(Eric Alonso/Getty Images)
A test of fusing frequencies allowed T-Mobile to accelerate 5G to download speeds faster than most people's fiber. In the less impressive result, a Galaxy S25 notched 4.3Gbps in "real-world conditions," which is almost as fast as the 5Gbps ceiling of AT&T’s residential fiber broadband.
The carrier also speed-tested “a non-commercial mobile test device” built around the Qualcomm X85 5G modem introduced at MWC to yield a considerably speedier result: download speeds that hit 6.3Gbps.
T-Mobile's press release does not cite upload speeds but offers this boast: "To put these mind-blowing speeds into perspective, you could stream every Super Bowl ever played in 8K resolution—simultaneously." (Considering the commercial irrelevancy of 8K TVs, that may not be the most compelling comparison to make.)
Large-scale third-party tests have consistently found T-Mobile’s network faster than AT&T’s and Verizon’s—just not nearly as fast as these results. In January, for example, Ookla analyzed data collected from its Speedtest app to find average downloads of 212.77Mbps at T-Mobile, 95.08Mbps at AT&T, and 86.23Mbps at Verizon.
Both of the tests T-Mobile announced Tuesday employed Nokia 5G RAN (radio access network) equipment, the “standalone” 5G service T-Mobile began deploying in 2020, and carrier aggregation, a technique in which wireless carriers bond multiple frequencies together to increase throughput.
This new research combined three mid-band frequencies—2.5GHz 5G, the fast band it calls “Ultra Capacity 5G;” AWS, short for “Advanced Wireless Services”; and PCS, as in “Personal Communications Service”—plus T-Mobile’s 600 Mhz low band. That last band, which provides T-Mobile’s widest coverage, did not figure in a mid-band carrier-aggregation network test T-Mobile announced last January that yielded downlink speeds above 3.6Gbps.
Notably absent: T-Mobile’s scarce but super-fast millimeter-wave 5G, which it enlisted in a similar speed test announced in December of 2023 that saw downloads top 4.3Gbps. The carrier initially launched 5G only on those high-band frequencies but has since downplayed its role.
T-Mobile began rolling out carrier aggregation in 2022 and now sees it as a key to ensuring its network remains fast and doesn’t run out of capacity. In an interview at MWC, network president Ulf Ewaldsson said the company would be deploying “massive amounts of carrier ag” as part of its strategy to bring what it calls “5G Advanced” to market across the US.
In PCMag's latest Readers' Choice survey about US carriers, T-Mobile has a massive lead over Verizon and AT&T for satisfaction among the big three carrriers. Again, its overall score is over a full point ahead of the other two, making T-Mobile the major carrier winner for the fifth time.
Disclosure: Ookla is owned by Ziff Davis, PCMag’s parent company.