experience score is bolstered by its high 5G Availability allowing users to more often benefit from the increased speeds that 5G offers. These rankings mirror the national results, where T-Mobile’s more mature C-band offering has allowed it to outpace the other two mobile network operators (MNOs) for average download speeds.
T-Mobile also dominates for Upload Speed Experience, again supported by its high 5G Availability. However, Verizon is first for 5G Upload Speed. With social media sharing reaching a fever-pitch during race-week, fast uploads play a significant role in users’ experience.
All three operators have committed significant resources into expanding their connectivity and improving performance in the Las Vegas area. AT&T’s, Verizon’s and T-Mobile’s investments into high traffic areas such as the Las Vegas Strip and Fremont Street have improved user experience across all examined metrics. The comparison of the same July to October period for 2023 and 2024 shows speed increases on all three operators. The overall download speed on Verizon rose by two-thirds, and T-Mobile’s boost of 40% takes its score to a dizzying 145.9Mbps. 5G Download Speed is also up across the board — T-Mobile’s score rising to the 200Mbps threshold. Along with expanded C-band bandwidth deployment, the addition of mmWave outside of casinos and in high traffic areas enables extremely fast speeds and increased capacity.
Compared to the prior year, Verizon has made significant progress in Consistent Quality, with an increase of over 12 percentage points pushing it ahead of the competition. AT&T and T-Mobile both saw their experience improve; however, T-Mobile’s lesser increase of 2.2 percentage points caused it to slip from first to last.
T-Mobile remains well ahead of the competition for 5G Availability, its lead increasing due to an eight percentage point increase. AT&T has closed the gap somewhat for second place, its two-thirds increase in score bringing it almost in-line with Verizon.
The return of F1 to Las Vegas has been a tremendous success, mirrored by the achievements of all three mobile operators. All three have invested a significant amount of resources to ensure they deliver a seamless user experience around the Las Vegas Strip and Fremont Street, and this has clearly paid off. Performance has improved year over year, mostly exceeding national levels, showcasing the service delivered at the event.
Operators also used network slicing during the event, with T-Mobile and Verizon showcasing unique applications of the technology. Verizon enabled creators and drivers to livestream event content seamlessly, while T-Mobile provided dedicated network access for vendors and race operators.
To learn about the national experience of the three MNOs, please read our most recent mobile network experience report. And why not stay up-to-date with all the Opensignal insights and articles by signing up to our newsletter?
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