T-Mobile aims to one-up other US carriers with 5G in 30 cities by end of 2018

AppleInsider

T-Mobile will start deploying its 5G network this year, setting up shop in 30 cities -- among them one of the biggest battlegrounds, New York City.

Other markets announced on Tuesday by T-Mobile include Dallas, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. More of them will be disclosed as the year progresses.

Customers will have to wait until early 2019 to actually make use of the increased speeds though, as the carrier won't have any compatible phones until then. That could be indirect confirmation that 2018 iPhones won't have 5G-ready modems.

Earlier today Sprint revealed plans to launch 5G in six U.S. cities during the first half of 2019. Ahead of then, it will be offering "5G-like" upgrades in some areas.

AT&T is working towards having 12 5G cities by the end of 2018, such as Atlanta, Dallas, and Waco. Verizon should also join the fray this year, but hasn't named any markets.

wood1208

These carriers touting 5G and there deployment plan, hope first put enough capacity or handle bandwidth to provide consistent high speed coverage. Living in suburban, I expect consistent LTE signal but most of time I have 2 bars 4G instead of LTE.

airnerd

"Let's be the first company to put out a technology no one can use and may not be able to use until next year at the earliest!"

entropys

What about home wireless broadband modems? That would be a better first use case would it not, especially if mobiles won’t have a suitable modem yet?

mike1

airnerd said:

"Let's be the first company to put out a technology no one can use and may not be able to use until next year at the earliest!"

Bet you'd also complain if you bought a phone in 2019 that had a 5G modem but nobody bothered to build out the network.

tex210

T-Mobile gets a bad rap for coverage, but just like the others, it depends where you spend your time.  Use a prepaid card and trial any you are interested in. 
 By the way, here in San Antonio T-Mobile LTE rocks.  Not a shill, I’m just cheap!  $20 data only plan here. 

seanismorris

wood1208 said:

These carriers touting 5G and there deployment plan, hope first put enough capacity or handle bandwidth to provide consistent high speed coverage. Living in suburban, I expect consistent LTE signal but most of time I have 2 bars 4G instead of LTE.

I used to get 2 bars with T-Mobile.  I tried Sprint and got 4.  The difference is T-Mobile never went to zero, where Sprint dropped off 10-20 times a day.

Take the “bar” rating with a grain of salt.  Sprint’s Network is crap regardless of what they tell you.  When usage is high in an area, the network crashes.

Sprint’s support and billing is the worst I’ve ever seen anywhere (over any industry).  Their marketing is bate and switch (quoted one price, billed another).  When I tried Sprint my actual bill was higher than T-Mobile.

My speed test with T-Mobile right now at peak hours is 28Mbps.  I’ve tested as high as 75Mbps, with an average of ~50Mbps.  My lowest test out of ~25 spanning 3 months was 20Mbps.  (I stopped checking after that).

cornchip

Coming soon to a city not near me! 

That said, I love T-Mob. Best deal in town.

dhawkins541

Have att I’m still just wishing they’d extend lte coverage to cover diamond lake Oregon since I go there yearly and it’s like 4 days in the dead zone. 

Eph

At Eldora Ski Resort in Colorado, there was T-Mobile LTE and no ATT, no Sprint, no Verizon. Lost my iPhone on the slopes and found it 3 days later, still ticking and telling me where it was. Screen was crushed from skis passing over it, but still worked. $29 later, like new.