5G NR Benchmark Study Vol 25: DISH Vegas 5G Open RAN Network

Report
55 Pages
June 2022
Region: Global
Signals Research Group, LLC
ID: 5542998

The publisher just completed its 25th 5G NR benchmark study. For this endeavor they collaborated with Accuver Americas, Rohde & Schwarz, and Spirent Communications to conduct an independent benchmark study of the DISH Wireless 5G Open RAN network in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Highlights of the Report include the following:

Acknowledgements

The publisher conducted this study in collaboration with Accuver Americas (XCAL-M and XCAP), Rohde & Schwarz (TSME6 scanner) and Spirent Communications (Umetrix Voice and Umetrix Data). SRG is responsible for the data collection and all analysis and commentary provided in this report.

Publisher Methodology

Testing took place over a two-day period in late May. The publisher leveraged up to two Motorola Edge+ smartphones on the DISH network and up to two Galaxy S20 smartphones on the T-Mobile network (primarily n71 for comparison purposes). The publisher tested full buffer downlink/uplink/simultaneous transfers with HTTP and UDP while stationary and mobile. The publisher also tested voice services, specifically VoNR on DISH and VoLTE on T-Mobile. The publisher also did latency/jitter stress tests using a low bit rate UDP data transfer to the Umetrix Data server,

Degree of Difficulty

Prior to sharing a summary of the results, the publisher noted the high degree of difficulty - entirely new network, 5G SA with carrier aggregation, VoNR, and the use of AWS. However, consumers don't know/don't care about the network architecture. They only want to have a good and consistent user experience.

Consistently Inconsistent

End user data speeds could be well within expectations, excluding HTTP uplink which meaningfully lagged expectations. However, the seemingly on-again/off-again use of carrier aggregation was problematic, as was RF coverage, which is mentioned in the next bullet. Voice services (VoNR) could deliver very high voice quality with MOS well above 4.0, only to be followed by very poor voice quality, to the point of being unintelligible (below 2.0 or no MOS score achieved).

RF Coverage was Suboptimal

We documented a significant difference in Band n71 coverage (RSRP) and quality (SINR) between the DISH and T-Mobile networks, and largely due to a significant difference in the number of unique cells (PCI counts). More often than not, a drive test resulted in the phone on the DISH network reverting to the AT&T network.

Opportunities Abound

DISH needs to improve and optimize network coverage, AWS may need to focus on reducing the very long latency tail and VoNR consistency, and the Open RAN vendors should continue working on improving VoNR and scheduling efficiency. The 5G clock is ticking.

1.0 Executive Summary2.0 Key Observations

3.0 RF Related Performance Results and Analysis

3.1 Stationary Test with Different Protocols
3.2 Uplink HTTP Drive Test - One Phone
3.3 Uplink HTTP Drive Test - Two Phones
3.4 Downlink HTTP Drive Test
3.5 Downlink and Uplink Latency Drive Test
3.6 RF Conditions

