T-Mobile started to build the world’s first standalone 5G network in the United States back in August, expanding its 5G coverage by roughly 30 percent. Unlike non-standalone 5G networks, T-Mobile’s SA 5G won’t default to LTE when making or taking calls, or when activating the phone, at least in theory.Your 5G smartphone will still switch to LTE during phone calls since there’s no hardware available yet that would support 5G Voice-over-NR, but as soon as Qualcomm outs its Snapdragon X60 modem, it will be possible to maintain 5G signal on T-Mobile SA 5G network even when performing calls.
Four devices are compatible with T-Mobile’s standalone 5G network: Samsung Galaxy S20 5G, Samsung Galaxy S20+ 5G, Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G, and OnePlus 8 5G. Starting this week, a fifth device is joining T-Mobile’s lineup of phones featuring support for its standalone 5G network, the OnePlus 7T Pro 5G.
T-Mobile is rolling out a new software update for the OnePlus 7T Pro 5G, which adds the 5G standalone feature for bands N41/N71. Also, the update includes the September security patch and “improved performance related to IMS and stability fixes.”
