It's just another reason why you should ignore 5G for now. The new network does allow the carrier to say it has the " biggest 5G network." Does it matter? No, because there are still a few hoops you need to jump through to access 5G. But wow are the speeds impressive I jumped between 600 Mbps to 1.5 gigabits per second on Verizon's mmWave network in Chicago.Īll of this is why, as you can see from my test, T-Mobile's 5G speeds at the moment aren't going to be all that different from what you can get today on 4G LTE. ![]() It requires clusters of 5G antennas, or nodes, in a small sector to be effective, which is why at the moment it's utilized for high-traffic areas in cities, stadiums, and soon, airports. The mmWave tech has some critical flaws, like having almost zero building penetration, not to mention an effective signal range of only a city block or two. I usually saw between 110 to 400 Mbps speeds when I tested Sprint's mid-band 5G network in Dallas and New York.ĪT&T and Verizon are-at the moment-deploying millimeter wave (mmWave) 5G service, which delivers significantly faster speeds. Sprint, which claims to be able to cover 11 million people with its 5G network, uses mid-band frequencies that aren't as wide-reaching as low-band, but they can still cover a good deal of ground (and penetrate most buildings and cars) while offering even faster speeds. It could also make for safer roads, since self-driving cars with 5G radios would be able to communicate with each other quickly to better avoid collisions.īy Klint Finley, Joanna Pearlstein, and Simon Hillīut other carriers are using different spectrum. Much like how 4G LTE fostered a boom in mobile media streaming, 5G is poised to alter the tech landscape by advancing the growth of smarter cities where all the connected streetlamps, traffic lights, and object sensors can communicate in ways that let them work together more efficiently. Isn't 5G supposed to be super fast? Why, then, the measly 20 percent speed boost? Yes, the fifth generation of mobile network technology promises to bring much faster speeds, with the ability to connect multiple devices together at once. For reference, the average mobile download speed in the US is 34 Mbps, according to Ookla, and it's usually faster in more populated areas.īut that (relatively minor) bump over existing speeds isn't what you might have pictured for 5G, especially after all the hype from mobile carriers touting the next-gen network over the past few years. That's a little more than what T-Mobile said people should expect on its 5G network-a 20 percent bump in speed. I measured 140 megabits per second (Mbps) download speeds in Brooklyn on 5G using Ookla's Speed Test app, while a phone on T-Mobile's 4G LTE network hit around 106 Mbps in the same location. ![]() ![]() I've been testing T-Mobile's new nationwide network, and yes, in almost every case, it's faster than the performance you would see on the carrier’s 4G LTE network. The cellular status on my phone has listed "5G" instead of the usual "4G LTE" the past few days. That's what watching a video on T-Mobile's new 5G network is like: great, but not vastly different from my current experience using any other phone over 4G LTE. The YouTube stream never stalled, and when I scrubbed back through the video to rewatch Rami Malek's big entrance, I waited a mere second before the clip rebuffered and continued playing. ![]() Daniel Craig flew high into the sky atop his motorbike as I watched the trailer for No Time to Die on my phone's screen.
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