Thank you for supporting my point: lots of NO SERVICE in the "swaths" of metro areas precisely because none of them have put up enough towers for the very short range of the 5G spectrum (except for Dish's lower end spectrum that does travel farther, but those come with a compromise of somewhat slower speeds) to cover areas at least as reliable and contiguous as their 4G/LTE because it is IMPOSSIBLE for any of the carriers to do because there is a HUGE tower build BACKLOG that is not moving anywhere near fast enough. All the reports are about spotty and huge holes of 5G coverage. The maps of such a HUGE contiguous network are just not true. I think a reputable publication published a story on that, but I can't recall it, but thanks again for agreement and support.
At least in the case of T-Mobile, they've also deployed a lot of low-range (600-700 MHz) 5G, so it wouldn't surprise me if that kind of 5G coverage is getting close to their 4G coverage. AT&T has also deployed some low-range 5G too, but not as much, I think. But low-range 5G isn't *that* much faster than 4G, although I think it may have other benefits, e.g. lower latency.
Mid-range is the sweet spot for 5G, which is why every other ad you see on TV lately is from Verizon touting their new "Ultra Wide Band 5G," which refers to all that mid-band 5G that they just lit up this month. AT&T is doing it too, although maybe not as aggressively yet as Verizon. Both are trying to play catch-up with T-Mobile, which has already lit up a bunch of mid-band 5G. You can see their coverage map
here. If you zoom into a particular area, like a state-wide area, you can see where they have "5G Ultra Capacity" (i.e. mid-to-high range 5G) vs. "5G Extended Range" (i.e. low-range 5G) vs. 4G.
It's true that there's lots of land across the country that isn't yet reached by mid-band 5G. A lot of it never will be. But in terms of the land where lots of people actually live and work, yes, much of it is now covered by mid-band (and/or high-band) 5G. Which is why T-Mobile and Verizon are now both actively marketing 5G not just for cellular service but also home broadband service. Lots of home are eligible now thanks to all the radios they've deployed on towers across the US.