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New analysis deems AT&T 5G ’essentially worthless,’ crowns Verizon as Dallas' best carrier

Verizon showed more robust download speeds in Dallas-based AT&T’s own backyard, but 5G still isn’t worth the hype yet, according to PCMag.

Almost a year after rolling out 5G, AT&T and other major carriers' mobile network speeds don’t quite live up to the hype – yet.

That’s according to PCMag’s annual analysis, which the technology website has conducted for the last 11 years.

This year, it tapped roughly two-dozen drivers in 26 cities – including Dallas – to drive around and test downloads, uploads, latency and reliability on each carrier’s network using Samsung Galaxy S10 and S20 series phones.

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Roughly one year after major wireless carriers announced the beginning of 5G rollout across the country, PCMag concluded that Verizon had the fastest 4G and 5G speeds, followed by AT&T and T-Mobile.

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Every carrier showed “significantly higher” download speeds and reliability over the previous year. Those increases, however, are mostly due to 4G improvements and not 5G, particularly on AT&T’s network, according to the report.

“To make a long story short, AT&T 5G right now appears to be essentially worthless,” according to PCMag lead mobile analyst Sascha Segan, who authored the report.

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Mirroring connectivity trends at the initial launch of 4G technology in 2012, the ramp up to advertised 5G speeds could take some time as carriers such as AT&T expand their use of the wireless radio frequency spectrum.

“Our 5G network is being built on top of our wireless network that’s been recognized as the best in the United States," AT&T spokesman Jim Kimberly said in a statement.

"We’re still in the early days, having just launched our nationwide network in July. Over time, 5G is expected to deliver enhancements that will enable revolutionary new capabilities for consumers and businesses.”

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PCMag’s analysis found AT&T had some of its best speeds in the country in its own backyard. The Dallas-based carrier has ramped up deployment of 5G in Dallas and other cities across the U.S., announcing in late July that it had reached nationwide 5G covering 205 million people.

But Verizon’s overall connectivity in Dallas beat AT&T, which demonstrated download speeds at just 18% of what Verizon offered, according to the report. PCMag found that despite its download speeds, Verizon’s 5G coverage was less prominent in the Dallas-area than AT&T’s coverage.

“Verizon offers the only form of 5G that delivers a genuinely different experience from 4G — but there’s hardly any of it available,” Segan wrote.

Verizon switched on 5G in parts of Dallas last October and plans to reach nationwide 5G coverage later this year.

Tommy Elliott, Verizon’s network director, said in a statement that its goal is to make sure “5G simply is not an icon on a phone but a real network that matters, and provides real-world, 5G-enabled solutions.”

AT&T’s 5G Evolution network displays an "E" icon on smartphones.

“Verizon customers know that we consistently provide the nation’s most reliable network experience,” Elliott said. “Understanding how much they rely on us, we have been very deliberate about how we show up in every market, including Dallas.”

Verizon earned top recognition at national and local levels in an IHS Markit Root Metrics analysis of mobile network performance in 55 cities. IHS also named AT&T as the fastest overall network in the U.S.