T-Mobile is destroying AT&T and Verizon in 5G speed

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T-Mobile wins again, especially with its higher download speeds

t-mobile 5g
(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

In the ever-growing battle for the best 5G network, T-Mobile has once again stolen the show. According to the latest Opensignal report, the Uncarrier managed to win Download Speed, Reach, and Availability awards, beating out AT&T and Verizon. 

T-Mobile also remained ahead for 5G Upload, but AT&T is closing on it fast. Meanwhile, Verizon and AT&T jointly won the 5G Gaming Experience awards, and AT&T took both the 5G Video Experience and 5G Voice App Experience.

Opensignal gives plenty of information on how it came to its findings for the last quarter. T-Mobile excelled in Reach, Availability, Download Speed and Upload Speed. The 5G Reach award signals that T-Mobile has the best representation of "locations where 5G users have connected to 5G out of all the locations those users have visited."

For the 5G Availability award, T-Mobile proved itself the winner by providing the most 5G coverage and connectivity. 33.1% of users remained connected to 5G, while AT&T came in at 20.5% and Verizon at 11.2%.

opensignal Q1 2021 results

(Image credit: Opensignal)

More importantly, T-Mobile handily beat its competitors with an average download speed of 71.3 Mbps. The next closest was AT&T with 54.9 Mbps, then Verizon trailing behind at 47.7 Mbps. 5G Upload was a closer race, with T-Mobile on top with 15.2 Mbps, AT&T with 10 Mbps, and Verizon with 12.9 Mbps.

T-Mobile did not, however, win everything. AT&T and Verizon tied for the 5G Games Experience award, which measures latency in gaming over a cellular connection. These are real-world scenarios, testing to make sure that the game responds as quickly as possible over 5G. Both the carriers practically tied for the 5G Video Experience. T-Mobile fell behind in these categories.

AT&T won by hair on the 5G Voice App Experience. This award "measures the quality of experience for over-the-top (OTT) voice services — mobile voice apps such as WhatsApp, Skype, Facebook Messenger etc. — when users are connected to a 5G network."

T-Mobile continues to lead in most cases, but the other two might catch up quickly if the Uncarrier doesn't pay attention. For now, we'll look forward to Opensignal's next quarterly report.

Jordan Palmer
Jordan Palmer
Phones Editor

Jordan is the Phones Editor for Tom's Guide, covering all things phone-related. He's written about phones for over six years and plans to continue for a long while to come. He loves nothing more than relaxing in his home with a book, game, or his latest personal writing project. Jordan likes finding new things to dive into, from books and games to new mechanical keyboard switches and fun keycap sets. Outside of work, you can find him poring over open-source software and his studies.