Sprint and T-Mobile US have always worked together towards a common profitable goal. Recently the two companies connected more 5G devices in their versatile 5G network plans. The move by these giant carriers also benefited Samsung and Intel, who are their vendor partners.
In particular, Sprint’s 5G advancements included plans to introduce a standard-based 5G form factor from Samsung this summer. The anticipated smartphone will utilize the carrier’s 2.5 GHz, which holds much of its 5G network plans. The new device will also have access to Sprint’s 1.9 GHz and the 800 MHz spectrum as well; currently used by its 4G LTE network.
Towards the end of 2018, Sprint went public with plans to unveil a 5G smartphone from LG in the first half of this year. We now think their launch dates match their mega plan to introduce 5D services in nine various markets; also in the first half of 2019. According to Sprint’s CTO, John Saw, the initial nine markets include Phoenix, New York City, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Dallas, Houston, Texas, Kansas, Atlanta, and Chicago. Saw continued to say that Sprint will only utilize around 60 MHz of its 2.5 GHz spectrum; an effort to support the early stages 5G services.
According to Saw, the 2.5 GHz spectrum band gives you wider coverage from the same cell site compared to a millimeter wave (mmWave) band, used by both AT&T and Verizon. The CTO argued that the carrier’s earlier 5G rollout plans in Phoenix, and will cover over 226 square miles, and an approximated 2 million people.
The buzz about T-Mobile
T-Mobile finally succeeded in with their recent baffle piece, when they managed both 5G data and video call using their 600MHz spectrum band on a real-time public network. The test, by its network partners Ericsson and Intel, has both uplink and downlink connections.
The carrier hyped their success results of the test, taking the pride of being the first to use the 600MHz spectrum band. Not to mention, T-Mobile is the only US carrier, currently working on 5G and being able to use the 600MHz band. The company also boasted to have finished a tri-band 5G call, which tapped into its mmWave spectrum; 28GHz and 39GHz bands.
What’s noteworthy is that the test was carried out on a live commercial network. And according to the company’s CEO, John Legere; T-Mobile was supposed to have commercial mobile 5G services in over 30 markets by the year end 2018. However, Legere added to say that the carrier is yet to provide the status of the laid plans. He also maintained that T-Mobile is sticking with its plans to have a national wide 5G network coverage by 2020.
The carrier’s test also used Intel’s 5G Mobile Trial Platform, an opportunity which turned out to be a huge win for the Chip giant, considering they’ve been trying to take over the 5G markets from its competitor Qualcomm.
Various top carriers have been announcing their successful 5G tests, as a way to show their progress towards achieving commercial 5G services. T-Mobile isn’t one to be left behind; in November 2018 they announced that it had made a successful 5G downlink data transmission via its 600MHz spectrum band. They also utilized special equipment from its counterparts, Nokia.
