T-Mobile Teases Plans to Launch Nationwide 5G Network in U.S. Within Three Years

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

Can't wait to see where T-Mobile stands in 2019-2020 in terms of customers and network

You honestly believe that T-Mobile will keep up their current practices at that point? Not a chance.

Right now they're offering these enticing offers to get people to switch. At this point, most in the US have cell phones. That means that growth can only be had by making people switch from one carrier to another (years ago growth could be had by getting someone to sign up for their first cell phone instead).

T-Mobile has the most room to grow right now so they're playing a game of lower profits in turn for offering bigger discounts to their users. But that plan isn't sustainable. Once they amass a good client size, they'll be forced to increase prices in order to bring about the return required to pay back investments they've made in their attempts at fast growth.

This is a pretty classic move and one we see in countless other businesses where a small competitor want to play with the big boys. Customers love them at first but with time they become just like everyone else. Comcast did this exact move years ago for instance.

 

[Tiger8]

The past 5 iPhones have supported more carriers and tech than any other phone on the market at the time of their release, including the current iPhone 7.

Yes, Apple was slow to roll out 3G but that was 2008, nearly 10 years ago. Since that time, they've lead the way.

Hardly a leader! iPhone 4s was released without LTE support, while Samsung Galaxy Sii already had it 6 months before. By the time they released the first LTE phone, Samsung already had 18 months head start, and were killing it with S3

 

[Rocketman]

If Apple doesn't support current gigabyte LTE with 256 QAM and 4x4 MIMO in the iPhone 8 with either Intel chips or Qualcomm (doubtful with the lawsuit) don't count on them doing anything with 5G until well after 2020.
Sadly Samsung, LG, and others will have 5G in their phones long before Apple does.
While Apple does have impressive phone tech they are notorious when it comes to adopting cell network advancements.
And don't tell me it's about battery life. That argument is baseless at this point.

Samsung will be first mover. Apple will be best mover. Apple will keep buying Qualcomm products through the lawsuit. Unless Qualcomm itself cuts off supply and forces Apple to use either an Intel or Apple baseband chip. Under FRAND licensing both are defensible. Qualcomm is not stupid, only greedy. Buy AAPL, sell QCOM.

Hey Qualcomm, set aside the funds for the refunds in AAPL stock so your net cost is vastly lower when the judge rules.

 

[star_nerdy]

This is an immensely ignorant comment considering T-Mobile just paid a fortune for a bunch of low band spectrum.

They may have paid for spectrum but as I type this, I'm fluctuating between 3 bars of LTE and one bar of 4G, which makes interment unusable at times.

Literally, when I walk 10 feet into a single floor restaurant in a state capitol, reception drops.

T-Mobile is fine, but AT&T and Verizon smoke T-Mobile in coverage. The price difference makes it worth it, but T-Mobile is far from perfect.

 

[mnsportsgeek]

They may have paid for spectrum but as I type this, I'm fluctuating between 3 bars of LTE and one bar of 4G, which makes interment unusable at times.

Literally, when I walk 10 feet into a single floor restaurant in a state capitol, reception drops.

T-Mobile is fine, but AT&T and Verizon smoke T-Mobile in coverage. The price difference makes it worth it, but T-Mobile is far from perfect.

Yes, it takes longer than 2 weeks to activate the spectrum.

 

[Tronic]

Switched to tmo from att last month. NYC coverage is iffy at best. I have zero service at work near city hall/fidi, but amazing coverage in the subway.

 

[busyscott]

I wouldn't quite call the spectrum "unused." The government confiscated it from tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of companies (that were using it LEGALLY) so they could sell it to the highest bidder. They get to tax the purchases and sales of all the companies that have to move out of 600Mhz and get the lump cash from the sale of 600Mhz to Tmobile. Did the same thing with Verizon and 700Mhz a few years ago. It's ridiculous.

 

[Brandonjr36]

Only 10Gb/s?

10gbs per second. Not for the whole month.

 

[barkomatic]

I have a feeling we are ending an era where there are dramatic upgrades in connectivity every 5 years or so. It seems the wireless companies are merging with entertainment to provide bundled services. I wonder if there will be many stand alone wireless companies by the time 5G rolls out on all carriers.

 

[rjohnstone]

Samsung will be first mover. Apple will be best mover. Apple will keep buying Qualcomm products through the lawsuit. Unless Qualcomm itself cuts off supply and forces Apple to use either an Intel or Apple baseband chip. Under FRAND licensing both are defensible. Qualcomm is not stupid, only greedy. Buy AAPL, sell QCOM.

Both the Galaxy S8 and S8+ are the only phones that currently support AT&T's 5G Evolution network.
They'll be the first handset to access it.

Granted 5G isn't even a completed standard yet, so...

 

[ssl0408]

There seems to be a lot of T-Mobile employees on this thread. They need to rollout 4G everywhere before they think about 5G. I still can't use their service in the NY area because of their poor building penetration. They need to work on that first.

 

[Rigby]

I wouldn't quite call the spectrum "unused." The government confiscated it from tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of companies (that were using it LEGALLY) so they could sell it to the highest bidder.

Actually there was a "reverse auction" for the current users of the spectrum (mostly TV broadcast stations). They got paid well and will still be able to continue service after "repacking" of the spectrum.

 

[dannys1]

No one wants a thinner laptop!! Make it thicker and put a bigger battery in it!

How much RAM has it got? If it's not 32gb it's useless.

