USA
Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumer mobile experience. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding the true experience consumers receive on wireless networks.
USA
Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumer mobile experience. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding the true experience consumers receive on wireless networks.
Key Findings
T-Mobile has the fastest 5G experience in the U.S.
T-Mobile wins both the 5G Download Speed and 5G Upload Speed awards outright for the seventh consecutive time. Our T-Mobile users enjoy average 5G download speeds clocking in at 186.3Mbps — more than 100Mbps faster than the speeds Verizon’s users experience. T-Mobile is also the sole winner of 5G Upload Speed, with a score of 17.9Mbps — although second-placed Verizon has whittled away at T-Mobile’s lead, halving the gap from 3.8Mbps seen in the last report to 1.9Mbps now.
Verizon wins 5G Video Experience outright
Verizon is the sole winner of 5G Video Experience with a score of 67.2 points on a 100 point scale. It wins the award by a hair, as T-Mobile is just 0.3 points behind Verizon, while AT&T brings up the rear with a score of 60.5 points. 5G Video Experience scores account for adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR), a technology that allows Opensignal to accurately represent users’ real-world video experience including streaming resolutions as high as 4K quality using 5G.
Our 5G users connect to 5G services on T-Mobile’s network for nearly half of the time
T-Mobile wins 5G Availability with an impressive lead over its competitors. Compared to the previous report, T-Mobile’s score has improved by a sizable 9.2 percentage points. As a result, our 5G users on this network now connect to 5G or better services 49.7% of the time. This is 2.4 times more than AT&T 5G users and 5.6 times more than Verizon 5G users.
Verizon defends both 5G Games Experience and 5G Voice App Experience awards
Verizon remains the sole winner of 5G Games Experience and 5G Voice App Experience awards. It wins 5G Games Experience with a score of 78.1 points on a 100-point scale and is the only operator in the U.S. to rate as Good (75-85), which means most users deem the experience acceptable and find no delay between their actions and the game. Verizon also wins 5G Voice App Experience with a score of 81.3 points — again it’s the only operator in the U.S. with a Good (80-87) experience — meaning many users are satisfied, but some experience minor quality impairments.
T-Mobile triumphs in 5G Reach
T-Mobile wins 5G Reach outright with a score of 8.3 on a 10-point scale, commanding a lead of 2.4 points over the runner-up AT&T which scores 5.9. This score means our T-Mobile users connect to a 5G network in more than eight out of ten locations they visit. Since the last report both AT&T and T-Mobile observed increases in their 5G Reach scores of 0.5 and 0.6 points respectively, while Verizon saw a minor decline of 0.1 points.
T-Mobile and Verizon fight a tight battle for regional 5G awards
Across U.S. states, Verizon dominates the experiential metrics (5G Video Experience, 5G Games Experience and 5G Voice Experience) while regionally T-Mobile shines in 5G Download Speed and coverage categories — 5G Availability and 5G Reach. Verizon and T-Mobile split regional awards for 5G Upload Speed almost evenly.
5G Experience Awards
Market Overview
In this USA 5G Experience report, we observe AT&T and Verizon narrow the gap between them and the leader T-Mobile in terms of 5G download and upload speeds thanks to their 5G deployment in the C-band. However, T-Mobile remains the sole winner of both 5G speed and both 5G coverage awards, while also widening its lead over its competitors for 5G Download Speed and 5G Availability. Verizon defends both 5G Games Experience and 5G Voice App Experience — it also wins the third experiential metric, 5G Video Experience.
The Federal Communications Commission concluded a new 2.5GHz spectrum auction in August 2022 (Auction 108), grossing nearly $428 million, with T-Mobile obtaining the largest number of regional licenses for over $304 million which will complement the existing 2.5GHz licenses it holds and that is a key band for its 5G services. T-Mobile secured 7,156 regional licenses — substantially more than UScellular (34 licenses for $3.5 million) or Verizon Wireless (12 licenses for $1.5 million), while AT&T ended with no licenses. T-Mobile also purchased licenses in the 600MHz band for $3.5 billion from Channel 51 License Co. and LB License Co. which will help extend the availability of 5G in rural areas and to help penetrate inside city buildings. The operator has already been using these licenses through exclusive leasing arrangements since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A few months after the auction, T-Mobile extended 5G standalone access services in November 2022 onto its mid-band 2.5GHz spectrum. Previously, T-Mobile launched 5G standalone access in August 2020 but using the 600MHz band. T-Mobile said in December 2022 that it covers 323 million Americans with its 600MHz band (Extended Range service) and 260 million with its Ultra Capacity service, using the 2.5GHz band. In the same month, T-Mobile announced that it had deployed 5G on the 1900MHz band for additional capacity support.
