T-Mobile Says It Will Launch Nationwide 5G Network In Three Years (cnet.com) 59
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.
In which nation? (Score:1)
T-Mobile operates in many nations. In which nation are they planning to launc hthis nationwide network?
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T-Mo bought spectrum that covers the entire USA completely... excecpt for some areas in california where they already have very dense 700Mhz coverage and it would be redundant.
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While true, I'm actually glad the summary didn't suggest 5G was superluminal. On this planet, we obey the Law of Relativity!
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Nope, it is merely an observed average.
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Yeah, by 2020 I'll expect no less than superluminal.
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Yeah, by 2020 I'll expect no less than superluminal.
If it is not subspace, then I'll go back to my fantasy world.
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Curse you, good sir [shakes fist]. You have beaten me to this very post!!!
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Golly, if only the speed of light could also be made to be supersonic at the same time!
Oh, wait...
If the 5G standard is ratified by then (Score:5, Informative)
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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! [theregister.co.uk]
Yeah, and they call it "true LTE".. I am guessing what they mean is that they are making a 4G network way too late, and is mistaking it for 5G, because they are that incompetent.
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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.
HSPA+ is 3.5G, my point exactly.
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I just want to say two things:
1) ratification usually follows implementation
2) 2020 is, like, the day after tomorrow.
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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.
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5G?! (Score:1)
5G?
5G?!
5-fuckin-G?!!
FIVE-G!!!!
That's 5 - count'em: 1G, 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G -G's!!!
Gee.
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my wifi has 11g. Count `em: eleven gees! Gee, WIz!
If I get any more Gs I'm gonna need shoulder pads.
Reach is more important (Score:2)
Even though it's really nice to have a very high speed data connection, it's way more important that you can really use your phone even in more remote places.
With this kind of approach they could surpass Verizon in real world coverage, which would be a huge deal for convincing customers to switch to T-Mobile.
Correction (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Confused (Score:2)
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distance, bandwidth, pick one. Longer wavelength has a lower shannon limit, so less speed.
Re:Confused (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
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So chances are we will seem more reliable transmission, and potentially less bandwidth wasted to packet loss etc... hopefully we see some spectral efficiency increases as well.... honestly my Cellphone already has as much bandwidth as my cable connection... it's just super flakey!
Fixing the flakeiness... will result in significant perceived improvement in service quality.
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T-Mobile Customer 12 Years (Score:5, Insightful)
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 (Score:4, Interesting)
that sounds like a really shitty camping trip.
mental note: Only go camping with t-mobile users.
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A couple years ago I was up in the mountains foraging for mushrooms with some friends... dozens of miles outside of my coverage area... when suddenly somebody's phone rang! Turns out he had [some brand with lots of coverage].
Of course, it also turns out that since he was way up in the mountains it did no good at all for him to answer the phone because he couldn't make it to the office that day, and if the phone call had just gone to voice mail he wouldn't have had to ask them to call back and leave the info
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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. =)