TPRC 2024: The 52nd Research Conference on Communications, Information and Inter

Link to paper
Abstract:
The introduction of 5G technology has changed the mobile broadband landscape, yielding faster speeds, lower latencies, and potentially more widespread coverage. In this paper, we study the evolution of US cellular technology, with a focus on 5G, from 2021 to 2023 through the lens of Ookla Speedtest performance and cellular infrastructure deployment. Specifically, we analyze how US cellular network coverage and performance evolved during this period, characterizing improvements at multiple geographic granularities, examining differences between urban and rural performance, and evaluating the availability and performance of “Fast 5G.” Then, we investigate the impact of cellular infrastructure, studying the relationship between infrastructure deployment density and network performance and the growth in infrastructure during this time period. Our findings show that, broadly, mobile network performance improved, though the improvement in some states and regions was far greater than in others. For instance, some states show an increase in download speeds of over 200%, while other states show little to no improvement. Cellular deployment density also grew during this period, is approximately 15 to 40 times higher in urban areas than in rural areas, and is strongly correlated with population density. We find that higher cellular deployment density is generally associated with improved network performance; however, the growth in deployment density does not always align with performance gains, as evidenced by weak correlations between increases in density and improvements in performance metrics. We conclude with recommendations about the need for more granular data about cellular technology infrastructure, deployment dates and location data to better inform policymakers about targeted investments in additional cellular infrastructure.