A year after initially testing Dish Network’s 5G network in Las Vegas, Signals Research Group (SRG) conducted a new round of tests, revealing significant performance improvements. According to Mike Thelander, president of SRG, there were major enhancements in performance between the two studies. The key highlight was the downlink performance, showcasing much higher peak and average data speeds on Dish Wireless network. These improvements were attributed to a denser network cell grid and a more effective implementation of downlink carrier aggregation, including support for 3 component carriers (3CC). Dish had recently emphasized its implementation of carrier aggregation technology.
In terms of download speeds, SRG reported an average connection speed of 307 Mbit/s, with speeds reaching nearly 500 Mbit/s at the 90th percentile. These results were more than double the speeds observed in 2022. Despite the network being lightly loaded, SRG noted that this was a common scenario in 5G networks.
Voice calling, utilizing Voice over 5G New Radio (VoNR) technology, also saw notable improvements. VoNR voice quality was significantly better than in 2022, with the absence of erratic Mean Opinion Score (MOS) scoring behavior observed previously. However, there was still room for improvement in voice quality, although the phones remained connected to the Dish Wireless network throughout all VoNR drive testing.
On the downside, SRG found that Dish’s uplink performance was not satisfactory, emphasizing the need for improvement in this area. This finding highlighted Dish’s ongoing pursuit of T-Mobile’s 800MHz spectrum, partly to enhance its uplink capabilities.
SRG’s tests were conducted using professional network testing equipment, including smartphones from Motorola and Samsung, as well as equipment from vendors such as Accuver Americas, Rohde & Schwarz, and Spirent Communications. The tests primarily utilized Dish’s Band 70 (AWS-4) spectrum holdings. Despite some limitations, such as data speed reductions after reaching 50GB of high-speed monthly data usage, SRG’s findings underline Dish Network’s substantial progress in enhancing its 5G network performance in Las Vegas.