T-Mobile customers have had access to a mobile 5G network in the US since June 2019. Since then, it has expanded nationwide to reach thousands of cities and millions of people.

The company not only offers 5G for your phone when you’re on the move, but also a 5G broadband service called 5G Home Internet, which brings 5G’s ultrafast speeds to your home, too.

Metro, the company’s prepaid brand, also offers 5G access.

What makes T-Mobile’s 5G deployment different from some telecom companies is their use of low-band and mid-band spectrum (vs mmWave) to provide access to more areas. In particular, T-Mobile says their 5G network will cover 96 percent of rural Americans to offer them better and more choices.

T-Mobile 5G Cities

T-Mobile launched 5G across 5,000 US cities and towns on December 2, 2019.

Here’s a look at some later rollouts:

  • December 12, 2022: T-Mobile achieves its year-end goal of covering 260 million people with Ultra Capacity 5G.
  • September 6, 2022: 5G Home Internet expands to 9 million more homes in six cities.
  • April 20, 2022: 5G Home Internet expands to 10 million more households.
  • March 30, 2022: 3 million homes in 54 cities across Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee.
  • February 11, 2020: 95 additional areas
  • March 9, 2020: Corvallis OR, Jackson TN, Twin Falls ID
  • March 12, 2020: Evansville IN and surrounding areas
  • March 19, 2020: Hatch NM, Hood River OR, Cordes Lake AZ, Ault CO
  • April 21, 2020: Philadelphia PA, Detroit MI, St. Louis MO, Columbus OH
  • July 21, 2020: Virginia Beach, Norfolk, and Richmond VA; Topeka KS; Sussex County DE
  • September 2, 2020: Mid-band 5G expands to 81 new cities
  • October 28, 2020: Mid-band coverage reaches close to 410 cities
  • December 10, 2020: Lights up thousands of cell sites with mid-band 5G

The low-band network (also called Extended Range 5G) currently covers thousands of cities and towns, and mid-band (aka Ultra Capacity 5G) has reached hundreds of cities. See their 5G coverage map for details.

Visit the Check Eligibility for 5G Internet on T-Mobile’s website to see if it’s available where you are.

T-Mobile 5G Plan Details

While a 5G-capable device is required in order to access their mobile 5G network, a new plan or feature isn’t necessary. This means you just need a compatible phone from T-Mobile to get on the network. See their mobile plans here.

T-Mobile’s 5G Home Internet is $50 /month. That price gets you unlimited data and no data caps.

Connecting Heroes Initiative is another option. This is their 10-year commitment of offering free 5G to all first responders at every public and non-profit state and local police, fire, and EMS agency.

T-Mobile’s 5G Phones

Devices from Apple, Google, OnePlus, Samsung, LG, and Motorola are a few of the T-Mobile 5G phones that work on their network.

T-Mobile 5G Progress

T-Mobile’s 5G network currently covers 300 million people. This includes customers in thousands of cities, and millions of people in rural areas.

Download speeds on the mobile network varies depending on where you are and which network type you’re using. The average for users on the mid-band network is around 300 Mbps, with maximum speeds of up to 1 Gbps. 5G Home Internet currently delivers around 100 Mbps on average.

T-Mobile’s Path to 5G

After a multi-billion dollar 5G investment with Nokia was announced in July 2018, Ericsson revealed an agreement with T-Mobile to provide the company with hardware and software from their 5G Platform to help deploy T-Mobile’s 5G network.

T-Mobile announced in September 2018, that they had laid the foundation for 5G in over 1,000 cities with their deployment of 600 MHz Extended Range LTE. This is what has pushed T-Mobile into being able to provide nationwide 5G coverage.

The company also successfully performed their first low-band 5G signal in Spokane, Washington, in November 2018. This 600 MHz, low-band 5G test is important because the company plans to provide 5G service to a broad area, which is possible with low-band waves that can deliver 5G to hundreds of square miles from a single tower.

They launched Poland’s first 5G network in December 2018. Soon after, in 2019, T-Mobile, Intel, and Ericsson successfully completed the world’s first 5G video call and data call on the 600 MHz spectrum. During the tests, it was confirmed that from just one tower, the 5G signal could reach more than a thousand square miles.

By February 2019, T-Mobile had built out 600 MHz service in over 2,000 cities covering 42 states. The service worked with LTE devices only, but the towers could be switched over to 5G when 5G devices were available. The company had 21,000 small cells deployed and planned to erect 20,000 more going into 2020.

On August 4, 2020, coverage expanded by 30%, and by June 2021, Extended Range 5G coverage reached 300 million people, and Ultra Capacity covered 150 million.

Their home internet offering began April 7, 2021.

T-Mobile’s Fixed Wireless Access Service

The at-home internet service is called 5G Home Internet. Visit that page to see if your house is on the list yet. You can sign up to be alerted when coverage gets to where you are.

You don’t need to be an existing T-Mobile customer to get the home internet service. It’s $50 per month.

When you sign up, you’ll receive a device that lets all your phones, computers, smart TVs, etc. (up to 64 devices) take advantage of the fast speeds. The fixed broadband service averages around 100 Mbps for downloads, and 10–25 Mbps for uploads.

If you’re a business, you can sign up only if you’re a sole proprietor at a residential address. Otherwise, see their Fixed Wireless Business Internet page to learn more about T-Mobile’s business-grade internet connectivity options.

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