TVision streaming service builds on LTE-based home internet service
In recent months, T-Mobile executives have pegged the number of radio sites their crews are touching as upward of 700 per week in their effort to put the 2.5 GHz spectrum that came with the Sprint merger to work for 5G. To paraphrase Nicolas Boileau-Despréaux (and Mavenir’s John Baker), the proof is in the eating and, according to T-Mo, subscribers in nearly double the number of towns as cities as was available a month ago can now serve themselves with mid-band 5G.
T-Mobile has a nationwide standalone 5G network in place that taps its 600 MHz spectrum. The company is augmenting the low-band coverage with a mid-band layer of 2.5 GHz and on Oct. 28 announced that mid-band 5G now reaches some 410 towns and cities. Users can expect average download speeds in the 300 Mbps range with peak speeds “up to” 1 Gbps, according to the operator.
Vice President of Technology Neville Ray said in a statement that 2.5 GHz 5G gives it an edge over AT&T and Verizon offerings which use millimeter wave and and software-controlled sharing of low-band frequencies between LTE and 5G. “T-Mobile is the only one with big swaths of mid-band dedicated to 5G,” Ray said in a statement. “T-Mobile has more mid-band spectrum than anyone else. We’re the only ones building a transformational 5G network built on dedicated—not shared—airwaves. And that means only T-mobile is capable of making the world’s best 5G network a reality.”
While AT&T does offer 5G in cleared 850 MHz spectrum in some markets, the bulk of its nationwide coverage depends on Dynamic Spectrum Sharing; ditto for Verizon, which turned up nationwide 5G using DSS in tandem with the Oct. 13 of Apple’s 5G-compatible iPhone 12 lineup. Ray is referring to DSS with his shared airwaves comment. He and company CEO Mike Sievert have dinged DSS somewhat regularly as, unlike their primary competitors, T-Mobile’s spectrum portfolio is such that they don’t need to use it.
The post T-Mobile doubles 2.5 GHz 5G reach, takes it to cable with FWA and streaming service appeared first on RCR Wireless News.