As part of their ‘State of the Mobile Union’, Root Metrics has conducted in-depth research in the performance of mobile phone carriers thus far in 2020.
It recently emerged that mobile carriers would end 3G by the end of 2020 given so few people were using it. Many carriers also caused controversy for their opposition to testing their advertised coverage across America.
The report demonstrates the increasing importance of 5G across the U.S. It also compared carriers across the country as well as how they performed in metropolitan areas.
Root Metric conducted the tests with off the shelf bought devices during the day and night whilst walking as well as driving. They use various metrics to give carriers different gradings which will be explored throughout this article.
5G gaining importance across the U.S.
One of the major findings of a survey conducted by Root Metrics was the increasing importance of 5G across the country. More than 4 in 5 people surveyed believe 5G will be of benefit to them or their company. A similar number also believe 5G will help them using social media.
Overall, this study conducted 2,722,153 tests with 202,923 miles driven and over 3000 locations reported. The study also tested 125 metropolitan locations. It had to halt its work during the pandemic but resumed in June so there was a small gap in the study.
Verizon leads the way across most metrics
Across 5 of the 7 metrics, the study measured Verizon led the way above T-Mobile, Sprint and AT&T. They came out on top of all categories other than Speed and Text. This allowed them to take home the overall top ranking.
T-Mobile performed the worst out of all carriers. They finished bottom in all 7 categories and were generally some way behind third-placed Sprint. However, T-Mobile tends to perform better in metropolitan areas rather than nationally. As a result, this finding is not particularly concerning. This allowed AT&T to slot in at second of the four carriers.
Sprint was the most improved carrier and went up the rankings in reliability, data, call and text categories. Their rise is in latte of these was very impressive as it brought them in line with AT&T and Verizon.
When it comes to metropolitan areas Verizon continued to lead the way among mobile phone carriers in the first half of 2020. AT&T followed them with T-Mobile then Sprint lagging some way behind.
Different approaches to 5G reflected in results
When it comes of 5G coverage there is some significant variation in terms of coverage and download speeds. T-Mobile and AT&T had the highest availability percentages in certain cities. Verizon lagged miles behind with less than 1%.
This is because of their plans to expand its 5G network through DSS technology. Currently, Verizon has actively deployed only mmWave 5G spectrum. Whilst AT&T and T-Mobile offer low-band coverage to its users.
The report reveals that on the whole, AT&T offers fast speeds, excellent reliability. They come in second overall behind Verizon that scores excellently across the board in almost all categories.
The report categorizes T-Mobile as having solid results. In some metropolitan areas they had excellent speeds but generally were solid all round. Sprint improved well in terms of speed but generally showed solid results all round. Most notably was their text performances scores which did very well.
As with all of these studies, there is plenty of detail to delve into should you wish. However, the main takeaways from this report are that Verizon continues to lead the way in most categories. They are closely followed by AT&T.
However, when it comes to 5G, which is becoming increasingly important, Verizon currently lags behind owing to their different strategy. It will be interesting to see how these results develop as mobile carriers look to best roll out 5G across the country.