Intrepid PCMag testers roamed the United States to figure out which of the three big cellular networks reigns supreme. Also, a surprising fact about contemporary Internet usage.

T-Mobile and Verizon provide home Internet service via devices that use the wireless carriers’ 5G data signal as backhaul for local Wi-Fi. Julio Ojeda-Zapata has been testing both services and found them to be affordable, fast, and dependable.

AT&T and Verizon have started using C-band wireless spectrum that will speed up their 5G cellular service and make it available to more customers. This important step in 5G’s overall evolution brings AT&T and Verizon more in line with T-Mobile, which has had an edge in available spectrum until now.

T-Mobile is offering free “test drives” of its 5G cellular-data service by leveraging the eSIM built into recent-model iPhones. After a quick app install, you get 30 days or 30 GB of data (whichever comes first) to try out T-Mobile. The beauty of the eSIM approach is that it doesn’t mess with your existing service.

T-Mobile has furthered its reputation as the most competitive of the big three cellular companies in the United States by rolling out an unlimited usage broadband service that relies on the company’s 4G and 5G networks.

Apple’s iPhone 12 line is the first with 5G, meaning the phones can tap into high-speed data from the main cellular carriers in the US. But “high speed” is relative. Depending on carrier and location, downloads are crazy fast or merely akin to 4G LTE. Julio Ojeda-Zapata tried T-Mobile and Verizon 5G.

The latest set of cellular networking standards—collected under the rubric of “5G”—improves mobile networking performance ever closer to Wi-Fi and wired connections, but it’s not worth all the hype. Not yet, anyway.

Despite widely spread misinformation, decades of studies demonstrate that wireless data networks—including newer 5G cellular networks—pose no elevated risk for cancer or other illnesses.

Apple seemingly squeezed Intel into an impossible position by negotiating for a purchase while working on a settlement with Qualcomm. Now Apple has control over a current steady supply of 5G smartphone chips and a path to make its own for future iPhones.

After years of patent battles, Apple and Qualcomm have suddenly dropped all legal action and are now partnering up again, with Apple paying Qualcomm an unspecified licensing fee. Intel dropping its 5G modem development was probably related.