There's been a lot of talk about AT&T's 5G E service lately, and a new report shows that AT&T's 5G E-capable phones can actually be slower than the same devices on some other U.S. networks.
A study conducted by network testing firm OpenSignal shows that AT&T customers with 5G E-enabled smartphones get similar, if not slightly slower, speeds than T-Mobile and Verizon customers with the same phones. On Verizon, for example, customers with a phone deemed 5G E-capable by AT&T got an average speed of 29.9Mbps while AT&T customers with a 5G E phone got an average speed of 28.8Mbps.
The testing was conducted between January 28th and February 26th, 2019.
"At OpenSignal, we are not distracted by technology claims or marketing decisions," OpenSignal says in its report. "We simply measure the real-world experience of users to see if one service delivers a better or worse experience than another."
AT&T's 5G E service is not actually 5G, but is 4G with LTE Advanced technologies like carrier aggregation, 256 QAM, and 4x4 MIMO to boost download speeds. Because of this, it doesn't come as a huge surprise that AT&T's 5G E speeds are similar to those on Verizon and T-Mobile, which have also rolled out these LTE Advanced technologies.