After deploying a round of C-band 5G coverage at the beginning of the year, AT&T and Verizon have continued those efforts across 2022 as they look to catch up with T-Mobile. Now a new report from Opensignal shows how much of a difference the new mid-band 5G coverage has made for real-world performance and where the carriers stand.
The new study includes measurements taken between March and September this year. Here’s how C-band has improved AT&T and Verizon’s 5G performance:
“Since March, AT&T users’ 5G Download Speed has increased by 34.6% which has been powered by a rising share of 5G readings that use C-band — it has increased from 4.6% to over 30% in the same time frame. On Verizon we see a similar upward trend — our users’ average 5G Download Speed has increased by 15.8%, with the share of 5G readings growing from 16.2% to nearly 50%, but AT&T is narrowing the gap.”
For context, T-Mobile’s average 5G download speed this past summer was 171 Mbps in Opensignal’s report.
Opensignal also split out performance based on the 5G bands being used to better highlight how much of a difference the mid-C-band spectrum makes.
For AT&T, C-band 5G download speeds were 2.7 to 3.4 times faster than lower spectrum bands.
For Verizon, C-band 5G download speeds were 3.1 to 4.3 times faster than its lower spectrum bands.
While AT&T and Verizon have made progress, they are still heavily reliant on the slower low-bands than T-Mobile.
T-Mobile has over 70% of its 5G coverage coming from mid-C-bands while Verizon has a 45%, and AT&T just under 30%.
But here’s a look at the progress AT&T and Verizon have made in just over half a year with the teal green showing growth in C-band coverage.
Opensignal notes that while Verizon’s C-band rollout “is more mature than AT&T’s, it cannot be complacent as it remains a long way behind T-Mobile in the use of mid-band 5G spectrum to boost its users’ experience — and our users on T-Mobile’s network have experienced faster speeds than those on AT&T or Verizon’s networks.”
You can check out the full report on Opensignal’s website.
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