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So far, Verizon has raised its millimeter wave-based 5G coverage to the top of the 5G network performance list. But as networks continue to evolve, we are starting to see changes, highlighted by the latest performance report from Ookla Network Tester which covers the last three months of 2020.
AT&T 5G is the reigning champion in the fourth quarter of last year, according to Ookla, which shocked us almost as much as it probably shocked you. That’s a pretty big change, especially since Ookla ranked Verizon as the best performing 5G network in the third quarter of 2020, when the carrier’s speed score was 792.5. This eclipsed AT & T’s next best score of 65.22.
For the fourth quarter, however, AT & T’s 5G speed score dropped to 75.59, while Verizon dropped to 67.07.
The sharp drop in Verizon’s score can be attributed to Verizon’s wider deployment of its 5G network in more markets. In October, with the launch of the iPhone 12, Big Red moved beyond mmWave 5G to include below 6Hz spectrum in its network. This kind of 5G covers more people – Verizon now claims its 5G network reaches 230 million people – but it’s also much slower than mmWave. And according to Ookla, more people with slower speeds on a network will reduce the speed score.
With this overall drop in speed, Verizon now sits at the bottom of the 5G stack behind T-Mobile and Sprint (both of which were measured separately despite their merger in 2020). In terms of overall performance – LTE and 5G – Ookla ranks AT&T No.1 for the eighth consecutive quarter. T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon round out the latest rankings.
It remains to be seen whether AT&T and T-Mobile will experience similar drops in their scores as more and more people join the 5G revolution. 2021 is shaping up to be an interesting year for the performance of the 5G carrier.
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