Speed Comparison: 5G, 4G, LTE, and 3G
Updated October 2026
Each generation of mobile network has been faster than the last. Here’s roughly what you can expect from each one in everyday use, what it’s good for, and how to check what your phone is actually getting.
Key takeaways
- 3G: a few Mbps at best. Fine for texts and basic browsing. Major US carriers shut their 3G networks down in 2022.
- 4G LTE: usually 20–100 Mbps. Plenty for HD video, video calls and most games.
- 5G: anywhere from about 100 Mbps to over 1,000 Mbps, depending on the type of 5G, with less lag.
Test your phone’s speed
Side by side
| Network | Typical download | Typical upload | Lag (ping) | Good for |
|---|
| 3G | 1–3 Mbps | Under 1 Mbps | 100–500 ms | Texts, email, basic browsing |
|---|
| 4G LTE | 20–100 Mbps | 5–20 Mbps | 30–70 ms | HD streaming, video calls, most games |
|---|
| 5G | 100–1,000+ Mbps | 10–100 Mbps | 10–30 ms | 4K streaming, big downloads, cloud gaming |
|---|
These are everyday ranges, not the maximums carriers advertise. What you actually get depends on your carrier, your plan, your signal and how busy the network is.
3G
3G arrived in the early 2000s and made mobile internet usable for the first time: email, maps and simple web pages. By today’s standards it’s very slow, and pages with video or lots of images crawl. AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon all shut down their 3G networks in 2022, so in the US a phone that only supports 3G can’t get data anymore.
4G and LTE: what’s the difference?
LTE (Long-Term Evolution) is the technology behind almost every 4G network, so on your phone “4G” and “LTE” mean the same thing. “LTE-Advanced,” sometimes shown as 4G+ or LTE+, combines several frequencies at once for higher speeds.
4G LTE is still what many phones use most of the time, and for most people it’s plenty: HD video, video calls and online games all work well on a decent LTE signal.
5G
Not all 5G is the same. There are three kinds, and which one you’re on makes a big difference:
- Low-band 5G covers the most ground but is often only a bit faster than LTE.
- Mid-band 5G is the fast 5G most people get, usually a few hundred Mbps.
- mmWave 5G can top 1,000 Mbps, but only over short distances, mostly in busy city areas, stadiums and airports.
Carriers label the faster kinds differently: Verizon shows 5G UW, T-Mobile shows 5G UC and AT&T shows 5G+. A plain “5G” icon usually means low-band. 5G also has less lag than LTE, which helps with gaming and video calls.
Why your phone might be slower
- Signal: walls, distance from the tower and being indoors all cut speed.
- Busy times: speeds drop when lots of people nearby are online, like evenings or at events.
- Your plan: some plans slow you down after a data limit, or when the network is busy.
- Your phone: older phones may not support the faster kinds of 5G or LTE.
Check your real speed
Turn off Wi-Fi on your phone and run a speed test to see what your mobile connection really gets. For gaming and calls, the ping test shows how much lag you have.
Run the speed test Run the ping test