Meanwhile, Verizon Wireless announced in December 2022 that it covers more than 175 million people with its 5G Ultra Wideband service, and expects to provide nationwide coverage by the end of the first quarter of 2023. The carrier will also improve capacity by increasing the amount of dedicated C-band spectrum from 60 to 100MHz across many markets, aiming for 200MHz once all of its licensed spectrum is made available. Opensignal recently analyzed the impact of 5G deployments in the C-band on the mobile experience of our AT&T and Verizon users, with our data showing boosts in average 5G download speeds with the increasing share of the spectrum band.
Verizon also stated that it has started moving commercial 5G traffic onto its 5G standalone access network. The operator deactivated its 3G network at the end of December 2022, following the tracks of AT&T and T-Mobile which shut down their 3G networks earlier in 2022.
In this report, we analyze our users' 5G experience in the U.S. on each of the three national carriers — AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon over a period of 90 days starting on September 16, 2022 and ending on December 14, 2022, to see how they fared. Also, we analyze how the 5G experience varies across 48 U.S. states and in the capital, Washington, D.C. In the regional analysis, we also include regional mobile network operator UScellular for the first time alongside the three national players.
We have published a companion USA Mobile Network Experience report which analyzes our U.S. users’ overall experience across all generations of network technology.
5G Experience
National Analysis
Verizon wins 5G Video Experience with a score of 67.2 points on a 100-point scale — just 0.3 points ahead of second-placed T-Mobile. AT&T brings up the rear with a score of 60.5 points. 5G Video Experience scores account for adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR), a technology that allows Opensignal to accurately represent users’ real-world video experience in markets where they can stream up to 4K resolution using 5G.
Comparing operators’ 5G Video Experience results to their overall Video Experience scores, Verizon users see the largest improvement of 12.7 points, followed by T-Mobile users (6.3 points) and AT&T users (5.5 points).
Definitions
5G Video Experience quantifies the quality of mobile video experienced by Opensignal users on real-world video streams when they were connected to 5G. The metric is based on an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach, built upon detailed studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters, including picture quality, video loading time and stall rate, with the perceived video experience as reported by real people. To calculate 5G Video Experience, we are directly measuring video streams from end-user devices and using this ITU approach to quantify the video experience observed by our users on each operator’s 5G network on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions — including Full HD (FHD) and 4K / Ultra HD (UHD) — and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
National Analysis
Verizon remains the sole winner of 5G Games Experience, with a score of 78.1 points on a 100-point scale. T-Mobile takes second place, 3.8 points behind Verizon, while AT&T comes third, with a score of 70 points. Compared to the previous report, users on all operators observed increases in their scores, ranging from 1.6 points for AT&T to 1.9 points for Verizon.
Verizon is the only operator in the U.S. to rate as Good (75-85), which means most users deem the experience acceptable and do not see a delay between their actions and the game. Both AT&T and T-Mobile place in the Fair (65-75) category.
Looking at the uplift that our users see with 5G over the overallexperience, Verizon sees the biggest improvement in its games experience score out of all the main U.S. operators — of 11.2 points. Both AT&T and T-Mobile users observe smaller improvements, of 5.7 and 5.9 points, respectively.
Definitions
5G Games Experience measures how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator's 5G network. It analyzes how our users’ multiplayer mobile gaming experience was affected by mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter. 5G Games Experience for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.
5G Games Experience quantifies the experience when playing real-time multiplayer mobile games on mobile devices connected to servers located around the world. The approach is built on several years of research quantifying the relationship between technical network parameters and the gaming experience as reported by real mobile users. These parameters include latency (round trip time), jitter (variability of latency) and packet loss (the proportion of data packets that never reach their destination). Additionally, it considers multiple genres of multiplayer mobile games to measure the average sensitivity to network conditions. The games tested include some of the most popular real-time multiplayer mobile games (such as Fortnite, Pro Evolution Soccer and Arena of Valor) played around the world. Calculating 5G Games Experience starts with measuring the end-to-end experience from users’ devices to internet end-points that host real games.
