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T-Mobile’s network card now lets you differentiate between slower long-range 5G and faster 5G that uses the average radio spectrum.
Screenshot by Stephen Shankland / CNET
T-Mobile has updated its coverage map so that you can now tell what kind of 5G you can get – the type that is relatively fast or the type that just covers a lot of territory. An updated US T-Mobile network coverage map features a darker color for faster 5G “ultra capacity” than for 5G “extended range”.
Colors are useful if you’re trying to decide whether you want to switch to T-Mobile from Verizon, AT&T, or another network – or if you’re trying to figure out why your fancy 5G T-Mobile network seems so eccentric.
However, you will still need to zoom and pan a lot to compare with the AT&T network coverage map and the Verizon coverage map, especially if you want to get a signal in more than one or two places. I also recommend consulting my colleague Eli Blumenthal’s Useful Decoding of 5G Marketing Terms.
For T-Mobile, you shouldn’t expect the 5G speed hype to apply to map areas with long-range 5G coverage. This uses a low frequency radio spectrum which is better for traveling long distances and penetrating the walls of buildings. But T-Mobile got a lot of mid-range spectrum with its acquisition of Sprint, and it’s a big way for T-Mo to stand out. The company bragged this week that its “ultra-capacity” bandwidth service now reaches 165 million people in the United States.
T-Mobile did not immediately respond to a request for comment. PCMag spotted the change in coverage map this week.
T-Mobile’s competitors are expected to become more competitive as they implement new mid-range radio spectrum later this year. AT&T and Verizon have purchased the rights to use it in the Federal Communications Commission auction of C-band waves.
Verizon and AT&T have their own terms for differentiating between fast short-range service and slower long-range service.
AT&T calls its relatively slow long-range coverage “5G” and its medium and even higher frequency millimeter wave (mmWave) “5G Plus”. Verizon calls its low-end “5G nationwide” and its mid-range and mmWave “ultra broadband”.
As long as we’re on the subject of technical decoding terms, don’t confuse Verizon’s ultra-broadband with the utterly separate. Ultra Wideband (UWB) standard for precise position tracking.
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