T-Mobile launched its nationwide 5G network on Monday, and while it covers more than 200 million people across the United States, its mmWave rollout is still underway.
Via a press release, the wireless carrier declared it has launched the “first nationwide 5G network” in the United States, with its signal providing service in more than 5,000 cities and towns, and more than 1 million square miles. It claims the network covers more than 60 percent of the population, with an emphasis on providing coverage in rural locations.
Within the press release, attacks are made on competitors Verizon and AT&T, citing their 5G networks as sparse and fragmented. It also mentions how Verizon’s 5G networks are blocked by “walls, windows, and leaves,” while T-Mobile’s works through walls.
Additional criticisms are made addressing cost, T-Mobile citing its 5G access as retailing for the same price as LTE while also illustrating Verizon’s additional fees or its use of an expensive price plan. T-Mobile also criticizes AT&T for including 5G in its most expensive plans.
Even so, this seems to distract from a key point, which is that there are currently two types of 5G – standard 5G and mmWave. Standard 5G is relatively similar to 4G LTE in terms of robustness and reach, it is also quite similar in terms of speed, with relatively little boosts in connectivity anticipated.
mmWave uses higher-frequency bands above 6GHz, which can potentially offer gigabit speeds to users. Unfortunately, mmWave cannot travel as far, and can be obstructed by a wide assortment of materials. As such, carriers have elected to use mmWave in cities and other high population density locations.
T-Mobile’s network functions on 600MHz bands, which it claims it has reserved for 5G only, with its network to be enhanced with Sprint’s 2.5GHz spectrum once the merger of the two carriers closes. This all relates to the lower-frequency and robust 5G connection, not the high-speed mmWave.
T-Mobile has been working on its mmWave technology, but is not rolling it out to a wide scale audience at this time.
Apple is currently anticipated to ship 5G-enabled iPhones in fall 2020, though recent analyst speculation suggests that while 5G will be offered across the board, mmWave support may only be available on a few of the new models, not all of the handsets.
Stay tuned for additional details as they become available.
Via AppleInsider and T-Mobile