4G LTE & 5G Coverage In Des Moines

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

Network	4G Coverage	5G Coverage
AT&T	100%	0%
T-Mobile	100%	99%
Verizon	100%	99%
Dish	0%	99%
US Cellular	100%	85%

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

Millimeter Wave 5G

Parts of Des Moines have millimeter wave 5G coverage. This novel celluar technology offers extremely fast speeds, but the coverage potential is limited. Millimeter waves aren't well-suited for traveling long distances.

Network	Millimeter Wave
Verizon	✓
AT&T	?
T-Mobile	?

Millimeter wave coverage in Des Moines is likely sparse (mostly limited to dense, outdoor areas like popular parks or sports stadiums).

Des Moines Cell Signal Strength

There are 2,266 map hexes within the census-defined boundaries of Des Moines. 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	18%	71%	12%	0%
T-Mobile	42%	52%	6%	0%
Verizon	36%	62%	3%	0%
US Cellular	34%	64%	1%	0%
Dish	11%	75%	13%	1%

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

Due to data-reliability concerns, 62 hexes in Des Moines that fall in bodies water, along rivers, or near shorelines are excluded from the table above.

Crowdsourced Coverage Data In Des Moines

Coverage Critic has 24,898 crowdsourced data points from 856 map hexes within the boundaries of Des Moines. Data is available for AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon.

Network	Unique Hexes	Total Observations
AT&T	642	10,518
T-Mobile	573	13,413
Verizon	195	912

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

Iowa State-Wide Coverage Scores

Network	Coverage Score
Verizon	8.3 / 10
AT&T	7.1 / 10
T-Mobile	6.3 / 10

Data Sourcing

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

The coverage information for Des Moines is rated as medium-high confidence. Documentation is available elsewhere covering limitations of Coverage Critic's approach.