The ongoing back and forth between the FAA and airlines and Verizon and AT&T over deployment of C-Band 5G around airports is not the most interesting of subjects. I wouldn’t blame you for not really following closely along with it. However, it is important to know that the network both carriers are trying to push is the actual good kind of 5G that should (finally) improve your network experience.
That said, there is one carrier I didn’t mention above who really wants you to know that their network is humming along and is not at all a part of that ongoing drama. Yes, T-Mobile is that carrier and they have what is likely the current-best 5G network in the US. T-Mobile has deployed low, mid, and a touch of high-band 5G, but their mid-band 5G is the most important and it sort of relates back to what’s going on with Verizon and AT&T.
Well, it relates in that T-Mobile’s mid-band 5G (2.5 GHz) is all good with the FAA and airlines. The C-Band 5G (3.7-4.2 GHz) from Verizon and AT&T, which is also mid-band, operates at a different frequency than T-Mobile’s and is creating safety concerns. I should point out that in a statement today, T-Mobile acknowledged that C-Band is being safely used all over the world and that they “strongly encourage our partners at the FAA and airlines to resolve all concerns.” They made that statement because they too own C-Band spectrum and want to deploy it in 2023.
But for now, what T-Mobile really wants you to know is that all of this 5G safety stuff in the news about airlines being ground to a halt and passengers being stranded overseas and commerce collapsing in the US has nothing to do with their network. Their mid-band 5G has been cleared for takeoff for some time. Sorry, had to.
Got any good T-Mobile mid-band 5G or “5GUC” speedtests to share? I ran a couple yesterday that were a solid 300Mbps down and 40Mbps up.
Got any good T-Mobile 5G speedtests to share?
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East Lansing, MI on my Pixel 6 Pro. Just need the tower near my home to be upgraded to mid-band.
I pulled 600 down, 78 up, and 41 ping time in greater Cincinnati this week.
When I get speeds on T-Mob, they are GREAT (350 average). I have an S21 and really have no issues, but they still seem to have more holes in my market (Louisville) than others, but they are building several new sites.
And for whatever reason my Ookla app on T-Mob always takes longer to find the server than my S21 VZW counterpart, even if the speeds are higher.
Regarding the FAA stuff, I don’t know why they didn’t test all this out years ago…not like they did not see this coming! Why did this just become a fire when VZW and AT&T announced deployment dates?
I definitely think they could’ve started on this sooner, but it’s barely been 2 years since AT&T/Verizon “won” this spectrum. And nothing changes quickly (sometimes for good reason) in the aviation industry.
Check out my Speedtest result! How fast is your internet? https://www.speedtest.net/my-result/a/8076498758
This a tower just updated and finished up just recently.
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Zfold 3 unlocked in NYC this was taken in doors too. https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/bb26f81d1c96bae691d9887607ff961b1c0742bba7add92d4317bc2eb8e0e50f.png
Average about 300-500 for me and that’s in NW Florida. Fairly rural. And my phone won’t kill anyone. Win/win.
Sometimes it’s faster then my home wifi
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As soon as I saw 5gUC I did a test !!!
My upload is only 10
It’s so ironic to see T-Mobile trying to, at least in this instance, be the “No drama” network. As if they haven’t had their own issues.
True. They’re not perfect by any metric, but you do have to admit they had the better strategy to roll out 5G to the masses than Verizon or AT&T.
If you’re wondering what the big deal with airplanes is, the c band is the same frequency as our radio altimeter. The normal altimeter reads the outside baro and computes your altitude using the thickness of the air. The radio altimeter shoots a beam to the ground and reads the ping when it bounces back up to the jet. This is not a safety concern. It’s a devastating fact. The radio altimeter has been absolutely jacked up as a result. Why do you need both an altimeter and radio altimeter? State of the art instrument approaches. (CATIII ILS) Really bad weather in PDX? Not gonna happen. Autoland because the pilots can’t see? Not gonna happen. Happy for us all to have great 5G speeds, but just think about what your safety is worth to you on your next flight. How many mb/s are you willing to trade for your life? 50? 100? 1000? Zip is my vote.
Gangster Tmobile 5G is the way to go! Been using it around the airports and my carrier for the last year.
Countries in Europe and Asia have been using 5G around airports and the airlines have figured it out years ago. This is really an American self-made mess because of the conflict between the two industries.
Not this 5G. Like the article talks about, the upper bands of frequencies are higher. All of my flight manuals and operations have been changed as a result. Look at the notices to airmen for KDFW. You didn’t see those 5G issues until this roll out.
Most Euro/Asia countries have a few differences to the U.S.
#1 – Their midband frequency range is a little bit farther away from the altimeter frequencies than Verizon/AT&T’s frequencies, so there’s a slightly lower chance of frequency “bleed” (for lack of a better term)
#2 – Their 5G antennas are pumping out less power than the ones in the U.S.
#3 – Their 5G antennas are pointing horizontal or even downwards to help mitigate the risk; in the U.S. most antennas are setup vertically to maximize reach
Not saying there’s not something to your point, but it’s not necessarily an apples to apples comparison, which is one reason why the FAA is pushing hard about this.
So, the government sold the spectrum to cell providers with no restrictions for billions of dollars. Then a couple of weeks before deployment, oh wait, you want to use this near airports … sorry!
Ha! Yup. Guessing the number of Govie pilots on the FCC who have a radio altimeter on their Cessna 172 is 0.
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This was a good one I ran a couple months ago.
I’ve never had a result under 100Mbps on T-Mo’s UC
nice! their UC is spotty in portland but when I find it, it’s pretty good
How is their low-band/standard there in the land of the blue star doughnuts? Here I can pull around 100Mbps on low-band, but also the latency is typically significantly higher than what I see on UC.
Although the upload isn’t what I would consider fantastic, afaik that is a better upload number than any cable company delivers in the US. If they can sustain this type of bandwidth then this is getting to the point that it really could make sense as an actual home broadband alternative.