The $529 OnePlus 6 can hold its own on the radio front with $800 smartphones, according to new analysis done for PCMag.com by Cellular Insights.

While OnePlus's new smartphone doesn't use all the features in its Qualcomm Snapdragon X20 modem, its unusually wide support for 4x4 MIMO and carrier aggregation means it will be a star performer on the AT&T and T-Mobile networks, the analysis found.

The phone supports a lot of LTE frequency bands. Cellular Insights verified:

AT&T's bands 2, 4, 5, 12, 17, 29, 30 and 66

T-Mobile's bands 2, 4, 12, 66, and 71

Verizon's bands 2, 4, 5, and 66

Sprint's bands 25, 26 and 41

International bands 1, 3, 7, 8, 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 32, 34, 38, 39, and 40

It has range-extending, speed-boosting 4x4 MIMO on 1, 2, 3, 4, 7, 38, 41, and 66. The phone supports 4x carrier aggregation on AT&T and T-Mobile band combinations, and all of this goes for both of its SIM slots.

Four-Channel Carrier Aggregation works as advertised with #OnePlus6 on AT&T.

So much value in this phone... pic.twitter.com/KEuXfGs0bR — Milan Milanovic (@milanmilanovic) May 28, 2018

And while Cellular Insights hasn't done a comprehensive signal strength test yet (it's coming soon, and we'll have it here first), it said OnePlus 6 attaches quickly to LTE networks and shows "performance at least on par with $800+ flagship smartphones" thanks to its almost-all-Qualcomm modem-to-antenna RF stack solution. Both AT&T and T-Mobile users should be confident that the OnePlus 6 is going to give them great speed and coverage.

OnePlus 6 Wi-Fi performance is also on point this time. Seems like @oneplus is leveraging the entire modem-to-antenna @Qualcomm_Tech RF front-end solution, including the Wi-Fi stack.



This can only be a good thing for all the @TMobile VoLTE/VoWiFi users. — Milan Milanovic (@milanmilanovic) May 28, 2018

What's missing? The phone supports gigabit LTE rather than the 1.2Gbps maximum on the X20 modem. In practice, most 1.2Gbps connections will require the new LAA system (band 46), which uses unlicensed 5GHz spectrum to boost download speeds, and that isn't here. Neither is Band 14, AT&T's new "FirstNet" public safety band, but you shouldn't worry about that unless you're a public safety professional.

The phone supports the EVS voice codec on T-Mobile, offering the best possible voice quality. (For more on that, see our extensive feature on voice quality.) It also supports voice-over-LTE and voice-over-WiFi on T-Mobile, but not on AT&T. For those features on AT&T, you'll need to buy a carrier-branded phone.

Cellular Insights also took a closer look at what happens when you put a Verizon SIM into a OnePlus 6 ($529.00 at OnePlus Canada) . The phone connects to Verizon's LTE network for data on bands 2, 4, 5, and 66, but can't authenticate to Verizon's CDMA network and can't make phone calls, whether CDMA or VoLTE. It also lacks Verizon's key Band 13, which is responsible for much of Verizon's rural and in-building coverage. That leads us to agree with OnePlus that Verizon users shouldn't try this phone. Sprint users will also be left out, as the phone won't make calls on Sprint's CDMA network, even though it has Sprint's LTE bands.

What's going on there? Verizon and Sprint have the ability to spurn phones that aren't verified for their networks, and OnePlus hasn't gone through the expensive network certification process for those carriers.

When we reviewed the OnePlus 6, we found that it's a terrific value for $529 and the best dual-SIM smartphone in America. We just wish it was sold the way most Americans buy $500-plus phones, which is on a monthly installment plan or by a wireless carrier.

Rohde & Schwarz, the global leader in test and measurement equipment, provided Cellular Insights with the cutting-edge CMWFlexx solution consisting of two CMW500 Wideband Communication Tester boxes, CMWC Controller, and R&S TS7124 RF shielded box equipped with four Vivaldi antennas for up to 4×4 MIMO, ensuring high reproducibility of near-field OTA MIMO measurements. The study was done independently by Cellular Insights and shared with PCMag.

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