T-Mobile US Measures 5G Awareness With New Consumer Index

As it sits around waiting for regulatory approval to close on its $26 billion acquisition of rival Sprint, T-Mobile US seems to have come up with a fine idea to fill the time: find out what American citizens really think about 5G by launching a new quarterly study on the new technology and its wider ramifications. The U.S. carrier also made use of the opportunity to take a pot shot at rivals AT&T and Verizon, which may have beaten the self-styled “Un-carrier” to the first 5G post but have already come in for criticism over their early launches — not least because neither of these networks are really 5G. In addition, reports are already surfacing that AT&T’s fledgling 5G network is so far proving to be a disappointing experience in terms of speeds. T-Mobile has tested 5G in its 600 MHz spectrum, has said it plans to launch 5G using the 600 MHz and 28 GHz mmWave spectrum bands in 2019, and is targeting 2020 for full nationwide 5G coverage. CEO John Legere is now boasting that the operator is bothering to take the time to ask people what they want from 5G, “while the other guys are talking about ‘their’ 5G networks and what ‘they’ will do with them.”