Verizon vs. AT&T vs. T-Mobile vs. Sprint: 5G speed test battle royale – CNET

5G has launched on all four major US carriers — Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile — and we got a chance to test them all, from Los Angeles to New York. (We tested 5G in the UK and Australia, too.) After dozens of tests in cities across the US, we can firmly say that fast 5G is coming, and with it, one of the most important competitions — and challenges — facing the phone world today.

AT&T showed us the fastest peak download speeds of them all, but under such limited circumstances, it's almost better to think of it as a demo rather than real-world tests. While ordinary buyers can't actually use AT&T's 5G on phones until 2020 (it's for business customers only now), the fact that AT&T blasted past Verizon's already crazy speeds in Chicago, more than doubled T-Mobile's peak in Manhattan and more than tripled Sprint's highest speeds in Dallas underscores how hungry carriers are to win 5G victories early.

The stakes are real. 5G is the most important thing to happen to phones in a decade. This is the new network technology that will eventually replace today's 4G LTE networks, promising anywhere from 2x to 10x and one day 100x faster download speeds.

With 5G, you'll be able to download hours of video in seconds, launch crystal clear, lag-free video calls and play graphics-heavy games in real time. The carrier that can claim the fastest download speeds, widest coverage area and most consistent service earns more than just bragging rights. Carriers hope to lure customers on the strength of their 5G reputations.

We're still in the early days of our 5G tests in the US and around the globe, but comparing our results from Speedtest.net and real-world downloads already reveal an important lesson. Speed isn't everything. The consistency of those speeds and the breadth of coverage are just as important as high highs and lightning-fast downloads.

While most of us won't feel the full effect of next-generation 5G speeds until the networks start to roll out in earnest, more 5G phones have become available, and the price of ownership has dropped.

However, the reality of 5G's ability to make your download speeds exponentially faster is undeniably clear and happening now.

Now playing: Watch this: AT&T 5G network has some of the fastest speeds we've…

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AT&T smashes Verizon's peak speeds

Test after test, AT&T's 5G network topped Verizon's fastest network speeds — 1.8Gbps on AT&T and 1.3Gbps on Verizon. That's especially impressive knowing that AT&T decided to "cap" its 5G speeds at 2Gbps, suggesting they could go even higher.

Sprint peaked at 484 Mbps (megabits per second). That's 3.7 times slower than AT&T's highest score, but still, nothing to scoff at. For reference, 4G LTE speeds could get you 100Mbps down, and fast home internet speeds might hover in the 400Mbps range.

We field-tested Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T's speeds using the Speedtest.net benchmarking app in different locations. We also downloaded apps, movies and TV shows to see how fast the network and phones handled real-world actions (more below).

But here's one important difference in the tests. While Verizon (and T-Mobile) let journalists loose to test its 5G nodes built into existing light posts, again, our tests with AT&T are better thought of like a really impressive demo. (Sprint escorted us around Dallas in a car outfitted with screens to show our 5G progress.)

AT&T let us use the Galaxy S10 5G on its live 5G Plus network (the name for its fastest network for phones) on a section of the Warner Bros. production lot — basically, a small neighborhood that has its own town square — with nodes built onto rooftops.

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AT&T had the advantage of tightly controlling its network in a smaller area, and it showed. Over the course of 12 speed tests, eight climbed higher than 1.4Gbps — again, that beats our top Verizon speed. Verizon's speeds in our test consistently spanned 400Mbps to over 1Gbps, and we broke through the 1Gbps barrier four times in a 4-hour testing period around downtown Chicago. 4G speeds were also faster where we tested 5G.

Sprint covered a comparatively larger area throughout Dallas, with speeds that rarely crested 400Mbps (that's still much faster than your current phone).

This is an imperfect comparison in a lot of ways. Verizon and Sprint use different spectrum (radio frequencies). Verizon and this AT&T test use millimeter wave (mmWave), which produces extremely fast speeds to a targeted area. Sprint, however, uses midband frequencies, which cover a comparatively larger area but are a bit slower, hence the 400Mbps peaks. AT&T will also rely on this midband spectrum for the majority of its future network and will give more densely populated areas and businesses a faster shot of 5G Plus.

5G network footprint: Sprint wins today. Tomorrow is wide open

Although AT&T technically has more cities lit up in 5G than Sprint and certainly Verizon, the Galaxy S10 5G phone isn't actually available to the general public yet (it's only for business users). That makes Sprint the winner in turning on a larger 5G network that more people can use today.

However, Verizon is the largest US network by population coverage, with AT&T right behind it, while Sprint and T-Mobile are currently in third and fourth. Still, Sprint's strong start with 5G makes it an attractive bargaining chip in the proposed merger between Sprint and T-Mobile — and T-Mobile 5G held its own in our New York tests.

If the DOJ approves the merger, the newly bolstered T-Mobile will be in a stronger position to take on Verizon and AT&T. (Here's how Dish figures into the megamerger, too.)

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Sprint stats (5G network)

• Network type: 2.5GHz "sub-6" wireless spectrum
• 5G cities today: Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and Kansas City
• 5G phones: LG V50, Galaxy S10 5G
• More 5G cities announced: Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Phoenix, and Washington
• Total area: 2,180 square miles; 11.5 million people

Verizon stats (Ultra Wideband)

AT&T stats (5G Plus)

• Network type: AT&T 5G Plus will work with mmWave technology, but the carrier will also use "sub-6" spectrum
• 5G cities: Parts of 19 cities, including LA, Austin, and Dallas (started with hotspots)
• 5G phone: Galaxy S10 5G (Business only, consumer by 2020)
• More 5G cities announced: AT&T has plans for at least 30 cities

T-Mobile stats

• Network type: mmWave technology
• 5G cities: Six cities, including Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and New York
• 5G phone: Galaxy S10 5G
• More 5G cities announced: T-Mobile is focused on the Sprint merger and expansion into low-band spectrum

See for yourself: 5G coverage anywhere in the world

Real-world tests are more impressive than you'd think

Peak speeds are one thing, but what you'll really care about is how quickly your shows and movies can download. We downloaded some of the same apps and shows in Chicago, Dallas, and LA to try to compare.

It's not apples to apples, of course, because of testing constraints that have us in different cities, on different networks using different phones at different times (and in one case, a different season of the show — oops).