Mid-Band 5G: A Measurement Study in Europe and US

TL;DR

This paper presents a comprehensive measurement study of mid-band 5G networks in Europe and the US, revealing how carriers configure their networks and the impact on application performance.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed analysis of 5G mid-band configurations and their implications for application performance across multiple countries.

Findings

Carriers optimize spectrum utilization and frame configuration.

Network configurations significantly affect application performance.

Differences observed between US and European 5G deployments.

Abstract

Fifth Generation (5G) mobile networks mark a significant shift from previous generations of networks. By introducing a flexible design, 5G networks support highly diverse application requirements. Currently, the landscape of previous measurement studies does not shed light on 5G network configuration and the inherent implications to application performance. In this paper, we precisely fill this gap and report our in-depth multi-country measurement study on 5G deployed at mid-bands. This is the common playground for U.S. and European carriers. Our findings reveal key aspects on how carriers configure their network, including spectrum utilization, frame configuration, resource allocation and their implication on the application performance.