AT&T has some of its “5G+” millimeter-wave 5G on the Lower East Side, and
my previous tests have shown that if you stand in just the right place, it’s really
fast. But I didn’t get any mmWave results from AT&T in our drive testing, even
with the windows down to let it into the car. The takeaway: AT&T’s 4G is
considerably better than its 5G in New York right now.
7KDW¶VQRWWKHFDVHZLWK70RELOHRU9HUL]RQ70RELOH¶VLVSHUFHQWIDVWHU
than its 4G overall in New York City, according to our results. The reason
T-Mobile didn’t win here is that outside the 46 percent of locations where we
JRWLWV*VSHHGVZHUHGHVSHUDWHO\VX̆HULQJZLWKPXFKORZHUUHOLDELOLW\
than AT&T or Verizon. I’ve been hearing from many other New Yorkers about
T-Mobile 4G speed and reliability problems in the city this summer, and our
results show they’re real.
The “layer cake” really came through for T-Mobile, and if you’re buying a 5G
T-Mobile phone for use in New York, I recommend that you get one that has all
WKUHHOHYHOVRI,JRWWHUUL¿FVSHHGVLQ$OSKDEHW&LW\ZKHUHZH¶YHWHVWHG
before, and although I’m not entirely sure, I think some of that might have been
high-band.
PHILADELPHIA: AT&T
:HH[SHFWHGPRUHIURP70RELOHLQ3KLODGHOSKLDZKHUHWKHFDUULHUVD\VLWKDV
launched its hottest, latest mid-band 5G network. T-Mobile’s 5G did indeed
double its 4G speeds, but its 4G was so poor to begin with that even the
improvement couldn’t help it beat AT&T or Verizon.
AT&T’s 4G network did spectacularly in Philadelphia, becoming the fastest and
most reliable choice out of all the mobile carrier options. Both AT&T and
Verizon, though, showed speeds on their 4G networks that I’d normally
associate with 5G, with downloads over 400Mbps.
Photo^ credit:^ ESB^ Professional/shutterstock.com