You can at last get incredible 5G phone speeds in the US today, according to our tests, but only in two cities and only if you do what we're calling 'the 5G shuffle.'
We were able to test the Verizon 5G network in Chicago using a Samsung Galaxy S10 5G (and we'll stick around to keep doing so until Tuesday on our own), and we've been able to pull down consistent speeds topping 1Gbps. One of our 5G tests peaked at 1.385Gbps.
But to get these headline-worthy speeds, we had to basically move (or dance) around the 5G nodes that sit above lampposts on specific blocks in Chicago. It's reportedly the same in the only other US city with active Verizon 5G nodes, Minneapolis.
Amazing 5G speeds, with some caveats
TechRadar became the first outlet with a 5G phone when the Moto Z3 5G launched last month, but the Verizon 5G network was just getting underway. It either wasn't as fast back then, or we didn't get consistent-enough signal to reach the heights we're seeing now. It even frequently dropped back down to 4G LTE mid-test.
Now, five weeks later and with the Galaxy S10 5G in hand, we've gotten speeds that made the Verizon engineers on hand from New York visibly excited. They're seeing the nearly 1.4Gbps speeds in the wild for the first time, too.
Speeds tests using the Ookla app offered us some insight into peak raw speeds, and they were great. But it was also important to do real-world tests – while doing the 5G shuffle – to see how Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Android game downloads did.
The most shocking 5G test?
- Stranger Things (Entire First Season) on 5G: 38.78 seconds
- Stranger Things (Entire First Season) on 4G: 1 hour 16 minutes
Yes, we waited on the same rainy street corner in Chicago to test these speeds. One finished in under a minute, and the other took one hour and 16 minutes.
The difference is staggering in this 5G test. We used the Galaxy S10 5G connected to Verizon's 5G ultra wideband signal. The 4G comparison test used an iPhone XS Max on AT&T's getting '5Ge' signal (which isn't actual 5G, as we've reported multiple times).
We were also able to download Fortnite in 2 minutes and 55 seconds and Asphalt 9: Legends in 2 minutes and 23 seconds on the Galaxy S10 5G.
While these 5G tests weren't at nearly 1.4Gbps, they were fast (around 1Gbps) and depended on if the app maker was optimized to deliver fast speeds. Downloading the game PUBG from the Google Play Store, for example, was a bit slower than downloading the same game file from the Galaxy App Store.
In other words, the pull from our 5G device and direct line of sight of the 5G node was important, but so is the push from Google, Netflix and other content providers.
We'll continue to update our week-long 5G test as we get more time the the Galaxy S10 5G and compare it to 4G LTE in Chicago.
Tech
via https://www.aiupnow.com
Matt Swider, Khareem Sudlow
