Those who stand to gain the most from 5G’s arrival informed us long ago that the time for waiting was gone, yet the rush to bring 5G to market continues to this day. Even though our 5G connections may go anywhere from slower than LTE to faster than our home internet at any given time, at least we see 5G symbols in our status bars on most days. It’s not quite 5G, but it’s here all the same.

A mix of who can claim the most people on 5G and how quick that 5G is drives the whole US carrier ecosystem, which is why I bring up 5G. Since reintroducing unlimited plans a few years ago, carriers have tried everything to catch your attention and keep or convert you to their services, but 5G is the only thing they want to speak about. That place has run out of good ideas. They see 5G as the key to setting themselves apart from rivals.

Moreover, T-Mobile obviously jumped out to an early lead in the 5G race and isn’t about to give it up anytime soon. They’re excelling in 5G while rivals AT&T and Verizon are falling short. T-5G Mobile’s advantage has caused turbulence at Verizon over the last several years, with the company losing the leaders of its consumer segment due to poor performance. Analysts quoted in the piece share the view that Verizon botched its early 5G gamble, and as a result, the country’s largest wireless provider may have lost its network leadership position.

At one point in time, almost every person reading this blog was a Verizon client. As a logical first step, we focused on Verizon’s exclusive smartphone at the time, the Motorola Droid. But as time has gone (13 years of DL! ), it’s safe to assume that many people have switched to T-Mobile and not so many to AT&T. You can read between the lines of the polls. People who have been with Verizon for years and may never transfer often tell us that their local coverage is the reason.

Even while the narrative of Verizon’s declining network reputation and T-continued Mobile’s success is intriguing, I can’t help but wonder whether there’s more to Verizon’s delayed growth than just picking the incorrect 5G network to begin with. Is it the case that people are dissatisfied with Verizon for reasons other than 5G? Or is the network in such disrepair that switching to a different provider is a common occurrence? It’s possible that switching to a new carrier has given you some much-needed peace of mind.