latency

Many different kinds of 5G service are now available. Most carriers have launched an early version of 5G technology that continues to rely on the availability of 4G service and access to the legacy 4G core network. This is called non-standalone access (NSA). But for most of the planned benefits of 5G — beyond speed alone — carriers need to offer standalone access (SA) where a smartphone connects exclusively to 5G signals and uses a modern 5G core network.

In the last year, the download speeds experienced by smartphone users in the US have improved little, rising from 17 Mbps to 21.3 Mbps between the first quarter of 2018 and the same period in 2019. There’s lots of room for improvement but only a new technology like 5G is likely to lead to a step-change improvement in the mobile network experience.

According to OpenSignal's analysis of Latency Experience in Germany, there have been some notable improvements on the networks of some of the key operators over the second half of 2018. And these improvements are allowing Germany's other operators to challenge the dominance of market leader Telekom. Our Latency Experience metric is calculated as an average of the individual 3G and 4G latency measurements based on the proportion of time OpenSignal users spend connected to each network type. A lower score in this metric is a sign of a more responsive network.

We recently published our latest report on the State of Mobile Networks in the U.S., where the network speed and 4G availability awards were dominated by a couple of operators. But AT&T won one notable accolade in OpenSignal's metrics – the best 4G latency.