As T-Mobile continues to expand its 5G network, PCMag reports that the company has updated its coverage maps to differentiate between its faster "Ultra Capacity" 5G and its slower but more widely-available "Extended Range" 5G. T-Mobile's 5G Ultra Capacity network uses a mid-band frequency (2.5 GHz, AKA band 41, which was inherited from Sprint) that offers faster data speeds than most sub-6 GHz 5G, and much better coverage than mmWave 5G. T-Mobile this week announced that this faster mid-band network now covers 165 million people nationwide, up from 150 million just weeks ago. T-Mobile expects to reach 200 million people by the end of the year. T-Mobile also plans to increase the bandwidth allocated to its 5G Ultra Capacity network, from 60–80 MHz now, to 100 MHz by the end of the year, further improving capacity and data speeds. Verizon and AT&T won't be able to offer mid-band 5G service until they deploy C-Band spectrum that was recently auctioned off by the FCC. T-Mobile's Extended Range 5G is also known as sub-6 or low-band 5G. It uses existing frequency bands that are relatively narrow, low-frequency, and shared with 4G service. For these reasons, low-band 5G is sometimes no faster than 4G. Nonetheless, T-Mobile says its 5G Extended Range network now covers 305 million people across 1.7 million square miles.


More...