We saw Verizon 5G at four spots, all near the center of Denver—outside the
Convention Center, at 21st and Broadway, at W 20th and Hooker, and in
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sprawling metropolitan area, so what’s important here is that Verizon had
average download speeds over 100Mbps and very low average latency on its
citywide 4G network.
Both AT&T and T-Mobile had poor 5G performance in Denver, with both of
their 5G networks showing slower results than their 4G networks—64 percent
slower at the same locations for AT&T, and 25 percent slower for T-Mobile. This
shows the perils of potentially dropping broader, faster 4G channels for
narrower low-band 5G channels.
But AT&T’s 5G did have a slight advantage over 4G in terms of reliability and
latency, delivering speeds over 5Mbps slightly more often than 4G did, although
AT&T 4G had higher peak speeds than its 5G network did.
KANSAS CITY: AT&T
AT&T’s LTE network had distinctly faster download speeds than the
competition in the Kansas City area, making up for slower uploads and higher
latency to eke out a win over Verizon.