Articles by Samuel Contreras

What you need to know

T-Mobile’s coverage map now shows where you can get faster Ultra Capacity 5G coverage.
Ultra Capacity 5G uses mid-band spectrum at 2.5GHz and covers 165 million people, with 200 million expected by the end of the year.
Extended Range 5G now covers 305 million people across 1.7 million square miles.

T-Mobile has been focused on expanding its Ultra Capacity 5G network across the country, hitting milestone after milestone in the number of people covered. The only problem was that it was nearly impossible to tell if you were covered by this faster 5G network unless you dug into the diagnostics menu on your phone. As Reported by PCMag, T-Mobile includes Ultra Capacity 5G on its coverage map so the customer can tell where they can experience this fast 5G connection.

According to an update from T-Mobile, Ultra Capacity 5G covers 165 million people with an average download speed of 350Mbps. This is a notable upgrade from the speeds people got previously on well-dev…

Compact Wi-Fi 6 mesh

TP-Link Deco X20

$250 at Amazon

Pros

Great 5,800 sq ft of coverage
AX1800 speeds
HomeCare is free
Compact and attractive nodes

Cons

Dual-band connection will limit mesh performance
Only two Ethernet per node

The Deco X20 is a great compact node with enough performance for most people and support for Wi-Fi 6. This system also comes with TP-Link HomeCare software which includes advanced parental controls and improved network security. Your Deco mesh is also easy to expand with support for all other Decos, including faster versions.

Tri-band performance

Meshforce M7

$219 at Amazon

Pros

Impressive 6,000 sq ft of coverage
Tri-band AC2100 connection
Dedicated backhaul
3 LAN ports per node

Cons

Lacks advanced parental controls
No Wi-Fi 6

The Meshforce M7 is a nicely thought out mesh system with a tri-band AC2100 connection enabling consistent speeds thanks to a dedicated mesh link. Each node includes three Ethernet ports, making it easy …

With so many phones becoming affordable unlocked, the best prepaid phones look a lot like the best phones in general. Technically, almost any phone can be a prepaid phone these days — that is, just about any phone can be financed or bought outright and used on a prepaid network. This includes nearly all of the best Android phones you can get. Still, most prepaid shoppers are looking for a value offering, so we’ve compiled some of the best phones that will work with the major prepaid carriers under $350. The Google Pixel 4a is the best prepaid phone overall thanks to its fast hardware, great camera, and consistent software updates.

Best overall: Google Pixel 4a

The Google Pixel series of phones is the purest Android experience you can get. The Pixel 4a follows up the 3a in offering great performance and a flagship-level camera for a great price. This includes Google’s great camera app with features like Night Sight. This phone supports just about every network out there and with…

Full Wi-Fi 6 support

TP-Link Archer AX21

$90 at Amazon

Pros

Fast Wi-FI 6 support
OneMesh expansion supported
Easy setup with an app
USB port for storage

Cons

Weak parental controls
No tri-band connectioni

The TP-Link Archer AX21 is a solid Wi-Fi 6 router with an AX1800 dual-band connection. This router has Wi-Fi 6 support on both the 5GHz and 2.4GHz bands, allowing for up to 574Mbps total for 2.4GHz devices. OneMesh support makes it easy to expand your coverage with Wi-Fi 6 TP-Link extenders.

Great Wi-Fi 6 value

TP-Link Archer AX10

$70 at Amazon

Pros

Fast 5GHz performance
OneMesh expansion supported
Very cheap for a Wi-Fi 6 router
Easy setup with an app

Cons

Slow 2.4GHz band
Weak parental controls
No tri-band coverage
No USB port

The TP-Link Archer AX10 is one of the cheapest Wi-FI 6 routers you’ll find and it hits that low price without giving up any of the most important features. This router comes with an AX1500 connection that matches the Archer A…

What you need to know

Ookla’s Q2 2021 mobile report finds T-Mobile to have the fastest mobile network, leading AT&T in second and Verizon in third.
T-Mobile has the highest consistency score, with 84.9% of tests achieving at least 5Mbps down.
Verizon has the highest 5G consistency score with 79.5% of results over 25Mbps down.

Ookla, creator of the popular Speedtest app for testing your internet speed, found in its Q2 2021 report that T-Mobile has the fastest overall network speed. T-Mobile had a median download speed of 54.13Mbps. AT&T came in second with 47.96Mbps, and Verizon came in third with 40.02Mbps. All three carriers tied in latency with 33ms, which is 1ms slower than Q1.

