SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — It's become the first question when considering a cell phone plan: How's the coverage?
In San Diego, AT&T customers may find they have better luck than other carriers, according to a study by PC Mag.
Locally, 19 locations were tested around the county — from Chula Vista to La Jolla and out to the College East area — between May 7 and June 1, 2019. Testers ran speed software every two minutes on sets of Samsung Galaxy S10 series phones for about 15 minutes in each location.
For San Diego County, AT&T scored the "fastest" title ahead of T-Mobile, Verizon, and Sprint.
"In San Diego, AT&T had nearly double the average download speed of the next-fastest network, with excellent reliability," PC Mag writes. "The carrier has been spreading its 5G Evolution LTE improvements up and down the California coastline, and we really saw the positive benefits this year."
AT&T's average download speed was recorded at 90.7 Mbps, compared to Sprint's 51.5 Mbps, T-Mobile's 44.2 Mbps, and Verizon's 36.4 Mbps averages. Uploads over 2 Mbps were successful 97% of the time on AT&T's network, 96% on Verizon, 94% on T-Mobile, and 74% on Sprint.
Overall, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon were all given a 100% reliability score. But when it came to speed of network, AT&T grabbed a perfect score, followed by T-Mobile, Verizon, and Sprint.
"AT&T and Verizon both plan to bring 5G to San Diego this year. As they're millimeter wave networks, you should expect to see them in dense parts of downtown and the Gaslamp District; you'll be relying on 4G in most of the sprawling San Diego metro area for years to come," PC Mag writes.
PC Mag's full study and methodology can be found here.
