Here’s T-Mobile’s 5G rollout thus far along with which phones will work on its network – which is very different from the competition.
Next-gen 5G mobile networks are starting to launch all over the country to help users casually download data at lightning-fast speeds, and T-Mobile has its own.
But unlike Verizon, Sprint and AT&T, T-Mobile has only confirmed a single 5G phone that will work on its 5G network. Why? Because of the network itself, which works a little differently than those of other carriers.
The other carriers will operate on higher-frequency „millimeter wave“ (mmWave) bands, which will supposedly provide faster speeds but have less range. (A lot less, if our early experiences with Verizon’s 5G network in Chicago are representative.)
T-Mobile will have a combination of 28 Ghz mmWave and a wider 5G network on a lower-band 600 Mhz spectrum it aims to launch in 30 cities later in 2019, per CNET. This would theoretically combine with Sprint’s mid-band 2.5 Ghz 5G network, assuming the two carriers‘ merger goes through.
The signature phone coming to many of these carriers? The Samsung Galaxy S10 5G with its Snapdragon 855 chip, which doesn’t have a formal release date yet, but will be available to Verizon customers sometime in Q2 2019. T-Mobile is also getting the S10 5G sometime in summer (perhaps later than Verizon), per the carrier’s blog post.
But it will likely work with only a small portion of T-Mobile’s eventually-broad and unique network. The first part of the T-Mobile 5G network will be a similar kind of high-frequency mmWave that other carriers are building out, which the Galaxy S10 5G is designed to work on.
T-Mobile still hasn’t announced any details about its plans, preferring to keep mum about how much its service will cost seemingly until its network is ready to launch. No leaks yet on how much that might be, sadly.
T-Mobile previously asserted back in 2018 that it would bring 5G to 30 cities to start, and the first customers to get it will be in New York City, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Las Vegas.
We don’t know how much infrastructure the company has already built out, though customers won’t be able to take advantage of whatever’s there until compatible devices are released. For mmWave, that’s the S10 5G, coming in summer; for the sub-600mHz, we’re waiting to hear about any devices that will support it.
After that is a broad rollout to rural customers.
