T-Mobile has doubled the extent of its mid-band 5G coverage in just a month, with plans to provide coverage to 100 million by year’s end.
Mid-band 5G is considered the sweet spot by many experts, providing the range and coverage needed for optimal use. T-Mobile achieved gigabit speed with its mid-band 5G in May. While high-band mmWave is often associated with gigabit speeds, it’s hampered by notoriously short range and even worse building penetration.
“When it comes to real-world 5G, the only way to get the kind of performance benefits we’ve been promised is through the critical mid-band spectrum,” noted Bob O’Donnell, President of TECHnalysis Research. “Sure, mmWave can be fast, but it’s nearly impossible to find, while low-band 5G is easy to find, but offers smaller improvement over existing LTE. With the 2.5 GHz spectrum being lit up by T-Mobile, however, you get the sweet spot of noticeably improved performance in a respectable coverage area. That’s the kind of 5G benefit that consumers are going to notice and appreciate.”
Thanks to T-Mobile’s Sprint acquisition, it has more mid-band spectrum than any US carriers, putting it in an excellent position to deliver on its promise.
“Mid-band is the only way to deliver super-fast 5G speeds that can reach for miles. And here’s the secret AT&T and Verizon don’t want you to know: T-Mobile is the only one with big swaths of mid-band dedicated to 5G. T-Mobile has more mid-band spectrum than anyone else,” said Neville Ray, President of Technology at T-Mobile. “We’re the only ones building a transformational 5G network built on dedicated — not shared — airwaves. And that means only T-Mobile is capable of making the world’s best 5G network a reality.”
Today’s announcement is good news for T-Mobile subscribers.