CELLSMART Car Testing Local Cellular Performance in 27 States

CELLSMART, the cellular intelligence division of SmartCIC, has expanded its global 5G testing initiative to the U.S. where the CELLSMART car will be testing local cellular performance in 27 states. The CELLSMART car kicked off the two-month “Join the Revolution Tour” in New York City where it saw maximum download speeds of 395.15 Mbps and upload speeds of 149.37 Mbps. The car tests multiple cellular network providers every 0.5 seconds and reports the data in real-time to the CELLSMART database. 

The CELLSMART car is equipped with bespoke testing software, SIMs, and routers to test local wireless network performance spanning the U.S. The first leg of its journey will cover the eastern seaboard then loop from Florida to Texas and Illinois and Michigan then back to New York throughout October. The West Coast loop will go from Arizona to Washington state via Nevada and Idaho then back down via the Pacific coast. The car will be capturing 4G and 5G upload and download speeds and latency throughout the trip with test-by-test granularity.  

“CELLSMART is on a mission to build an accurate snapshot of the 5G landscape across the U.S. and continue to learn about 5G performance locally across the globe. We are providing multi-carrier and granular 5G testing that replicates what a user experiences when they use a smart device in the field. This data supports the adoption of Fixed Wireless Access as well as a growing number of enterprise use cases and opportunities for network optimization,” said Toby Forman, CEO at SmartCIC. “We’ve successfully mapped routes across Spain and France and now can see the results from Manhattan in our first week. This is critical data for the future of 5G.”  

The Fastest Cellular Networks in Manhattan: 

1.  Verizon – 395.15 Mbps
2. T-Mobile – 302.58 Mbps
3. AT&T – 127.04 Mbps

5G performance test results for local areas will be shared throughout the drive test on LinkedIn and via their testing map: https://survey.smartcic.com/mapboxHistorical.php

“5G performance can vary greatly from city block to city block and from provider to provider. Cellular intelligence is essential for understanding and learning about local RF environments so that service providers and enterprises can build and optimise fixed wireless solutions. CELLSMART is driving across the US to capture this intelligence because it simply doesn’t exist. We’re comparing providers in local areas and identifying the best performance for service provider and enterprise use cases.” 

The “Drive” initiative was launched after the success of the CELLSMART Global Cellular Performance Survey, which used SmartCIC’s global network of 25,000 engineers in 106 countries to test cellular performance on the ground around the world. On the Spanish leg of its test drive in September 2023, it recorded a maximum download speed of 1.367 Gbps north of Barcelona on Orange Spain. Its 5G testing in France revealed a maximum download speed of 898 Mbps south of Lyon on Orange France. CELLSMART has been testing, mapping, and capturing local intelligence about wireless network performance across the globe since March 2022. 

Follow SmartCIC on LinkedIn to get updates on where the car is day-to-day and to see the insights they're capturing: https://survey.smartcic.com/mapboxHistorical.php