4G LTE & 5G Coverage In Boulder

The table below shows the proportion of Boulder with coverage from different cellular technologies.

Network	4G Coverage	5G Coverage
AT&T	100%	97%
T-Mobile	100%	99%
Verizon	100%	94%
Dish	0%	53%

Don't be alarmed by Dish's lack of 4G coverage in Boulder. Dish has a newly-built network that's 5G-only.

US Cellular And Dish Roaming Coverage

US Cellular does not have native coverage in Boulder. However, some US Cellular subscribers may still have coverage in Boulder thanks to roaming agreements.

The 53% figure for Dish may understate what subscribers in Boulder experience after accounting for roaming agreements.

Boulder Cell Signal Strength

There are 639 map hexes within the census-defined boundaries of Boulder. The table below shows the proportion of hexes at various levels of signal strength. Where both 4G and 5G coverage is available, data is drawn from whichever technology offers a stronger signal.

Network	Strong	Decent	Weak	None
AT&T	5%	60%	35%	0%
T-Mobile	37%	55%	8%	0%
Verizon	24%	70%	6%	0%
Dish	2%	34%	18%	47%

For most purposes, decent signals are perfectly sufficient. Weak or non-existent signals cause far greater degradation in user experience.

Crowdsourced Coverage Data In Boulder

Coverage Critic has 15,709 crowdsourced data points from 265 map hexes within the boundaries of Boulder. Data is available for AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon.

Network	Unique Hexes	Total Observations
AT&T	177	5,703
T-Mobile	214	7,821
Verizon	137	2,157

Click here to toggle to the map's crowdsourced data layer.

Colorado State-Wide Coverage Scores

Network	Coverage Score
Verizon	6.7 / 10
AT&T	6.5 / 10
T-Mobile	6.1 / 10

Cell phone service in Colorado tends to be lackluster in comparison to service in most of the rest of the U.S. Congestion is sometimes a problem in the Denver metro area, and coverage tends to be spotty in mountainous areas. Verizon and AT&T tend to be preferable to T-Mobile for people who regularly ski or hike in the mountains. However, no carriers have great coverage throughout the Rocky Mountains.

Data Sourcing

Coverage maps draw on data from the FCC's Broadband Data Collection and Coverage Critic's crowdsourcing.

The coverage information for Boulder is rated as medium confidence. While the model is probably accurate, consider double-checking by consulting neighbors or checking coverage maps before signing up for a cell phone plan. Documentation is available elsewhere covering limitations of Coverage Critic's approach.