Opensignal Finds Red State, Blue State Wireless Divide, Warns on 5G Consumer Confusion
It’s in “everyone’s interests” that 5G benefits be “clearly and consistently communicated,” said Opensignal Thursday. “Diverging 5G deployment and marketing strategies risk leading to 5G consumer confusion,” said the mobile analytics firm. It worries polarization could develop between carriers offering…
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“very wide 5G reach but slower mobile network experience” and others “delivering on pockets of extremely fast high-capacity.” Confused consumers “may hold off adopting 5G ... and carriers may end up not seeing the returns on their 5G investments that they expect.” New streaming services “will force operators to rethink their mobile video strategies,” said Opensignal. Verizon's recent offer of a free year of Disney Plus to existing 4G and 5G unlimited-data customers typifies carrier aggressiveness, it said. Such new streaming services “will force operators to take a closer look at their network optimization practices and their caching systems to ensure consumers have a great mobile video experience at high resolutions,” the firm predicted. Smartphone owners in states that voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 will have a "better mobile experience" than those that went for Donald Trump, said Opensignal. The average download speeds in blue states is 19 percent faster than those in red states.