Here's How To Tell If T-Mobile's Just-Updated 5G Ultra Capacity Works In Your Town
T-Mobile has announced that over the next few days, over 60 million customers will have their 5G experience elevated. According to the network provider, the expansion covers 300,000 square miles. One place to check if you are already experiencing 5G Ultra Capacity or if you could benefit from upgraded coverage is to check the T-Mobile coverage map.
By zooming in on the coverage map or typing in your address, you can distinguish between 5G and Ultra Capacity 5G. A dark pink hue denotes the latter. Currently, there is no way to tell which areas were affected by the new coverage rollout. The interactive map will likely be updated in the coming days to reflect the new network capabilities.
This new initiative is the outcome of T-Mobile's $304 million investment in FCC's Auction 108 in 2022. The 2.5 GHz spectrum it acquired in the deal is responsible for the rollout of Ultra Capacity 5G in more areas.
T-Mobile claims every one of its 5G customer will likely benefit
The mobile provider noted that rural areas were the target of the Ultra Capacity 5G bandwidth expansion. For Pennsylvania, the upgrades will boost performance for 2.2 million people. T-Mobile noted that nearly one million of those customers reside in rural communities. Louisiana was another state mentioned in the announcement. The wireless provider noted that once everything is up and running with Auction 108, 92% of the state's counties would experience an upgrade. T-Mobile also stated that it won licenses in almost every county in the U.S. with Auction 108, so even if you are not one of the areas that are getting an upgrade, you will still benefit when traveling.
5G Ultra Capacity, represented as ”5G UC,” is a noticeable upgrade from standard 5G. The mid-band and high-band Ultra Capacity connection runs on 2.5GHz frequencies, while the T-Mobile Extended Range 5G runs on low-band 600MHz frequencies. Low-band has the benefit of better range but suffers from slower speeds. With the introduction of new towers and the 2.5 GHz spectrum, more T-Mobile customers can benefit from the faster speeds of 5G Ultra Capacity.
Of course, all of this depends on whether you have a phone with 5G capabilities, like the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra or the OnePlus 12. Those without a 5G capable device won't notice a difference in speed. But this expansion may be your sign to upgrade to a 5G phone if you are a T-Mobile customer.