While it wouldn't typically sound like a good idea for a tech company, no matter how big, to make any major announcements on the same day that Apple unveils a new iPhone generation, Verizon's latest breakthrough was designed to be directly associated with said iPhone 12 5G lineup for marketing purposes.
Almost a whole year after T-Mobile launched the first "nationwide" 5G network in the US, Big Red is finally ready to follow suit, although predictably enough, its lofty speed promises and exalted coverage claims are doing little to impress the industry-leading "Un-carrier."
A weak attempt at challenging the market's heavyweight 5G champion
That's because Magenta has adopted the so-called "layer cake" rollout strategy, promoted pretty aggressively of late with everything from actual sweet treats to several tweets posted today on the operator's main account aimed at drawing parallels between this unique approach and different types of boats, painting brushes, and even dinosaurs.
As if that didn't make T-Mobile's intentions of raining on Big Red's parade clear enough, CEO Mike Sievert specifically named both Verizon and AT&T in a separate tweet earlier today aimed at shaming the "duopoly" for their modest 5G spectrum assets, while President of Technology Neville Ray went one step further by sharing a short but informational video clip on his own personal account.
So @verizon finally started talking about having 5G “nationwide” but they are using Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) to try and pull it off. Now... let me tell you what they don’t want you to know about DSS... pic.twitter.com/GExy08ilRt
Said clip perfectly explains in just 37 seconds exactly what's wrong with Verizon's "nationwide" 5G rollout, which relies on a groundbreaking yet inherently flawed technology called Dynamic Spectrum Sharing or DSS. America's top wireless service provider is essentially gearing up to "steal from their LTE customers in order to expand" and make a low-band 5G network possible.
The best is yet to come... from T-Mobile at least
The problem with "dynamically" sharing the same channels for both 4G LTE and 5G service is that in times of increased data usage (like, say, during a global pandemic forcing many people to work from home, often using mobile hotspots for demanding tasks), DSS could potentially lead to major slowdowns for pretty much everybody.
Of course, low download speeds are not an issue for Verizon's mmWave-based Ultra Wideband 5G network, but that's set to remain inaccessible to the vast majority of the carrier's customers even after this T-Mobile-rivaling launch.
By the way, Magenta still claims its nationwide 5G network is "the largest in the country", covering a grand total of 1.3 million square miles with dedicated low, mid, and high-band signals. Since Big Red is not rushing to contradict that declaration of dominance, limiting itself to trumpeting coverage for "more than 200 million people in 1,800 cities around the US", we'll just assume T-Mobile is telling the truth.
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Believe it or not, the "Un-carrier" is merely getting started on its road to ubiquitous 5G speeds, promising to expand the aforementioned low and mid-band services to "thousands" of new locations by the end of the year. At the last count, T-Mobile's "supercharged" mid-band 5G experience alone was commercially available in no less than 210 cities and towns across the country, striking a nearly flawless balance between coverage and speed.
Adrian, a mobile technology enthusiast since the Nokia 3310 era, has been a dynamic presence in the tech journalism field, contributing to Android Authority, Digital Trends, and Pocketnow before joining PhoneArena in 2018. His expertise spans across various platforms, with a particular fondness for the diversity of the Android ecosystem. Despite the challenges of balancing full-time parenthood with his work, Adrian's passion for tech trends, running, and movies keeps him energized. His commitment to mid-range smartphones has led to an eclectic collection of devices, saved from personal bankruptcy by his preference for 'adequate' over 'overpriced'.
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