As the final countdown begins for T-Mobile to launch their 5G network to 200 million people across 5,000, the ‘Un Carrier’ didn’t waste any time calling out their competition for their lack of 5G rollouts. In a comment directed towards Verizon, Neville Ray, T-Mobile’s President of Technology said, “The carriers have been over-hyping 5G for years now, setting expectations beyond what they can deliver. When Verizon says #5GBuiltRight, they must mean sparse, expensive and limited to outdoors only,” and then went on to say, “Meanwhile at T-Mobile, we built 5G that works for more people in more places, and this is just the start.”
T-Mobile hasn’t been one to shy away from calling out their competition and has repeatedly launched jabs at both Verizon and AT&T for their 5G strategies and lack of 5G service, despite heavy promotion of the opposite. Both companies have heavily touted 5G coverage, while T-Mobile calls them out for saying their services only work in some parts of those cities and don’t really specific how many square miles they cover. T-Mobile has consistently gone after both popular carriers, but they’ve really seemed to zero in on Verizon, which for years has boasted about their consistency of their network performance.
T-Mobile’s 5G network is being built on the low-band 600 MHz spectrum- which is their main way of covering more of the U.S., as AT&T and Verizon are utilizing the mmWave spectrum. The high-band spectrum is more powerful; however, it has a hard time penetrating through walls and barriers and cannot travel far, which is why the mid to low-band spectrums will be used by carriers to cover more area. AT&T announced last month that they will be utilizing the 850 MHz in 2020 for 5G and Verizon is also planning to use a multi-band strategy of low, mid and high-band spectrum- despite being in need of mid-band real estate.
T-Mobile is quick to point out the holes in Verizon’s 5G plans by saying, “Verizon 5G gets blocked by things like walls, windows and leaves,” said T-Mobile. Also: “Verizon forces customers to pay $10 more per month for 5G or use a more expensive plan. AT&T just forces customers into their most expensive plans.”
Both Verizon and T-Mobile have come under fire for not publishing their 5G maps, with exact locations of where there is 5G coverage, and have been fairly vague about it until recently. Verizon finally published their 5G coverage maps and T-Mobile is taking credit for it. T-Mobile launched a ‘VerHIDEzon.com” campaign that relentlessly called out the carrier for its lack of transparency for 5G coverage.
T-Mobile’s CEO, John Legere said in a statement, “5G is here on a nationwide scale. This is a HUGE step towards 5G for all.”
He then continued, “While Dumb and Dumber focus on 5G for the (wealthy) few, launching in just a handful of cities — and forcing customers into their most expensive plans to get 5G — we’re committed to building broad, deep nationwide 5G that people and businesses can access at no extra cost with the New T-Mobile … and today is just the start of that journey.”
As the end of the year approaches, so does the closing of the pending merger of T-Mobile and Sprint. The New T-Mobile promises to deliver “transformational broad and deep 5G for All.” Metro by T-Mobile is due to launch later this December with nationwide prepaid 5G. One of the biggest concerns by the states opposing the merger is the future of prepaid customers and ensuring 5G service for low-income customers.
T-Mobile will launch two new “superphones” the OnePlus 7T Pro 5G McLaren ($899.99) and the Samsung Galaxy Note10+ 5G ($1,299.9), both of which are available for preorder and will be available in-store on December 6th. Both phones are being offered via T-Mobile’s installment plans for qualified customers.
T-Mobile is also giving customers a chance to get the OnePlus 7T Pro 5G McLaren for free with 24 bill credits when they switch to T-Mobile and trade in an eligible phone. Customers can also get the Samsung Galaxy Note10+ 5G for 24 bill credits when they buy another and add a line, two for new customers.
Both of the “superphones” will be able to access T-Mobile’s 5G network built on the 600 MHz spectrum when it’s available in addition to T-Mobile’s advanced LTE network. In the event the merger gets approved, customers will also be able to access Sprint’s 2.5 GHz spectrum.
Article Originally Posted on Fierce Wireless