T-Mobile Will Launch Its 5G network, Galaxy S10 5G on June 28

T-Mobile has been talking about 5G for as long as the other US carriers, but it hasn’t had any official 5G launch plans until now. The carrier will launch its 5G network in a handful of cities on June 28, and there will be a single 5G device available to take advantage of the new network. T-Mobile will launch the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G on the same day for a predictably high $1,300.

While there are only a few 5G markets, anyone can buy the GS10 5G from T-Mobile. It’s $1,299.99 full price or $31.25 per month with a $549.99 down payment. The 5G network will only work in Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and New York. And it won’t even cover very much of those cities.

T-Mobile is launching 5G with millimeter wave (mmWave) like AT&T and Verizon. These high-frequency signals have a lot of bandwidth, but they don’t propagate far or pass through obstacles. T-Mobile has talked about adding lower frequencies to 5G, but the current modems don’t support that.

T-Mobile deserves some praise for being honest about its 5G coverage. AT&T and Verizon just tell you roughly where they have mmWave coverage, but T-Mobile posted coverage maps. Most of the 5G cities have very patchy coverage, amounting to no more than a dozen or so bubbles a few blocks across. T-Mobile will no doubt use this shortcoming to justify its planned takeover of Sprint.

There will be more T-Mobile 5G cities as time goes on, but it’s going to be tough to get a reliable 5G connection unless you happen to be standing on the right street corner. Thankfully, T-Mobile isn’t charging extra for access to its 5G network. Verizon initially wanted to charge an extra $10 per month, but it has pulled back on that for the time being.

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