T-Mobile Says It Will Launch Nationwide 5G Network In Three Years (cnet.com)

T-Mobile announced today its plans for launching a "true" nationwide LTE beginning in 2019, with a complete rollout by 2020. From a report: The nation's third-largest carrier on Tuesday unveiled plans to build out its next-generation wireless network using the radio airwaves it just purchased in a government auction. The focus for its 5G network isn't necessarily speed, but instead broader coverage across the country. It's a surprising move given those airwaves operate on a lower band, which is great for covering long distances but won't give you tremendous speeds. The move goes against the conventional thinking about 5G, which has spurred excitement because of its ability to give you a seemingly supersonic connection to the network. Instead, T-Mobile is stressing a better signal everywhere and the ability to manage multiple devices beyond the phone.

Comments

Supersonic?

[squiggleslash]

Let me just be on record that I like my radiowave based light speed connections between my phone and the tower. I don't want to "upgrade" to something that's merely faster than sound!

Re:Supersonic?

[squiggleslash]

That's because I was using a communications medium that runs at the (nearly) the speed of light, whereas you were stuck with a mere supersonic communications technology!

If the 5G standard is ratified by then

[ArhcAngel]

AFAIK 5G still isn't official so building a "true" 5G network would need to wait until we know what one is. It aint even scheduled to be ratified until 2020!

Re:If the 5G standard is ratified by then

[halltk1983]

They were the first network with 4g-class speeds using HSPA+ back in 2011. Even today, they frequently outperform other networks on speed tests. Sitting on my couch, I get 100 mbps on my phone, which is twice the speed of my internet connection through Comcast.

Re:If the 5G standard is ratified by then

[Aighearach]

If you do that math and actually add 3 to the current year, you might discover that they're promising to use the standard once it is agreed and that there is nothing odd or missing from their claim.

Correction

[Anonymous Coward]

I write about these things for a living. Almost everything in this article is incorrect or misleading.

T-Mobile already has a national 4G LTE network, and will use new 600 MHz spectrum to improve the coverage of that network.

Separately, T-Mobile will build a true 5G network over the next three years. That network will use multiple bands, including some of the new 600 MHz band (it will be shared between 4G and 5G.) By using multiple bands, they can offer coverage and speed with both 4G and 5G networks. They very much intend to offer very high speeds with their 5G network.

Re:In which nation?

[squiggleslash]

To be pedantic: there are businesses called T-Mobile in various nations, but the company in the US is a distinct, publicly traded, separate entity from the others. I believe the German company still owns many of its shares, but it's not run by them and at this stage they're just another shareholder.

The article is about the US company of that name, not the Germany company.

Re:Confused

[SeaFox]

distance, bandwidth, pick one. Longer wavelength has a lower shannon limit, so less speed.

Uh, yeah. We know that. The point is the network will be operating in an area of spectrum that is better for penetration through buildings and other obsticles, but doesn't allow faster speeds. This is intentional. Yet somehow this is seen as "surprising".

To use a car analogy. it's like me saying I want to buy a car that's easy to park and gets really high mileage for my commute, then somehow it's "surprising" that I bought Honda Fit instead of a Ford Mustang.

I think this is more a case of bad editing in the submission. Because T-Mobile's move is surprising considering it "goes against the conventional thinking about 5G", which is the following sentence in the summary. Looks like someone meant to stick the adjective surprising there where the use of "move" as a noun appears a second time.

T-Mobile Customer 12 Years

[IonOtter]

I've been a customer for 12 years, and I work for their primary competitor. Even with my employee discount, my employer can't coax me over.

But lemme tell you...

Getting 5 miles out of any major metropolitan area, and seeing that little 4G icon vanish? It's annoying. Getting 10 miles outside of an MMA, and seeing no bars at all? It's frustrating.

Being 100 miles into the sticks on a camping trip, and everyone using the competitor network has 5 bars, 4G and is streaming music to the bluetooth speaker?

Yeah. Those are the times I'm tempted to turn to the Dark Side.

Re:T-Mobile Customer 12 Years

[rogoshen1]

that sounds like a really shitty camping trip.

mental note: Only go camping with t-mobile users.

Re:T-Mobile Customer 12 Years

[rogoshen1]

well, mushroom hunting might be one of those things where internet connectivity is a lifesaver (literally) -- being able to check if a mushroom is poisonous, because if you're like me, you'd forget to bring a book with that information. =)

Re:Confused

[halltk1983]

Right, so you use the longer wavelengths to cover at distance improving range, and the shorter wavelengths to cover up close improving speed, and switch between them as needed. Moving the people at longer range off the shorter wavelength bands allows you to reduce the window for each device because you can assume a shorter round trip time, meaning there's less waste in each window, which further improves the total bandwidth of the higher-frequency radio.