T-Mobile to Pilot Fixed Wireless Home Broadband Service Using 4G from buzai232's blog

T-Mobile to Pilot Fixed Wireless Home Broadband Service Using 4G

As T-Mobile and Sprint continue to pursue regulatory approval of their proposed $26 billion merger, T-Mobile outlined more details about the combined company’s plans for in-home fixed wireless broadband service if the deal gets the greenlight.4g gsm desk phone

The nation’s third and fourth largest wireless providers have promised to disrupt the home broadband industry, and a new FCC filing said ‘New T-Mobile’s’ fixed wireless home broadband service would provide average speeds greater than 100 Mbps to 90 percent of the population by 2024. T-Mobile says the service can be deployed “at nominal or low incremental cost,” by leveraging assets and unused capacity from its mobile 5G deployment.

To start the effort, T-Mobile CEO John Legere in a blog post said the operator will “soon begin” a pilot of the home internet service using a 4G router connected to T-Mobile’s LTE network. Following the merger, the router will be upgraded to include 2.5 GHz spectrum and 5G-capable hardware.

According to the filing, the router will also include mesh network capabilities for advanced WiFi. Cost of the LTE and 5G router was redacted, but T-Mobile said it will provide them at no additional cost to customers and it will be a self-installation process.

Pricing for the service was redacted, but T-Mobile said it can “aggressively capture share” by undercutting what broadband providers typically charge today. The New T-Mobile expects to have 9.5 million subscribers in 2024, but that figure is “just the tip of the iceberg,” according to the filing.

Coverage maps and figures of eligible households for the 5G home broadband service were also redacted, but the filing indicates the service will be available to more than half of the country’s households by 2024. In addition to disruption of the home broadband industry, T-Mobile has promised the merger and resulting service will make a significant impact on closing the digital divide and bringing high-speed internet to many rural Americans that lack service or choice.

According to the filing, mobile traffic in many of the deployment areas would not put much strain on the combined company’s 2.5 GHz spectrum, leaving it available for fixed wireless broadband service.