Most phones coming on the market now work on 5G wireless networks. Want to know more about 5G phones? Take a look at our best 5G phones guide for all the prices and specs. When it comes to 5G—the much-talked-about new wireless phone standard—T-Mobile takes the lead. But a recent study shows that T-Mobile customers who have access to 5G spend about a third of their phone time actually on 5G networks.
But when it comes to internet data, usually there are limits hidden in the fine print. All the other plans either have strict data caps or wishy-washy, non-cap caps in which your speed can be slowed at any time the provider deems fit.
Pick that plan if you see yourself using your phone to stream lots of online content, attend 10 Zoom meetings a day, and post large video files to social media on the regular. Otherwise you can pretty much get away with any of these other plans. The GB you get from the Magenta plan is a ton of data—maybe not for a home internet plan, but definitely for a cell phone. Both offer unlimited plans with generous data allowances and hotspot data. Both have unlimited plans with completely unlimited premium data albeit at a higher price.
But if we really had to choose, T-Mobile would be the leader here. For a cellular customer, those are all core areas of interest. So we say if you have to choose, then go with T-Mobile. Any price and availability information displayed on Amazon. Author - Peter Holslin. Peter Holslin has more than a decade of experience working as a writer and freelance journalist.
At HighSpeedInternet. Editor - Rebecca Lee Armstrong. Rebecca Lee Armstrong has more than six years of experience writing about tech and the internet, with a specialty in hands-on testing. She started writing tech product and service reviews while finishing her BFA in creative writing at the University of Evansville and has found her niche writing about home networking, routers, and internet access at HighSpeedInternet.
Pricing, data, 5G—oh my! We break down the details on competing cellular plans. View Plans. Compare Top Features. See Coverage details , Terms and conditions , and Open internet information for network management details like video optimization. In order to provide reliable coverage and speed, our network utilizes all three. Extended Range 5G includes our most powerful low-band MHz spectrum and reaches far and wide for nationwide coverage.
These frequencies deliver speeds faster than 4G LTE—over hundreds of square miles—and can pass through buildings to provide better coverage both indoors and out. Capable device required; coverage not available in some areas. Ultra Capacity 5G is comprised of both mid-band and high-band mmWave spectrum, which together deliver a speed and capacity boost on top of our nationwide Extended Range 5G coverage.
With greater bandwidth to carry large amounts of data at speeds as fast as Wi-Fi, Ultra Capacity 5G provides a fast and reliable connection in populated areas and at big events.
Ookla trademarks used under license and reprinted with permission. Eventually, it will come to us all. Whether you decide to pick a 5G network now or wait to see how 5G rolls out in your area, here's what to consider when you look at a 5G mobile carrier. The selection of 5G phones you can buy in carrier stores and online is growing.
But when we talk about the cost of owning a 5G phone, we're not just talking about the amount you pay for the device itself. There's also the monthly cost of your payment plan.
We're going to give it to you straight: Sifting through carrier plans is a messy, painstaking business that also gets confusing, fast. To own a 5G phone, most carriers require you to sign up for one of their latest unlimited plans.
However, the plans often don't always specify that they'll work with 5G phones. The ones we picked apart work with 4G LTE phones as well. Our best suggestion? Search for the device you want or any 5G device to see which plans are compatible, then go from there.
If you search for all plans without specifying a 5G device, you'll see more plan options, many of them cheaper but that may not apply to the 5G device you're eyeing. If you also don't care for 5G and have an older plan you'll still be able to get the phone, it just will be limited to 4G LTE.
As always, we suggest looking out for deals, like a bundle or buy-one, get-one, or else some enticement to sign on with a new carrier. Remember, too, that if the price of a 5G phone seems steep, you can pay month by month instead of buying the phone outright. As with any phone, the downside is that you may still wind up paying for a first-gen 5G phone that in two years could feel out of date.
Coverage that varies block to block. Unexpected switches between 5G and 4G. Large parts of the country -- both urban and rural -- with no 5G at all. Verizon made it possible to upload content -- like photos and videos -- over its faster 5G network. The carrier plans to expand its super-fast millimeter-wave 5G network to 60 cities in and plans to launch a lower band nationwide this year as well.
While T-Mobile and Sprint have merged, the two sides are still in the process of consolidating into a single carrier "the new T-Mobile" , which should make it a formidable competitor in the 5G space.
For now, you can still sign up for a 5G plan from Sprint though that will change on Aug. If you are getting a Sprint phone you'll want to make sure you're buying a 5G phone to ensure you'll be able to connect to T-Mobile's 5G network. For its part, T-Mobile currently has the strongest 5G network among the major carriers both in terms of availability and its capacity to leverage all three flavors of the new wireless technology: low-band which allows for nationwide coverage , midband thanks to Sprint, this allows for faster speeds at longer ranges and indoors and millimeter-wave though this is only in a handful of cities.
Ookla is tracking the global rollout of 5G networks through its Speedtest. The Speedtest interactive map lets you drill down to the city level to see which companies have deployed 5G. The map, however, doesn't tell the whole story. As a next step, compare where you live and work or attend school with each carrier's coverage map. If you're frequently near a carrier's hotspots, that might push you to 5G sooner rather than later. The full range of the spectrum assigned for 5G spans under 1 GHz for low-band, to over 24 GHz for higher frequency millimeter-wave.
And while 5G promises speeds that will let you download a full-length movie to your phone in seconds, it's not just about the rocket-fast connections. Check out our full explainer on 5G. The wireless standard is designed to significantly reduce network latency or lag time , letting you play a real-time combat game against other players on your phone , for example, or helping self-driving cars monitor each other on the road one day.
To create their 5G networks , the major US carriers are using a combination of available spectrum bands and their mix of bands defines the coverage.
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