T-Mobile’s New 600 MHz Network Rollout Begins This Summer

Megalith

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The Un-carrier is ready to roll out that large chunk of 600MHz spectrum they paid $7.99 billion for back in April. While this spectrum will require all-new hardware, the new network is expected to allow for better service in-doors and be less congested than the 700MHz band that many competitors use. T-Mobile will also be utilizing the new spectrum to build the nation’s first 5G network.

With the spectrum transfer complete, the real fun begins. Despite the cries from skeptics, T-Mobile has already kicked off deployment activities and will see the first sites ready for testing this summer! This timeline - well ahead of expectations – sets the stage for commercial operations later this year. That’s when new 600 MHz smartphones from leading smartphone manufacturers are anticipated to arrive. T-Mobile has been working closely with the FCC and broadcasters and expects more than 1 million square miles of 600 MHz spectrum the Un-carrier owns to be clear and ready for deployment by year end.
 
Hopefully they'll be using Las Vegas as a test-bed for this rollout, we were practically the first city/area to have their 4G LTE service when they flipped the switch a few years ago and it was a rather dramatic jump from the 3.5G aka HSPA+ speeds for sure. As for the 5G thing we'll see what happens when it happens I suppose, I mean, how fast does a damned smartphone connection in the US really need to be considering every carrier considers "unlimited" to not actually mean unlimited? :D
 
I won't be upgrading for at least 3-4 years so I guess I won't be enjoying this new high speed cellphone highway just yet.
 
Hopefully this solves some of their coverage issues. I was with T-Mobile for all of 24 hours before bailing due to <1MB speeds across half of town followed by >50MB speeds a block away. It averages to 25MB so they claimed to be the "fastest in town."
 
So since no phones sold use this spectrum, its worthless.

What are the odds of firmware updates to the radios to support the new channel?
 
If the next iPhone can use this new network, I'll upgrade my 7 Plus.
 
Hey T-Maybe, just make it so I can get service more than 5 miles off an interstate. Thanks!

There is some truth in that statement. TMO is fine around town but if you go just a teeny bit into the sticks, service vanishes like a virgin on prom night.
 
So since no phones sold use this spectrum, its worthless.

What are the odds of firmware updates to the radios to support the new channel?

None, No hardware in phones right now support this. 1st phone most likely will be fall 2017 or spring 2018.
 
The 600MHz spectrum is a huge amount of bandwidth, this is going to be a huge performance boost.

Problem is that 600MHz phones basically do not exist right now. And if Apple doesn't make a 600MHz iPhone...well, you see, that's a big problem. But if T-mobile gets OEMs on board in the next few years, it'll be fantastic.
 
So since no phones sold use this spectrum, its worthless.

What are the odds of firmware updates to the radios to support the new channel?

Manufacturers greed would never allow them to do it unless the government forces them to. There's no incentive for users to upgrade to a new device if their old one can take full support of the latest improvements.
 
There is some truth in that statement. TMO is fine around town but if you go just a teeny bit into the sticks, service vanishes like a virgin on prom night.


I drove from MN to MI though WI, IL, IN and never had disruption in my streaming with T-Mobile. My parents live in Farmerville USA and we get LTE there as well..
 
I drove from MN to MI though WI, IL, IN and never had disruption in my streaming with T-Mobile. My parents live in Farmerville USA and we get LTE there as well..

Texas is horrible outside the main cities. Leaving the tip of West Texas all the way through Austin was horrendous. Its not to bad in the main parts of my city up until the outer edges. I had to swap because my job on the edge of the city limits wasn't getting reception.
 
Texas is horrible outside the main cities. Leaving the tip of West Texas all the way through Austin was horrendous. Its not to bad in the main parts of my city up until the outer edges. I had to swap because my job on the edge of the city limits wasn't getting reception.

Yep. Everytime we go down past Austin to New Braunfels / Gruene, our phones go into emergency mode once you're 5 minutes out of town. Our friends with AT&T had bars, everyone else is waving their phones in the air trying to get a signal.

When I went to visit my BIL in upstate New York, I had no service once we left the interstate. He said only Verizon and AT&T get any kind of service up there.

Don't get me wrong, I like TMO and I think it's a great value. We have 4 on our family plan and it's like $160 a month. When I had AT&T mine alone was $100 a month. But if I had a job where I had to travel, it would have to be AT&T or Verizon.
 
Yep. Everytime we go down past Austin to New Braunfels / Gruene, our phones go into emergency mode once you're 5 minutes out of town. Our friends with AT&T had bars, everyone else is waving their phones in the air trying to get a signal.

When I went to visit my BIL in upstate New York, I had no service once we left the interstate. He said only Verizon and AT&T get any kind of service up there.

Don't get me wrong, I like TMO and I think it's a great value. We have 4 on our family plan and it's like $160 a month. When I had AT&T mine alone was $100 a month. But if I had a job where I had to travel, it would have to be AT&T or Verizon.


What I don't get is that TMO has a reciprocal roaming agreement with ATT. When I visit my parents (they're WAY in the boonies, but I have service most of the way there just not on their property) my phone usually jumps over to ATT. Says ATT in the status bar instead of TMO. Yours doesn't?
 
What I don't get is that TMO has a reciprocal roaming agreement with ATT. When I visit my parents (they're WAY in the boonies, but I have service most of the way there just not on their property) my phone usually jumps over to ATT. Says ATT in the status bar instead of TMO. Yours doesn't?

Nope says "emergency calls only". I've read online that the AT&T roaming "agreement" with TMO is pretty limited. I do have data roaming disabled, and it's supposed to do voice roaming automatically. Supposedly.

I haven't been to mid Texas lately so I can't remember if it says the same thing there, but I believe it's either nothing or emergency only.
 
Nope says "emergency calls only". I've read online that the AT&T roaming "agreement" with TMO is pretty limited. I do have data roaming disabled, and it's supposed to do voice roaming automatically. Supposedly.

I haven't been to mid Texas lately so I can't remember if it says the same thing there, but I believe it's either nothing or emergency only.

You should have called support then. T-mobile roaming is not pretty limited. We have lots of folks in the office on T-mobile and they roam fine in Texas, Wyoming, and Montana.
 
In my experiences with T-Mobile the issue isn't phone service, it's the data speed. With Verizon and AT&T I feel pretty comfortable that I'll have at least 10MB internet no matter where I go. Neither typically pull anything over 30MB, but I've never had either pull less than 5MB once LTE rolled out.
With T-mobile I saw massive spikes into the 50MB range followed by a full-on dead zone a few blocks away. Not just a few dead zones either - coverage would be spotty all over the town. Phone service would be fine, but download speeds would be <500KB.
I make all of 2-3 calls a month, so I don't really care about phone service.
 
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