[johnwill]

I was sitting in the doctor's office the other day and since I had time to kill, I fired up SpeedTest on my Samsung Galaxy S21-5G out of curiosity. I was a bit surprised at what I saw. Now, that's smokin' speed, I had no idea that was even possible! FWIW, this is on a T-Mobile network. This is the first time I've ever seen anything more than around 200 MBPS. I must have been sitting on top of an idle cell tower!
This is also the first time I've ever seen the 5GUC connection ID, I had to look it up to see what it meant. T-Mobile to identify fast connections with “5G UC” label on phones

 

[SpywareDr]

Ah man! You got me drooling all over the place.

 

[johnwill]

If the upload speed were a bit faster, it would compete with my gigabit FIOS connection!

 

[Corday]

Officially I'm still with Sprint, but switched my SIM Card to TMobile and noticed the 5G performance.

 

[SpywareDr]

Yeppirs, that download speed is getting close to ours as well.

 

[johnwill]

FIOS still has them, but not by much on the download side. Of course, I know there's two TV's streaming HD video upstairs, and a grandson doing who knows what on his gaming rig, so that might be impacting our download speed a little.

No contest on the upload side, FIOS wins that contest. The 5G is still asymmetrical service, but the uploads are certainly not bad.

 

[oscer1]

Well mine is slow compared to yours

 

[johnwill]

Yep, I can imagine uploading 200MB videos or the like is a bit slow with that link. I like the fact when I upload my typical video, it's only a few seconds before it's done.

 

[oscer1]

well i do not do much on computer or phone so speed not much of a big deal

 

[HavFun]

In some urban areas, 5G speeds are closing-in on 2 Gbps. If network capacity could deal with it, 5G could become a useful alternative to cable or FIOS internet. The issue with 5G is that relatively slow speeds, like 200 Mbps can still be "the norm". It's frustrating as hell, but "5G" means pretty much any speed from 200 Mbps to 2 Gpbs depending on your geographic location and what network you are on. You can be on a near-2Gbps network in one area and 50 miles away, the max 5G speed might be 200 Mbps--if 5G is even available 50 miles away. There's a long way to go before you get the faster 5G connections all the time (if you have a 5G phone).

 

[johnwill]

Well, I predict if 5G really becomes an alternative to FIOS in high population density areas, the infrastructure would quickly be overwhelmed and the speeds would be much lower. FIOS and other end-to-end fiber solutions are somewhat unique in that from the distribution point to the end user there is a clear unshared channel. Cellular service, no matter what speed, still has a one to many model. Most cable networks are also a one to many model, which is why most cable service slows down during peak usage periods.