"Time Connected to 5G" Does Not Mean What it Seems

In October 2020 U.S. 5G users spent about 21 percent of their time connected to 5G networks, according to Opensignal data. Some will interpret that as a measure of 5G network coverage, and argue that U.S. coverage is lacking. 

But 5G users in South Korea, which nobody would claim lacks 5G coverage, spent about 22 percent of time connected to 5G networks. 

Though network availabilityis part of the story, 5G subscriptions and 5G device ownership also matter. 

“The share of mobile data consumed over 5G varied across the three national carriers: 17.4 percent of mobile data consumed by our T-Mobile users was on 5G, followed by 9.8 percent for our AT&T users, and 4.2 percent for our Verizon users,” Opensignal reported in September 2021.

source: Opensignal

Keep in mind those figures refer to data consumed, not time connected. Still, network availability does matter. 

“These values reflect in large part the difference in 5G availability--the time users spent with an active 5G connection--among the three carriers,” Opensignal notes. 

Network availability continues to improve. “In our latest U.S. 5G Experience report, we found that our T-Mobile users spent a considerably higher amount of time connected to 5G networks--36.3 percent--followed by AT&T and Verizon at 22.5 percent and 10.5 percent, respectively,” says Opensignal. 

Those statistics actually track something else: the importance of Wi-Fi connections for smartphone users. In spring of 2020 U.S. mobile users consumed as much as 69 percent of phone data using Wi-Fi connections, not the mobile network, for example.

Only after 5G networks are nearly ubiquitous will we be able to determine how user behavior might change, including time spent connected to Wi-Fi. In the U.S. market, the shift of service plans to “unlimited” also should have an effect, as it eliminates much of the economic rationale for switching to Wi-Fi connections. 

If a user has an unlimited plan, and if 5G service is adequate for the applications a customer users and if indoor 5G reception is adequate.

But indoor signal reception has been a problem since mobile operators started using the mid-band frequencies (3G). There might still be an advantage to switching to Wi-Fi, because of the obvious attraction of stronger signal indoors. 

All the data suggests that we remain early in the process of building out 5G networks, a process that takes years for a national service provider.