Today we're using the Galaxy S20 as a key example in explaining 5G in the USA. We'll be exploring the two main varieties of what's considered 5G mobile data as well as the coverage you can get with carriers in the USA today - and in the near future. This article acts as guide for the most major roll-out of 5G data in the USA, here in the year 2020.
T-Mobile and Sprint are one step closer to becoming one company today after a federal judge ruled in favor of their proposed merger. Though this was an encouraging ruling for the executives at both T-Mobile and Sprint, they aren't out of the woods yet, as the California Public Utilities Commission still needs to approve the merger before it becomes a done deal.
It has been a little over two years in the making but the two companies' ordeal might finally be over. Whether or not the merger of two of the US' biggest wireless carriers is still left to be seen but, as far as the federal government is concerned, there might no longer be any legal impediment to Sprint and T-Mobile's merger. That is the favorable decision that a federal judge is expected to give though it doesn't indicate what other concessions the companies had to make to get that.
The situation at Sprint at the moment is a bit of a rarity in the smartphone universe - a deal with the potential for no drawback. Sprint has a Samsung screen-fixing program right now in which one phone can have its display fixed for $50 USD. Assuming you've got a broken phone screen and your phone is one of the limited models Sprint's got listed, this would appear to be a genuine no-strings-attached deal... which is honestly a shock.
Both sorts of 5G iPhone will be ready for the 2020 season, so insisted top Apple-centric industry and trends analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. This is a very similar prediction to one made by this same analyst at the tail end of 2019. Normally a second prediction of such extremely similar content would not be necessary - but for the appearance of alternate predictions that've made their way to headlines over the past couple of weeks.
As part of the process leading up to the anticipated Sprint and T-Mobile merger, Sprint has announced that its Boost Mobile subsidiary will be the new service provider for Virgin Mobile USA customers. This transition will take place as Virgin Mobile USA is discontinued. Boost Mobile has announced that Virgin Mobile USA accounts will be transferred over to its service soon.
T-Mobile really, really wants the Sprint merger to go ahead, and it's promising an even more affordable plan if it's allowed to combine the two networks. The New T-Mobile Connect prepaid plan, revealed today, would include 5G access but at half the price of the current cheapest plan the carrier offers in the US and Puerto Rico.
T-Mobile's 5G network will launch nationwide across the US on December 6th, the carrier has confirmed today, as part of a big push to convince regulators that the company's merger with Sprint should be given the go-ahead. The 5G deployment will use the carrier's 600 MHz spectrum, which is typically slower than the mmWave 5G that T-Mobile has already activated, but does come with a number of advantages.
While the big four carriers in the US typically spend their time bashing one another in press releases, today they've announced a new team up to work on cross-carrier messaging. Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint revealed what's officially called the Cross-Carrier Messaging Initiative (CCMI) today, which they say will help "drive the next generation of messaging for consumers and businesses."
The MacLaren version of the OnePlus 7T Pro 5G is coming to the United States exclusively to T-Mobile USA. This is the first time OnePlus has suggested that they'll bring the "Pro" version of the phone to the USA, with all previous indications being that the phone would only be released in regions outside of North America. Further, this is the McLaren version of the phone, meaning it'll be the most extravagant OnePlus smartphone thus far released.
Sprint's 5G network is ramping up with what they call "True Mobile 5G" in Phoenix Arizona. This is just one of a collection of commercial launches of 5G service for Sprint made live in cities like Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Kansas City, and Dallas-Fort Worth. Sprint currently suggests they'll soon cover approximately 2100 square miles (with approximately 11 million people expected to be covered in total) "in the coming weeks."
Sprint and OnePlus are finally launching a phone together, and they're going the whole hog from the outset with confirmation that it'll be 5G enabled. The news means another big carrier name promising shelf-space to OnePlus, not to mention the fourth 5G device for Sprint itself.