I measured 5G signals of AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon in a small town – here’s what the data says

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ZDNET’s key takeaways

• I examined 5G on nation roads and farmland for 3 days.
• Verizon led in general community ranges, adopted by AT&T and T-Cellular.
• T-Cellular was the one community to drag in a 5G sign.

My quest to test 5G has taken me to a baseball game and interstates between Chicago and Nashville. By way of the journey, I’ve carried three telephones from the three main US carriers to find out which has the most effective protection. I simply did it once more, however I modified some issues up.

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I nonetheless packed my automotive for a weekend away, and I nonetheless had three telephones using within the again seat. I used nPerf (extra on that later) to repeatedly check provider and community efficiency all through the journey. However this time, I went a bit John Denver on you and caught to these outdated nation roads. Interstates have been off the menu. As I discussed throughout the Nashville journey, it advantages carriers to construct networks the place persons are, like main cities and interstates. So I needed to go the place folks weren’t.

I additionally modified up the gadgets. Previously, I carried three Google Pixel 10 Pro phones. This time, I upgraded to 3 an identical Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultras. Certainly one of these was offered by Samsung, and the opposite two got here from AT&T and T-Cellular, respectively. All three ran on eSIMs offered by the carriers.

The setup

This time round, I had a extra refined setup. My final journey had a 2-by-4 board zip-tied to an Anker battery with bolts connecting to low cost $5 telephone clamps. It labored properly sufficient.

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I zip-tied the telephone holders to an outdated piece of PVC that was clamped to the highest of a tripod and held in place by a ratchet strap. I stated it was “refined,” not “good.” One of many advantages of this setup was I used to be capable of look within the rearview and see all three telephones operating. Facet word: nPerf on the S26 Extremely crashed far fewer instances than on the Pixel 10 Professional. I used to be relieved we stopped as usually as we did on the Nashville journey as a result of I usually discovered one of many telephones now not operating. No such situation right here.

Just like the Nashville journey, I related all three telephones to an Anker Solix transportable battery. This time, I used the C1000, with three USB-C ports and 5 AC retailers, one in every of which powered my daughter’s electrical blanket for many of the journey. We had energy to spare.

Vacation spot wherever

With the pace restrict of nation roads limiting the space we might journey, I nonetheless needed to cowl an honest quantity of floor. I additionally needed to go the place folks weren’t, and I can guarantee you there are not any folks in Douds, Iowa. 

That is an actual place, established by an ancestor of mine again within the 1800s. I might been there as soon as earlier than as a child, however since I had a day to kill and this was in vary, this was my meant goal. Douds is just not really a city — it was by no means integrated. However it had a submit workplace and a practice station, and again then, that was sufficient.

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On the way in which residence, I needed to skirt southern Wisconsin, so we headed to Platteville, Wisc., the place I had visited as soon as as a preteen as a result of the Chicago Bears had preseason coaching there. I do not keep in mind something about that journey, besides the title Platteville, as a result of again then, I cared concerning the Bears even lower than I do at the moment. Go Cubs.

From there, we headed to Janesville, Wisc., the place my daughter ran over a ¼-inch-thick carriage bolt and embedded it in our tire. 4 new tires later, we lastly discovered ourselves residence, again within the Chicagoland space.

The outcomes

After contacting nPerf and requesting an information dump of all my outcomes, I ended up with over 52,000 knowledge factors throughout the three carriers, detailing the community sort and sign power every telephone picked up. Simply to recap, the three classes I tracked have been the community sign sort, degree, and power of every provider all through the 15-hour journey. 

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Community sort is damaged down between LTE, LTE superior, and 5G, each standalone and non-standalone. Community degree is principally the variety of bars the telephone has at any given time, and community power is measured in unfavorable decibels, the place the very best quantity (the bottom unfavorable quantity) is greatest. This is how issues shook out:

As soon as once more, T-Cellular was the one provider that recorded any standalone 5G sign. Non-standalone 5G makes use of 4G networks to ascertain connections. It has larger latency (which is dangerous) and is taken into account a kind of Band-Assist to assembling a 5G community. Not solely that, however T-Cellular beat out the opposite two carriers in 5G indicators by a ridiculous margin, checking in at slightly below 90% of the time. 

However that is not the entire story right here.

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Verizon was the winner on the community degree by an excellent margin, with AT&T coming in a not-too-distant second place. Not one of the three carriers had superb sign power general, although Verizon once more led right here, with virtually 44% of the time recording an excellent, however not nice, sign. The opposite two carriers weren’t far behind on this class, although. 

So general, T-Cellular could have recorded 5G indicators more often than not, however the different two carriers recorded stronger indicators a majority of the time.

Anecdotal proof

I drove the whole option to Iowa Metropolis and rode within the again the entire manner residence. In preparation, I downloaded podcasts to take heed to, since I anticipated the sign is perhaps spotty — that was the purpose of the experiment, in any case. So, whereas I can not converse to my expertise with indicators on the way in which there, on the way in which residence, I used to be tethering to my telephone more often than not so I might work. 

Throughout that point, southern Wisconsin was the one space the place I skilled full web failure.

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More often than not, I used to be capable of muddle via, although the web definitely slowed on occasion. On the farm fields of Wisconsin, I obtained little or no completed, however that downtime did not final lengthy — maybe a complete of 20 minutes, give or take — and I observed it on two separate events. So, general, it wasn’t too dangerous. It is also value noting that the telephone I tethered to was the Oppo Discover N6, which was by no means meant to work on US soil, so which will have performed an element as properly. 

However the truth that T-Cellular (my provider) recorded a community degree of 1 for 52% of the journey does not converse properly. On the finish of the day, all three carriers have strengths and weaknesses while you depart the interstate. If I hadn’t been working with a T-Cell phone as my private telephone on the journey, I might be very apprehensive about these outcomes. However my anecdotal proof suggests issues aren’t so dangerous. 

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The takeaway right here is that should you stay off the interstate, most carriers are going to battle, and people “Quickest community” commercials aren’t for you. There’s work to be completed there, however general, it is not almost as dangerous as I anticipated.

I can skip downloading podcast episodes subsequent time.