Good for downloading all those SSNs very quickly after you breach their servers!
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T-Mobile Wins Title of Fastest U.S. Carrier in 2021 5G Test
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I took advantage of T-Mo’s Test Drive App last month, comparing it and AT&T side by side in the seven states I traveled through for work. The only location T outperformed A was in the heart of NYC. Everywhere else it was consistently slower and less reliable.
Was nice of them to give users the ability to compare the two in real world use, but the results were less than beneficial for them in the end.
States visited: Idaho, Oregon, Washington, California, New York, New Jersey and Louisiana. I left Alaska off this list as T-Mo doesn’t have its own network in that state and instead leases space off a local provider called GCI that is garbage on a good day.
Was nice of them to give users the ability to compare the two in real world use, but the results were less than beneficial for them in the end.
States visited: Idaho, Oregon, Washington, California, New York, New Jersey and Louisiana. I left Alaska off this list as T-Mo doesn’t have its own network in that state and instead leases space off a local provider called GCI that is garbage on a good day.
I’ve been on AT&T for over ten years, and I feel like their coverage has gotten weaker since the 5G switch earlier this year. When it works it’s fast but LTE seemed to have better coverage, especially in rural areas.
AT&Ts 5G is uselss. Tell your phone to stick with lte and you’ll see way faster speeds
Did the T-Mobile test drive here I’m Florida. T-Mobile was terrible in both coverage and speed. AT&T works pretty reliably although their 5G speeds are less than impressive.
Am I missing something about 5G? I get 150-200 mbps on my Verizon iphone 11 with LTE on a good signal. My 5G verizon iphone 12 is not any better than that on a good signal, in fact it's probably worse.
What is all the 5G hype about? Is it only for very limited specific areas that get this superspeed they advertise?
What is all the 5G hype about? Is it only for very limited specific areas that get this superspeed they advertise?
I'd be interested in T-Mobile if only they upgraded their coverage. I live in typical suburbia MA, and the only reason I use Verizon is because they're the only ones with coverage. I hear other companies have tried to add new towers but every time they try the nearby locals start squealing "Not in my back yard!".
This is a good point. I recently switched from using T-Mobile or their MVNO (FI) for 10+ years to AT&T. For years T-Mo and its MVNOs were the best bet for me due to their better international roaming rates, but with Covid my travel patterns changed (ended) and there are now many viable alternatives via eSim for roaming overseas.Exactly.
To me... coverage is more important than outright speed.
Instead of 1,000mbps in certain areas or under certain conditions... I'd rather have 20mbps consistently everywhere.
I never complain when a connection is "slow"
But I always complain when a connection is "nonexistent"
Main thing that made me switch was that at/around my house, T-Mobile was very slow and inconsistent. When my ISP craps out, I needed a reliable hotspot to fall back on for work.
AT&T while not nearly as fast as T-Mobile under ideal conditions, is definitely more consistent and usable under less than ideal conditions. The chart at the top of this story reflects this. Frankly raw top speed is only useful for me if I happen to be near an area with good coverage. The more meaningful metric is % of time over 25mbps... which I consider to be a reasonable benchmark for "decent" throughput.
At my home for example, T-Mo would yield anywhere from 3-10mbps on a good day download speed. When my ISP went down due to power outages, the speed would drop down to <1mbps. Probably a combination of higher demand on towers and perhaps local towers not having power backup.
AT&T on the other hand I get 50-90mbps download consistently even in those power-outage conditions.
I also tried Verizon during this Covid year, but at my house (despite having "stronger" signal) their throughput is pretty crappy.
All that said, during my traveling days... my travels always took me to the heart of big cities. I never had any complaints with T-Mobile ANYWHERE except for my home. Until recently, their international offerings blew the others out of the water.
While not as cheap as local sims or esims like Airalo... AT&T's new international day pass at $10/day (with a cap of $100 per bill cycle) is not a bad deal when you consider the convenience and the fact it is truly unlimited full speed data abroad.
I didn't realize that cellular data in the US was still ... polarized? What's the word I'm looking for? Asymmetric?
Here in Canada, generally, the downlink and uplink speeds on cellular are equal. Cable and ADSL still have slower upload than download, but cellular has generally been equal, same as with Fiber.
