PC Magazine - USA (2020-10)

W

e launched our annual Fastest Mobile

Networks testing in 2010, but 2020 is

the year we almost missed. In March ,

it quickly became clear that life was not going to be

normal for a while, and our traditional testing

wasn’t going to happen.

In prior tests, we recruited drivers who were

assigned routes that let them test network speeds

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non-urban reaches in between. This let us report

on respective carrier coverage for a good part of

the US. But this methodology didn’t make sense

during a time when travel has been severely

curtailed for safety reasons.

Well, that was that—until our lead mobile analyst,

Sascha Segan, put his large brain to work and

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despite the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of

sending drivers out on road trips, he managed to

recruit local testers in 26 cities who could drive to

numerous neighborhoods; measure each carrier’s

upload and download speeds, latency, and 5G

availability; and then sleep in their own beds. So

no in-between rural testing this time, but we still

were able to get loads of valuable data for our

readers.

We fervently hope we’ll be back to normal for next

year’s FMN tests. But at least we know if we have

to make alternative plans, we can make it work.

Fastest

Mobile

Networks:

We’re Still on

the Road

CAROL MANGIS

FIRST WORD