In PCMag's Best Mobile Networks drive test for 2022, which covered 30 US cities, T-Mobile came out on top, winning 18 out of 30 to Verizon's eight and AT&T's four. 'In the cities, T-Mobile has by far the least connections under 50Mbps, and it really pulls away from the competition in connections between 300 to 600Mbps, which is the mid-band 5G zone,' we found. Median 5G download speeds have been increasing due to investments from T-Mobile and Verizon and more 5G deployment in the C-band spectrum. The good news is, the US seems to be an outlier in this regard. The end result is 5G speeds dropping as network operators struggle with escalating costs due to the global economic situation and the limit that imposes on expansion.

The problem network operators face is a growing number of users switching to 5G (good news), which puts a strain on the existing infrastructure and requires continued major investment to cope (bad news).

Worryingly, the median 5G download speed is falling in many countries.

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