T-Mobile US has launched the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G smartphone and started limited 5G service in six cities. The phone runs on 5G in mmWave spectrum in parts of Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New York. T-Mobile said customers would not pay extra for accessing the 5G services.
T-Mobile published a coverage map for each city to show where it has 5G services available. The services are based on what T-Mobile says is a technology first: Multi-band Dual Connectivity. This aggregates 5G in the millimeter wave band with LTE to deliver higher speeds.
The operator said real 5G services will only come with "deep nationwide coverage. And that can only be achieved by using low, mid and high spectrum bands". T-Mobile is hoping its planned merger with Sprint will allow it to deliver that coverage. If the merger with Sprint is approved, the company will utilize T-Mobile’s low-band and high-band mmWave spectrum, along with Sprint’s mid-band spectrum to deliver 5G.
