Tests of Verizon's 5G in Chicago on the Galaxy S10 5G show download speeds of up to 1.35 Gbps, but speeds were inconsistent, though never fell below 550 Mbps
I'm in Chicago. Again. It's my second trip to the windy city in the past month, and I don't expect it to be my last. — Why? 5G!
Context & Ripple Effects
This is the second read on a network Verizon only switched on weeks ago: the carrier launched mobile 5G in parts of Chicago and Minneapolis in early April with the Moto Z3 as its launch device, and The Verge's first Chicago test found 400-600 Mbps downloads over limited coverage. Six weeks later, the same city on Samsung's flagship 5G phone is peaking at more than double that.
The new data point matters because it pairs with Verizon's commercial push — the carrier opened preorders for the Galaxy S10 5G at $1,300 while naming 20 cities for 2019 expansion — so these Chicago numbers are effectively the product customers are being asked to buy into.
First-order effects
- Galaxy S10 5G owners on Verizon in Chicago get genuinely gigabit-class downloads — up to 1.35 Gbps, with a floor of 550 Mbps that still beats the Moto Z3's earlier 400-600 Mbps results — but only where coverage exists, since speeds swing widely across the city.
Second-order effects
- Rival carriers are boxed into a speed-and-consistency arms race on their own launches; the eventual multi-city scorecard showed AT&T's 5G largely running slower than its own 4G, so Verizon's Chicago performance sets the bar competitors must clear to justify 5G marketing.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds — impressive peaks, inconsistent streets-level coverage — the industry's 5G pitch shifts from raw speed to reliability, and buyer skepticism hardens: by late 2020, broad testing across 26 US cities concluded 5G was not living up to the hype, a verdict seeded by exactly this kind of uneven early rollout.
The trend: Early US mobile 5G is rolling out city-by-city with headline-grabbing peak speeds that outrun real-world consistency, setting up a hype-versus-experience reckoning for carriers and premium 5G handsets alike.