T-Mobile 5G network puts up 493Mbps in speed test

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T-Mobile’s 5G network hasn’t officially launched yet, but that didn’t stop one person from finding a way onto the network and running some speed tests.

Milan Milanović says that he was able to get an unlocked Verizon Galaxy S10 5G onto T-Mobile 5G coverage in New York City. Speed tests posted by Milanović, who works for Speedtest app maker Ookla, show download speeds nearing 500Mbps, including one test that reached 493Mbps.

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The tests ran on T-Mobile’s millimeter wave (mmWave) 5G coverage, which Milanović says is “blanketing Manhattan”. PCMag notes that T-Mo has 100MHz of 28GHz spectrum in New York, which would top out at 625Mbps. Considering the speeds he achieved and the fact that T-Mo hasn’t officially launched its 5G network yet, it’s likely that Milanović was the only one on that coverage when he took the speed tests.

T-Mobile hasn’t said much about its 5G network launch except that it’s happening sometime in the second half of 2019. T-Mo will launch the Galaxy S10 5G this summerPCMag has heard that Verizon’s exclusive lasts until June 15th — and that could serve as a sort of soft launch for T-Mobile 5G that uses mmWave for early adopters willing to buy the Galaxy S10 5G. T-Mo plans to use 600MHz spectrum to help it achieve nationwide 5G coverage, and when it’s got 600MHz-based 5G coverage and phones with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X55 modems (possibly including the Note 10) that support it, we’ll likely see a full T-Mobile 5G launch.

T-Mo’s 5G network is still in early days, but these speed tests and the word that T-Mobile 5G is “blanketing” Manhattan are still exciting to hear if you’re a T-Mobile customer. T-Mo has been pushing 5G as one reason why its proposed merger with Sprint should be approved, saying it’ll be able to build a “broad and deep” 5G network with Sprint’s 2.5GHz mid-band spectrum, but today we’re getting an early look at what T-Mobile 5G is like on its own.

Sources: PCMag, Milan Milanović (Twitter)

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