Microsoft no longer innovates.

 

[Rigby]

There seems to be a lot of T-Mobile employees on this thread. They need to rollout 4G everywhere before they think about 5G. I still can't use their service in the NY area because of their poor building penetration. They need to work on that first.

The new spectrum will be transitioned from the current uses in phases, and will only be fully available for T-Mobile in 2020. It would be pretty stupid of them to only use it for 4G, which will be outdated by then.

 

[XTheLancerX]

What. This isn't 5G. It's just going to be low-band, high-coverage, high-capacity 4G LTE...

T-Mobile got 20x20MHz of 600MHz almost nationwide in the recent spectrum auction. 5G uses like 100x100MHz bandwidth which has crazy speeds in super high frequency ranges. I don't understand how this could be considered 5G.

 

[rickpoet]

4G, 5G...pff....I'm waiting for H.

 

[konqerror]

I wouldn't quite call the spectrum "unused." The government confiscated it from tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of companies (that were using it LEGALLY) so they could sell it to the highest bidder. They get to tax the purchases and sales of all the companies that have to move out of 600Mhz and get the lump cash from the sale of 600Mhz to Tmobile. Did the same thing with Verizon and 700Mhz a few years ago. It's ridiculous.

TV stations, AM/FM radio, business radio, and satellite TV did not pay for their spectrum (actually anybody who got any spectrum at all before the mid-90s). You believe that private for-profit companies should be able to monopolize a public resource for gain without compensation to the public?

Do you also believe that companies should be allowed to utilize this shared resource in inefficient ways even though technology makes it economical and practical to allow more users to share the same frequencies (e.g. analog vs digital TV, narrowband 2-way radio)?

 

[avanpelt]

T-Mobile expects to have the first set of 600 MHz (5G) compatible phones later this year; and the first set of 5G standards isn't set to be ratified until sometime next year?

Pro tip: Don't buy a phone from T-Mobile in late 2017 just because it's "5G compatible".

 

[Rigby]

T-Mobile expects to have the first set of 600 MHz (5G) compatible phones later this year; and the first set of 5G standards isn't set to be ratified until sometime next year?

600MHz does not necessarily mean 5G. They plan to start deploying LTE in parts of their new spectrum later this year.
[doublepost=1493745293][/doublepost]

What. This isn't 5G. It's just going to be low-band, high-coverage, high-capacity 4G LTE...

T-Mobile got 20x20MHz of 600MHz almost nationwide in the recent spectrum auction. 5G uses like 100x100MHz bandwidth which has crazy speeds in super high frequency ranges. I don't understand how this could be considered 5G.

5G is about more than just bandwidth and new spectrum. It will introduce some new radio technologies (such as massive MIMO) that have he potential to massively increase spectrum efficiency (i.e. how much performance you can wring out of a piece of spectrum). There will also be big changes in the access and core networks.

 

[avanpelt]

Switched to tmo from att last month. NYC coverage is iffy at best. I have zero service at work near city hall/fidi, but amazing coverage in the subway.

A T-Mobile employee's first question to you would probably be, "Do you have Wi-Fi at work?"

My response to that would be, "Yeah, I do. But why am I paying you x number of dollars per month if I can't use the service where I spend a lot of time?"

T-Mobile employee's likely response: "But you're saving money!"

My response: "Yep, as with most things in life, you get what you pay for."

 

[dominiongamma]

Exactly. T-Mobile has next to no coverage in my area. Neither does AT&T. Verizon is the only option for us in Northern New Hampshire. I just want reliable 3G or 4G before they start pushing the next big thing. I still had a landline until Verizon WiFi calling was introduced.

I get better coverage then the big two, and I pay less while I get 110 Mbps

 

[avanpelt]

600MHz does not necessarily mean 5G. They plan to start deploying LTE in parts of their new spectrum later this year.

Ahhh, I missed that paragraph in the press release. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[lazard]

What. This isn't 5G. It's just going to be low-band, high-coverage, high-capacity 4G LTE...

T-Mobile got 20x20MHz of 600MHz almost nationwide in the recent spectrum auction. 5G uses like 100x100MHz bandwidth which has crazy speeds in super high frequency ranges. I don't understand how this could be considered 5G.

quote from T-Mobile CTO

MYTH: There is “5G Spectrum” and “NOT 5G Spectrum”
FACT: You can deploy 5G on ANY frequency, and in the future, all spectrum will be 5G spectrum. 2G, 3G and 4G are available across low, mid and high-band. Why would 5G be any different? It won’t.

 

[CrzyP]

The past 5 iPhones have supported more carriers and tech than any other phone on the market at the time of their release, including the current iPhone 7.

Yes, Apple was slow to roll out 3G but that was 2008, nearly 10 years ago. Since that time, they've lead the way.

Half true. While the previous iPhones have been able to support more LTE bands, which helps support more carriers, the actual technology like MIMO, QAM, and carrier aggregation have lagged behind competitors. Basically, other flagship phones have more LTE Advance features than the iPhone even if the others support fewer LTE bands. Just looks at the iPhone 7 Qualcomm model vs the Galaxy S7. Same modem but one OEM limited it's features and the other used most or all its features. I'll let you figure out who did what.

 

[Juicy Box]

No one wants a thinner laptop!! Make it thicker and put a bigger battery in it!

How much RAM has it got? If it's not 32gb it's useless.

Microsoft no longer innovates.

Wrong thread?