There’s been a lot of talk over the last few months about T-Mobile’s great progress (both recent and future) in terms of 5G coverage and speeds, as well as Verizon’s early (and impressive) lead in the latter department. Meanwhile, Sprint’s own early 5G rollout efforts and development resources are now in Magenta’s hands, positioning “New T-Mobile” as an industry trendsetter and possible market leader in the not-so-distant future.
A big step towards a major 5G coverage boost
Even simpler put, the carrier doesn’t need to permanently switch off its 4G LTE signal and repurpose said spectrum to exclusively serve 5G-enabled smartphones. Instead, DSS is what AT&T calls a “traffic-aware” technology, instantly responding to changes on its network to allocate and split 4G and 5G resources depending on demand.
In theory, that sounds like an absolute game changer with the potential to significantly shorten AT&T’s path to nationwide 5G, but in reality, there are still a number of kinks to iron out, as well as many important unanswered questions.
Limited availability and device support
Obviously, the carrier hopes to “continue expanding” its 5G coverage “throughout the year, bringing the power of 5G to more customers from coast to coast”, but at least for the time being, there are no other details to share on actual dates or places.
Last but certainly not least, there’s the question of the actual user benefits DSS is expected to facilitate. The answer is unlikely to make AT&T customers very happy, as the mobile network operator anticipates significant improvements in speed… further down the line. Until the technology is refined, upgraded, and deployed on a larger scale, you’ll have to settle for pretty much the same download numbers you usually get on LTE.
