There’s been a lot of mystery around DISH Network’s highly-anticipated launch of its 5G network in recent months. DISH is facing a ticking clock to have 20% US coverage by July 2022 or face a multi-billion dollar fine; but it seems the company is on track to hit its first target. DISH is planning to launch 5G services in 25 major markets and 100 small cities by June.
The complete lineup of cities include:
- Spokane, Washington
- Salt Lake City, Utah
- Las Vegas, Nevada
- Reno, Nevada
- Stockton, California
- Albuquerque, New Mexico
- El Paso, Texas
- Fort Worth, Texas
- Dallas, Texas
- Houston, Texas
- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
- Kansas City, Kansas
- St. Louis Missouri
- Nashville, Tennessee
- Orlando, Florida
- Indianapolis, Indiana
- Columbus, Ohio
- Cleveland, Ohio
- Charlotte, South Carolina
- Raleigh, North Carolina
- Rochester, New York
- Syracuse, New York
- Norfolk, Virginia
- Richmond, Virginia
- Virginia Beach, Virginia
- Springfield, Massachusetts
- Harford, Connecticut
DISH Wireless has been collecting spectrum for over 10 years with plans to eventually launch its own wireless network. DISH finally kicked off its initiative after the merger of Sprint and T-Mobile since it played an integral role in making that happen. Per the terms of the deal, the Federal Communications Commision (FCC) wanted a fourth wireless carrier to remain in the space to keep a fair playing field for consumers, in steps DISH to fill that void.
Another stipulation of the merger was that DISH would be able to use some of T-Mobile’s spectrum for seven years as it built out its 5G network, and acquired the Boost Mobile business. Though it’s not far off to say that the relationship between DISH and T-Mobile have been on the rocks since, with the two companies going head to head over T-Mobile’s decision to shut down its 3G network. However, DISH opted to use AT&T as a partner instead, further straining its relationship with T-Mobile.
Though DISH has remained relatively mum on its 5G network thus far, Light Reading’s editorial director, Mike Dano, got to visit one of DISH’s 5G sites and test the network for himself. According to Dano, the call test on DISH’s network worked fine, but was more impressed by the speeds. During a speed test, Dano got 247Mbps in download speeds and 27.9Mbps in upload speeds. This is exciting because 4G LTE on average produces download speeds of 12-35Mbps (depending on location) and uploads speeds of 7-8Mbps.
Dano also excitedly detailed in his article how impressed he was with DISH’s infrastructure build. If you’re interested in the nitty-gritty details of tech-talk, we recommend you check out his full article here.