An Initial Look into the Performance Evolution of 5G Non-Standalone Networks

Fifth Generation (5G) networks have been operational worldwide for a couple of years. To reveal how the 5G system evolution (e.g., changes in network conditions, deployment, and configurations) affects user performance, empirical long-term analyses are required. This paper presents preliminary insights from our ongoing large-scale measurement study of the commercial 5G non-standalone (NSA) networks deployed in Rome, Italy. An initial comparison between the measurements in 2020-2021 vs. 2023 shows a decrease in throughput and latency performance, calling for deeper analyses toward understanding the root causes and deriving proper optimization solutions.