T-Mobile US pushes back its 30-city 5G rollout until 2H 2019

“T-Mobile Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray said in an interview at MWC on Monday that the company won’t be formally launching its 5G service in its first 30 cities until the second half of 2019,” Roger Cheng reports for CNET. “The reason: the lack of phones that can tap into the critical low-band 600MHz spectrum that will power much of its early 5G coverage.”
“Ray had pushed the industry to move faster with compatible devices, but noted much of the industry was working on devices that supported bands with higher frequencies, which offer better speeds, but less range,” Cheng reports. “Ray’s concession throws a wrinkle into the 5G race, as carriers push to the be first to the next-generation wireless technology, which promises a much faster and more responsive network. AT&T has already launched 5G in a dozen markets, but in limited areas, while Verizon has a home 5G network. Sprint, meanwhile, said it plans to launch 5G in four markets in May.”
“He said he didn’t worry about AT&T and Verizon pulling ahead in the 5G race because of the limited range of millimeter wave,” Cheng reports. “‘You can’t go to a US consumer and charge them a big premium and it works on three street corners,’ Ray said.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Apple iPhone users will have 5G when it becomes somewhat accessible, not when it’s merely a bullet point on a sales sheet designed to rope in the ignorant.
Expect the iPhone cloners, Samsung et al., to tout “5G” regardless since – given the fact that all they do is peddle pretend iPhones to the ignorant – they believe, likely correctly, that their customers won’t know any better. — MacDailyNews, February 9, 2019
Apple is going to wait until 5G is worth supporting, not rush it to market in order to bilk the ignoranti with a check mark on a spec sheet that most will never use in 2019. If 5G actually mattered to enough people in 2019, Apple would have a 5G iPhone available in 2019. 5G is still very much in the trial phase and will have very limited availability in 2018. There is currently no standard for 5G deployments. The Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance says that 5G should be rolled out in the U.S. by 2020. — MacDailyNews, December 3, 2018
SEE ALSO:
With 5G hype high, smartphone users risk disappointment – February 25, 2019
Intel modem announcement likely means no 5G iPhone until 2020 – February 22, 2019
Verizon to launch 5G service in 30 cities this year – February 21, 2019
Why you should not waste your money on a ‘5G’ phone in 2019 – February 9, 2019
Sprint sues AT&T for peddling fake 5G label on a 4G service – February 8, 2019
Some AT&T iPhones displaying misleading ‘5G E’ icon in iOS 12.2 beta – February 4, 2019
AT&T says it will have nationwide 5G by early 2020 – January 9, 2019
Apple will wait until at least 2020 to release a 5G iPhone – December 3, 2018
More evidence that Apple’s building its own cellular modem – July 31, 2017
Apple’s next-gen iPhones said to lack 5G modem to match rivals’ data speed – June 9, 2017