T-Mobile’s newest 5G protection hails from the period of Sprint, 3G, and 4G

T-Mobile has loved an plain head begin in 5G within the US, because of its profitable Sprint deal, and it’s turning some old spectrum around to pad out its lead. The firm has deployed its 1,900MHz spectrum nationwide on its mid-band Ultra Capacity 5G community. The 1,900MHz band has a brand new lease on life after beforehand serving the now-defunct Sprint LTE and T-Mobile 3G networks.

T-Mobile used its 1,900MHz holdings in a previous life to host 3G HSPA+ service while it built out an LTE network utilizing 1,700MHz spectrum. This was additionally instrumental in ensuring unlocked 3G iPhones might use T-Mobile’s community — the 1,700MHz spectrum it relied on for 3G wasn’t appropriate with the iPhone. Meanwhile, Sprint used its 1,900MHz spectrum to construct out an LTE community after failing to make WiMAX occur. Today, it’s all 5G. According to T-Mobile community SVP Mark McDiarmid, “The 1,900MHz PCS spectrum we’re deploying for 5G is being re-farmed from both 3G and 4G. The re-farm began after we integrated the T-Mobile and Sprint networks, so the assets came from both legacy networks.”

More just lately, the 1,900MHz spectrum has additionally performed a task in T-Mobile’s three-carrier aggregation, the place it’s combined with two other mid-band channels to offer monstrously quick speeds. T-Mobile examined this know-how earlier this 12 months on its dwell community; now, it’s obtainable to clients in “parts of the network.” Currently, you want a Samsung Galaxy S22 to make the most of it, however the firm plans to make three-carrier aggregation obtainable nationwide and for extra units “in the near future,” all in accordance with T-Mobile’s press launch. When that occurs, what’s previous will actually be new once more.