As 5G is constantly evolving, OpenSignal has released another report regarding the 5G experience across the United States. Per their report, “In this insight we quantify how the 5G experience has changed across the U.S. in the six months since our previous analysis. This benchmark will act as a reference point to evaluate the future impact of AT&T and Verizon’s C-band deployments on the national 5G mobile experience as it records the state of the 5G experience on the eve of the arrival of C-band.”
The evaluations were done during a 90-day period, which started on November 1, 2021 and ended on January 29, 2022. This was done across all 50 U.S. states and 300 cities. Among them, Illinois came out on top for download speeds. They had an overall average of 141.4 Mbps, which was just ahead of New York at 138.6 Mbps. In fact, 23 of the states saw averages over 100 Mbps. There were however a few that were under 60 Mbps. Take a look at the results below.
With regards to improvement comparison since the last report, 44 states saw an increase of around 27 Mbps for the average download speed. There were 6 states that saw “no statistical change.”
OpenSignal also looked at the “5G Reach” and how it has improved in each state. The average improvement across the 47 U.S. states that saw their 5G Reach score increase was 17.1% (0.6 points). In this evaluation, all states saw improvement except for Hawaii, North Dakota, and Vermont.
Next, they looked at “5G Availability.” This was increased in only 21 states. “5G Availability represents the proportion of time that 5G users saw an active 5G connection on their smartphone,” states the report.
OpenSignal also reports about the changes that have been made over the course of the past six months that have changed the 5G mobile experience. They see promising signs that U.S. carriers are either planning to or are currently addressing problems surrounding coverage and performance in small rural states.
“For example, our 5G users in West Virginia and New Hampshire saw improvements across all three metrics analyzed — 5G Download Speed, 5G Availability and 5G Reach — meaning that they could access 5G networks in more locations, spend more time with an active 5G connection and also enjoy faster 5G download speeds than before,” says the report. “However, our 5G users in Vermont and North Dakota were the only ones out of the 50 states whose 5G mobile experience hasn’t changed statistically across any of the three measures analyzed, suggesting that 5G improvements are happening at a staggered pace across different locations.”
Lastly, 5G was reviewed across 300 U.S. cities. Specifically, they looked at Availability and Download Speeds. Check out the results below.
Just like 6 months ago, six of the top 10 cities for 5G Availability belonged to Texas. Four of them – McAllen, Brownsville, San Antonio and Waco – also appeared in the previous top 10, while El Paso and Austin made it into the cut this time, replacing Houston and Corpus Christi. The remaining four cities in the top 10 were Chicago, Miami and Los Angeles — all of which were also shortlisted last time — as well as Trenton, New Jersey.
The average 5G download speed passed the 100 Mbps mark in 105 cities, up from 12 last time. Among these cities we found Washington (140.8 Mbps), San Antonio (136.2 Mbps), Los Angeles (134.4 Mbps), Seattle (131.6 Mbps), Phoenix (121.2 Mbps), Dallas (118.9 Mbps), San Diego (118.3 Mbps) and Indianapolis (113.8 Mbps).