T-Mobile switches on standalone 5G network, expands coverage by 30 percent

T-Mobile says that it has officially switched on “the world’s first standalone 5G network,” allowing the company to maximize the use of its 600MHz 5G spectrum. Previously, that 600MHz footprint was directly tied to the carrier’s LTE coverage map and thus limited in reach. “With today’s launch, 600MHz 5G can go beyond the mid-band signal, covering hundreds of square miles from a single tower and going deeper into buildings than before,” T-Mobile wrote in a press release.

It celebrated this expanded 5G availability — T-Mobile claims standalone 5G immediately increases its 5G footprint by 30 percent — by putting on a drone show in Lisbon, North Dakota, an example of one of the small towns that’s now getting 5G for the first time. In all,...

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