T-Mobile’s Chief Technology Officer, Neville Ray, released a statement today clarifying that the term “5G” is being passed around too loosely. Ray ensured readers that the magenta company had no intention of promising a hyped up, in-name-only Fifth Generation mobile network. T-Mobile promised its 5G data would be available as early as 2019, and the press release today reminds Americans that this plan hasn’t changed. In the web article, Ray is quick to point out that competing carriers’ 5G efforts are all tainted or misconstrued to use language that implies new internet capabilities are imminent for consumers. Unfortunately, as T-Mobile CTO suggests, Verizon Wireless and AT&T don’t have the necessary technology to meet a 2018 timeline.
AT&T, for example, claimed it would be paving the way this year by releasing a second iteration of its already announced 5G Evolution. That technology, however, lacks a significant amount of details, according to Ray. In fact, he documented that AT&T neglected to answer basic queries about its purported 5G plans like what spectrum bands it intended to use. According to T-Mobile, AT&T appears to have no structural plan or testing to implement any of its recent promises to the wireless industry. Verizon Wireless has been diligently testing its 5G spectrum for a variety of household and business uses. 5G for buildings running Internet of Things devices, to be clear, is not the same thing as a 5G internet connection for traveling and roaming mobile devices. Verizon’s primary 5G network is called “fixed 5G,” or wireless high-spreed data sent through WiFi routers to power buildings and their connected devices. Essentially, this is internet that sends data to a building for devices to watch Netflix or play video games, but instead of running coax cables, the transmission is wireless. T-Mobile’s CTO reminded readers that while Verizon has also been testing a mobile 5G connection, the standards it is using are outdated and will not even be compatible on most new devices, starting next year.
Neville Ray contrasted the Duopoly (T-Mobile’s nickname for Verizon and AT&T, collectively) with the Uncarrier’s own promises and achievements. First, the Deutsche Telekom-owned T-Mobile committed to both investing in and rolling out the necessary spectrum bands to enable 5G-standard data to mobile customers. With the newly acquired and recently launched 600MHz spectrum, T-Mobile will not only be able to send fast speeds and far coverage to wireless devices, but it will also be equipped to launch narrow-band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) to power smart homes and businesses. This preparation comes in the form of 5G-compatible hardware being already available in the forms of cellular towers and compatible smartphones, like the LG V30. Neville Ray also stressed that T-Mobile pledged and still plans to roll out a nationwide 5G network, for short range, mid range, and long range connectivity across all types of devices and scenarios.