National Analysis
Verizon retains the 5G Voice App Experience award, with a score of 81.3 points — 1.5 points ahead of T-Mobile and two points ahead of third-place AT&T. All operators observed increases in their scores in the 0.4-0.6 points range since the last report.
Verizon is the only operator in the U.S. to place in the Good (80-87) category — many users were satisfied, but some experience minor quality impairments. AT&T and T-Mobile rate as Acceptable (74-80).
Definitions
5G Voice App Experience quantifies the experience of Opensignal users when using over-the-top voice apps — such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger — on an operator’s 5G network. It uses a model derived from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach for quantifying overall voice call quality and a series of calibrated technical parameters. This model characterizes the exact relationship between the technical measurements and perceived call quality. 5G Voice App Experience for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.
National Analysis
This report marks T-Mobile’s seventh outright victory for 5G Download Speed in a row. Our T-Mobile users enjoy average 5G download speeds clocking in at 186.3Mbps — more than 100Mbps faster than on Verizon’s network and more than 115Mbps on AT&T’s network. Even though AT&T comes last, it saw the highest increase in average 5G download speeds compared to the last report — of 17.5Mbps (32.7%). This is a more substantial increase in absolute and relative terms than T-Mobile’s users’ 15.3Mbps (9%) jump or Verizon users’ 12.1Mbps (16.6%).
Verizon’s 5G Download Speed score is 2.7 times higher than its Download Speed Experience — followed by T-Mobile (2.3 times) and AT&T (1.9 times). These scores highlight the extent to which 5G powers a much faster user experience.
Definitions
5G Download Speed shows the average download speed experienced by Opensignal users across an operator’s 5G network. 5G Download Speed for each operator is calculated in Mbps (Megabits per second).
National Analysis
T-Mobile wins 5G Upload Speed for the seventh consecutive time, with a score of 17.9Mbps. Verizon comes second, 1.9Mbps behind the winner, while AT&T loses by 3.9Mbps to T-Mobile. However, our AT&T and Verizon users enjoyed bigger boosts in their average 5G upload speeds compared to the speeds seen in the last report — 2.2Mbps and 2.1Mbps respectively — than T-Mobile’s 0.2Mbps. As a result, the runner-up Verizon has whittled away at T-Mobile’s lead, halving the gap from 3.8Mbps since the previous report to 1.9Mbps this time.
Verizon’s 5G Upload Speed score is twice as high as its Upload Speed Experience, ahead of AT&T (1.9 times) and T-Mobile (1.7 times).
Definitions
5G Upload Speed measures the average upload speeds experienced by Opensignal users across an operator’s 5G network. 5G Upload Speed for each operator is calculated in Mbps (Megabits per second).
Regional Analysis
In this report we analyze the mobile network experience across 48 U.S. states, plus in the capital Washington D.C. On top of AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, for the first time, we also include regional mobile network operator UScellular in 17 states.
T-Mobile and Verizon fought a tight battle for 5G Experience state awards. Verizon ends with 95 outright and 61 joint wins out of 245 regional awards available. The bulk of Verizon’s outright victories are mainly in the 5G Games Experience, 5G Upload Speed and 5G Voice App Experience categories. T-Mobile collects 81 5G Experience state awards as sole wins and shares 54 more, with the majority of its outright wins for 5G speed metrics. AT&T and UScellular had much smaller hauls — AT&T wins six regional 5G Experience awards outright and 25 jointly, while UScellular shares the winners’ podium seven times, with no sole wins under its belt.
In 5G Download Speed, T-Mobile comes first in all 49 areas, winning outright in 47 of them. Our T-Mobile users enjoy the fastest average 5G download speeds in the District of Columbia, clocking in at 262Mbps. Only in two states, T-Mobile has to share the winners’ podium with AT&T for 5G Download Speed — in North Dakota and West Virginia
While T-Mobile dominates the 5G Download Speed category, there is much tighter competition in the other speed category — 5G Upload Speed. Both T-Mobile and Verizon win outright in 22 regions each, while also jointly winning in five and four states, respectively. T-Mobile and Verizon are in a statistical tie in Alabama, New Mexico, West Virginia and Wyoming. UScellular secures its only joint win for 5G Upload Speed in Texas, sharing it with T-Mobile. Our T-Mobile users in the District of Colombia and New York observe the fastest average 5G upload speeds in the country, statistically tied in the 31.7-32.3Mbps range.