T-Mobile also had the highest consistency score, with 84.9% of its tests achieving at least 5Mbps down and 1Mbps up. All three carriers did well in the category, with AT&T close behind at 81.3% and Verizon at 79.7%. Web browsing and streaming should work smoothly at this speed, allowing peo…

What you need to know

Verizon won RootMetrics best overall network performance and reliability award for the 16th consecutive time.
Verizon came in first in five of the seven categories.
AT&T took the lead for the fastest speeds and data score from Verizon.
T-Mobile improved its media download speeds by 50%, from 20.1Mbps to 30.3Mbps.

Verizon announced that has been awarded the best overall network performance and reliability by RootMetrics for the sixteenth time in a row. In its report for the first half of 2021, RootMetrics found Verizon to have the top network in five of its seven categories. This report includes results for network reliability, speed, and performance, including data, calls, and text. Verizon took top marks in the reliability, accessibility, call, and text performance categories giving it the top spot overall.

Verizon points out that it has won or shared 738 out of 875 Metro Area RootScore Awards. Verizon also had 43 markets with at least 40Mbps. RootMetr…

The best Wi-Fi 6 mesh routers take whole-home wireless speeds to the next level. Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) has allowed mesh systems to deliver full gigabit speeds easily throughout a large house by getting even more performance out of the available spectrum. Wi-Fi 6 lets compact routers hit gigabit speeds on their own and over 500Mbps while deployed as a mesh. With more phones than ever, including Wi-Fi 6 support, and families asking more of their internet connections than ever, it’s a good time to upgrade to Wi-Fi 6.

What are the best Wi-Fi 6 mesh routers?

If you’re looking for a great balance that’s a great fit for an internet connection over 500Mbps, the Netgear Orbi RBK752 is a great choice, thanks to a tri-band AX4200 setup. This Orbi system dedicates a fast Wi-Fi band to connecting the mesh keeping speeds high and consistent throughout your home.

The second best option is the Netgear Nighthawk MK62, designed for people who want a compact mesh system with enough speed for most people….

What you need to know

AT&T 5G now covers more than 250 million people six months ahead of schedule.
5G+ continues to expand with coverage in parts of more than 40 cities and 40 venues by the end of 2021.
5G+ is already available in one airport, with seven more planned by the end of the year and 25 by the end of 2022.

AT&T has a lot to say about 5G, announcing it has reached 250 million people covered by its 5G network in July 2021. This is six months ahead of schedule and is a major step towards achieving full nationwide 5G coverage. This coverage is mostly made up of AT&T’s low-band 5G and shared DSS 5G. The announcement also included updates to its 5G+ (mmWave 5G) expansion and a plan for C-Band deployment.

AT&T’s 5G+ currently has coverage in parts of 38 cities and 20 venues. This is expected to grow to more than 40 cities and 40 venues by the end of 2021. 5G+ uses mmWave technology to deploy high-speed 5G connectivity with a ton of capacity in areas with a la…

We don’t talk about upload speeds much, but there are several key ways how slow upload speeds affect Android users. When you shop for an internet package or check your connection speed, most people look at the download speed, and there’s a good reason for this. Download speeds are the most important aspect of your connection as most of what most people do online is consume media. Watching videos, scrolling through Instagram, or even downloading a new game uses almost exclusively your download speed.

What is my upload speed?

Data coming to your device from the internet is a download, whether in an app or a web browser. Since this is most of what we consume, internet service providers (ISPs) often dedicate more of their resources to downloads. While this move makes a lot of sense, the split has become so out of balance on some providers that it hurts the usefulness of the connection.

If you have a fiber connection, your download and upload speeds are likely very close to 1:1. A giga…

What you need to know

AT&T’s Unlimited Elite now includes unlimited premium data with no caps.
Hotspot data has been upgraded to 40GB from 30GB.
Video can now stream up to 4K when enabled on your account.

AT&T announced that it is upgrading its most expensive Unlimited Elite plan to include completely unlimited data and more hotspot data. Previously the plan came with a fairly huge 100GB of premium data meaning downloads wouldn’t be subject to congestion slowdown unless the user has passed 100GB of data in a month. AT&T has completely removed this limitation and will not slow down your speeds no matter how much data is used.

AT&T has also upgraded the hotspot data pool from 30GB to 40GB. This extra 10GB of data is targeted at those who want to get connected on the go, whether connecting a work laptop or streaming to a tablet. Speaking of streaming, AT&T has also removed the 1080p limit from mobile streaming for full 4K support. Keep in mind you will need to d…