Here in Canada, generally, the downlink and uplink speeds on cellular are equal. Cable and ADSL still have slower upload than download, but cellular has generally been equal, same as with Fiber.
I mean, that's SF and all big cities right?
Tall cement and brick buildings means you need a small towers on every block.
There's also the NIMBY issue where the FiDi is getting microcells on lamp posts but neighborhoods don't want that, so you're only getting the signal from building mounted towers that are on the hospital and warehouse buildings.
They’re not the only one. Anyone know the situation with the possible AT&T breach?
I tried T-Mobile 3-4 years ago, and it was awful. So incredibly slow. I would download this daily podcast, while at work. On AT&T, it took seconds. On T-Mobile, it took like 10 minutes. While driving, I would stream music. When picking a new song, it would take at least 10 seconds to buffer enough song before it would start playing. On AT&T, it would start playing almost immediately. I mention AT&T, but I had Verizon for a couple years, and it was just as fast as AT&T.
I would hear people in my metro area say T-Mobile was fast for them. I guess they just were fast in the places I tended to be.
I would hear people in my metro area say T-Mobile was fast for them. I guess they just were fast in the places I tended to be.
Is it just me, or do the differences between carriers seem so small to not justify the difference in scores. TMobile was not overwhelmingly dominant across categories in my mind to have that much higher of a score. Seems like they took objective measures and made them subjective........
I use both AT&T and T-Mobile because neither one is perfect. Around my city, there are times one works better than the other and time when neither one works until I move a few miles away.
If you’re 55 years old you can get 2 lines unlimited everything for $70 a month (including taxes & fees) add cell coverage to your Apple Watch & it’s $10 extra per device. Coverage is great in SF, and the speed is awesome. We used our iPhones as base stations during a recent power outage. 15 years ago the coverage wasn’t there, but today it’s solid all over the city.
Only 1 person needs to be 55yo, the other can be any age, younger spouse, child…
Yeah, I can attest that T-Mobile actually has the fastest band with more me as well. But in a place like Pennsylvania where we have a lot of farmland, connections can be a bit on and off. So basically if you’re in a town or city, they are the fastest now interesting enough. Maybe two or three more years from now when 5G connections are more widespread, this won’t be an issue anymore? Maybe at that time I’ll switch back to T-Mobile from Verizon
With its mid-band 5G network that's widely available, T-Mobile has earned the title of fastest U.S. mobile network in 2021, according to testing conducted by PCMag.
Each year, PCMag sends drivers to traverse thousands of miles of the United States. This year, drivers traveled over 10,000 miles and surveyed network speeds in 30 major metro areas and six rural regions to find the fastest carrier. T-Mobile had the fastest 5G speeds in 24 cities and rural areas, while AT&T won out in eight locations and Verizon won in two.
Verizon had the fastest maximum speeds overall, but T-Mobile had the highest average speeds at 162.3 Mb/s, beating out AT&T and Verizon, which came in at 98.2 Mb/s and 93.7 Mb/s, respectively. T-Mobile earned a total speed score of 96, while AT&T received an 89 and Verizon received an 86.
T-Mobile's mid-band spectrum covers more than 165 million people across the United States thanks to its Sprint acquisition, and it was able to deliver the most consistent results. According to PCMag, T-Mobile's speeds between 150 Mb/s and 500 Mb/s were far better than what Verizon and AT&T were able to deliver in most areas.
It's worth noting that T-Mobile only wins out when it comes to 5G speeds, and a 5G phone is required to take advantage of the 5G network. When it comes to 4G speeds, AT&T was the winner. AT&T also outperformed T-Mobile in rural areas, most notably in the western United States.
Verizon's 5G was by far the fastest 5G because of its mmWave availability, but those speeds are highly limited to major metro areas and are not accessible to most people at this time. Just 3.27 percent of PCMag's metro area tests saw Verizon's mmWave connectivity available. Verizon's 5G network turned out to be slightly faster than its 4G network when taking into account total 5G availability.
AT&T's 5G network was slower than its 4G network in most tests, so for AT&T, PCMag used its 4G network results in the speed tests. According to PCMag, AT&T's network is excellent, but hasn't improved over the course of the last year.
PCMag's full breakdown of its testing results provides more insight into each carrier, with data available for each individual city that was visited during the speed test.
Article Link: T-Mobile Wins Title of Fastest U.S. Carrier in 2021 5G Test