Verizon collects most of its outright 5G Experience state awards in experiential metrics. It is the sole winner in 32 regions for 5G Games Experience, 23 regions for 5G Voice App Experience and 18 regions for Video Experience while securing multiple shared awards in these categories, respectively. T-Mobile’s haul is much smaller, with nine outright wins for 5G Video Experience and three for 5G Games Experience with none for 5G Voice Experience, along with numerous joint wins across all three experiential categories.
AT&T collects its only outright wins in the 5G Experience section for 5G Games Experience (two — Delaware and Ohio) and 5G Voice App Experience (four — Delaware, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Washington), while also sharing the winners’ podium seven and 17 times, respectively. It ties with T-Mobile and Verizon for 5G Video Experience in South Dakota. While UScellular has no outright wins, it secures six joint wins across the experiential metrics — two for 5G Video Experience, three for 5G Voice App Experience and one for 5G Games Experience. In Maine, UScellular jointly wins in all three 5G experiential categories.
Regional Analysis Summary: USA, 5G Experience Report, January 2023
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Coverage
National Analysis
T-Mobile is the sole winner of 5G Availability with an impressive lead over its competitors. Compared to the previous report, T-Mobile’s score significantly improved by 9.2 percentage points. As a result, our 5G users on this network connect to 5G 49.7% of the time. T-Mobile’s score is nearly 30 percentage points higher than AT&T’s score of 20.5% and over 40 percentage points higher than Verizon’s result of 8.8%.
Definitions
Our availability metrics are not a measure of a network’s geographical extent. They won’t tell you whether you are likely to get a signal if you plan to visit a remote rural or nearly uninhabited region. Instead, they measure what proportion of time people have a network connection, in the places they most commonly frequent — something often missed by traditional coverage metrics. Looking at when users have a connection rather than where, provides us with a more precise reflection of the true user experience.
We also keep track of the instances that leave mobile users most frustrated: when there is no signal to connect to at all. The most common dead zones users struggle with occur indoors. As most of our availability data is collected indoors (as that’s where users spend most of their time), we’re particularly astute at detecting areas of zero signal.
Our availability metrics take a user-centric, time-based approach that complements the user-centric and geographical-based methodology used by our reach metrics.
5G Availability shows the proportion of time Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription had an active 5G connection.
National Analysis
T-Mobile wins 5G Reach outright with a score of 8.3 on a 10-point scale, commanding a lead of 2.4 points over the runner-up AT&T which scored 5.9. This score means our T-Mobile users connect to a 5G network in more than eight out of ten locations they visit.
Since the last report both AT&T and T-Mobile observed increases in their 5G Reach scores of 0.5 and 0.6 points respectively. Meanwhile, Verizon saw a minor decline of 0.1 points, ending with a score of 3.8 points — less than half of T-Mobile’s result.
Definitions
5G Reach measures how users experience the geographical extent of an operator’s 5G network. It analyzes the average proportion of locations where users were connected to a 5G network out of all the locations those users have visited. In simple terms, 5G Reach measures the 5G mobile experience in all the locations that matter most to everyday users – i.e. all the places where they live, work and travel. 5G Reach for each operator is measured on a scale from 0 to 10.
Regional Analysis
T-Mobile dominates the Coverage section of 5G regional awards. It achieves a clean sweep for 5G Availability, winning outright in all 49 covered regions. Our T-Mobile 5G users connect to 5G services for the highest amount of time in the District of Columbia — 60.2%. T-Mobile also wins across all 49 areas for 5G Reach — however, in Arkansas it has to share the winners’ podium with AT&T.
Regional Analysis Summary: USA, 5G Experience Report, January 2023
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A-D
- Alabama
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- District of Columbia
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E-H
- Florida
- Georgia
- Hawaii
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I-L
- Idaho
- Illinois
- Indiana
- Iowa
- Kansas
- Kentucky
- Louisiana
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M-P
- Maine
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Minnesota
- Mississippi
- Missouri
- Montana
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- New Mexico
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota
- Ohio
- Oklahoma
- Oregon
- Pennsylvania
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Q-T
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Texas
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U-X
- Utah
- Virginia
- Washington
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
in Alabama
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