4.0 VoNR and VoLTE Results and Analysis

4.1 Stationary Testing with Background Dat
4.2 Drive Test #1
4.3 Drive Test #2
4.4 Drive Test #3
4.5 Call Setup Times

5.0 Test Methodology6.0 Final Thoughts

Index of Figures & Tables

Figure 1. Application Layer Throughput Time Series - DISH Wireless Network
Figure 2. Average Application Layer Throughput - DISH Wireless Network
Figure 4. Average Application Layer Throughput - T-Mobile Band n71
Figure 5. Physical Layer Throughput Time Series - T-Mobile
Figure 7. HTTP Uplink Drive Route
Figure 8. Uplink Application Layer Throughput Distribution Curves
Figure 9. Average Uplink Application Layer Throughput
Figure 10. Uplink Application Layer Throughput Time Series
Figure 11. DISH Wireless Network Uplink Application Layer Throughput and Serving Cell PCI Time Series
Figure 12. DISH Wireless Network Uplink Application Layer Throughput and Strongest Cell SINR Time Series
Figure 13. T-Mobile Uplink Physical and Application Layer Throughput Time Series
Figure 14. T-Mobile Uplink RB Allocations and Slot Utilization Time Series
Figure 15. HTTP Uplink Drive Route
Figure 16. Uplink Application Layer Throughput Time Series - by device
Figure 17. Uplink Application Layer Throughput Time Series - total
Figure 18. Average Uplink Application Layer Throughput Time Series - total
Figure 19. Band n71 SINR Time Series
Figure 20. Uplink Physical Layer Application Layer Throughput Time Series - T-Mobile
Figure 21. Uplink Resource Block Allocations Time Series - T-Mobile
Figure 22. Uplink Slot Utilization Time Series - T-Mobile
Figure 23. Downlink HTTP Drive Route
Figure 24. Downlink Application Layer Throughput and Serving Cell PCI - DISH Wireless Network
Figure 25. Downlink Application Layer Throughput and Strongest Cell SINR - DISH Wireless Network
Figure 26. Downlink Application Layer Throughput and Serving Cell PCI - DISH Wireless
Figure 27. Downlink Application Layer Throughput and Strongest Cell SINR - DISH Wireless
Figure 28. Downlink Application Layer Throughput Distribution Curves
Figure 29. Downlink Latency Histogram - DISH Wireless
Figure 30. Uplink Latency Histogram - DISH Wireless
Figure 31. Downlink Latency Histogram - T-Mobile NSA
Figure 32. Uplink Latency Histogram - T-Mobile SA Washington, DC
Figure 33. Band n71 Strongest Cell SINR - Dish Network
Figure 34. Band n71 Strongest Cell SINR - T-Mobile33
Figure 35. Band n41 Strongest Cell SINR - T-Mobile
Figure 36. Cumulative Distribution SINR Curves
Figure 37. Percentage of Area with SINR < 0 dB
Figure 38. SINR Histogram
Figure 39. SINR Histogram
Figure 40. Adjacent Cell Interference - Band n71
Figure 41. Unique PCI Count
Figure 42. DISH Wireless Band n71 RSRP
Figure 43. T-Mobile Band n71 RSRP37
Figure 44. Voice MOS Time Series - DISH Wireless
Figure 45. Average Voice MOS and Standard Deviation - DISH Wireless
Figure 46. HTTP Downlink Throughput During VoNR Call - DISH Wireless
Figure 47. Voice MOS Time Series - T-Mobile
Figure 48. Average Voice MOS and Standard Deviation - T-Mobile
Figure 49. HTTP Downlink Throughput During VoLTE Call - T-Mobile
Figure 50. Voice MOS Time Series - DISH Wireless a
Figure 51. Average Voice MOS and Standard Deviation - DISH Wireless
Figure 52. HTTP Uplink Throughput During VoNR Call - DISH Wireless
Figure 53. Voice MOS Time Series - T-Mobile
Figure 54. Average Voice MOS and Standard Deviation - T-Mobile
Figure 55. Voice MOS Time Series - DISH Wireless
Figure 56. Voice MOS Time Series - T-Mobile
Figure 58. Voice MOS and Band n71 SINR - DISH Wireless
Figure 59. Voice MOS - T-Mobile
Figure 60. Voice MOS Time Series - DISH Wireless
Figure 61. Voice MOS Time Series - T-Mobile
Figure 62. Average Voice MOS and Standard Deviation - DISH Wireless and T-Mobile
Figure 63. Voice MOS Cumulative Distribution Curves - DISH Wireless and T-Mobile
Figure 64. Voice MOS and Band n71 SINR - DISH Wireless
Figure 65. Voice MOS - T-Mobile
Figure 66. Voice MOS Time Series - DISH Wireless
Figure 67. Voice MOS Time Series - T-Mobile
Figure 68. Overall MOS Results - DISH Wireless and T-Mobile
Figure 69. Call Setup Times52
Figure 70. XCAL-M
Figure 71. Umetrix Voice
Figure 72. TSME6 Scanner
Figure 73. Umetrix Data Architecture

Companies Mentioned

Rakuten

Highlights of the Report include the following:

Acknowledgements

Publisher Methodology

Degree of Difficulty

Consistently Inconsistent

RF Coverage was Suboptimal

Opportunities Abound

Table of Contents

Companies Mentioned

Related Topics

Related Reports

5G Services - Market Share Analysis, Industry Trends & Statistics, Growth Forecasts (2025 - 2030)

LTE & 5G NR-Based CBRS Networks: 2024 - 2030 Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies & Forecasts

Global 5G Chipset - Market Share Analysis, Industry Trends & Statistics, Growth Forecasts (2025 - 2030)

5G Services Market - Global Forecast 2025-2032