One of the big questions surrounding 5G is what kind of rate plans the carriers will offer with their new 5G networks. Today we're getting a bit more info on what T-Mobile will do for its 5G service plans.
T-Mobile CTO Neville Ray has confirmed that T-Mo's 5G rate plans will be unlimited. Speaking to PCMag, he said that T-Mobile will "absolutely" offer an unlimited 5G plan and that pricing won't be more expensive than T-Mobile's current 4G rate plans for at least three years. T-Mobile sells a single line of its T-Mobile One plan for $70 per month.
To compare, AT&T also charges $70 per month its 5G rate plan, but that only includes 15GB of data usage.
T-Mobile has made a big deal of offering unlimited data with its plans in recent years, so it's great to hear that that'll continue with the move to 5G. Lots of people are touting the benefits of 5G and the speeds that it'll offer, and T-Mobile customers will be able to experience 5G as much as they'd without having to worry that they're quickly burning through a data allotment.
Ray also touched a bit on T-Mobile's 5G rollout plans following a bit of confusion that came out yesterday. He said that T-Mobile would like to do something with 5G in the first half of the year and that it's currently "trialing and experimenting." T-Mo will likely roll out 5G using millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum in the first half of the year, which will be fast but is shorter range. T-Mobile has mmWave spectrum that can potentially cover around 100 million people, Ray added, including in places like Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Ohio, and some other places. T-Mo has also said that it will launch the Galaxy S10 5G this summer.
In the second half of the year, T-Mobile is expected to deploy 5G using 600MHz spectrum, which doesn't have quite the peak speeds of mmWave but is longer range. Ray said that T-Mobile will launch 600MHz 5G when phones that include the Snapdragon X55 5G modem are out, which will be in the second half of 2019. According to PCMag, that "second half" may be as late as November. So if you're waiting for a Snapdragon X55-equipped phone before taking the plunge into 5G, you may be waiting until close to the end of the year.