5G technology is an evolution, not a single event. By the end of the year we plan to be the first to bring both a standards-based mobile 5G network and a mobile 5G device to our customers. We plan to bring mobile 5G to 12 cities this year, reaching at least 19 cities in early 2019.

Meanwhile, we’ve been hard at work laying the foundation with 5G Evolution, as well as LTE-LAA.  Indeed, today, we’ve made the nation’s best network - according to America’s biggest test¹ - even better by announcing 99 new 5G Evolution markets. This brings our total number of markets with these technologies to 239. As a reminder, 5G Evolution markets are locations where we’ve deployed technologies that enable peak theoretical wireless speeds for capable devices of at least 400 megabits per second.² And, we plan to offer 5G Evolution in over 400 markets by the end of the year. In the first half of 2019 we plan to offer nationwide coverage, making 5G Evolution available to over 200 million people.

The other technology we’re using to lay the mobile 5G foundation is LTE-LAA.  With LTE-LAA, the network technologies have a peak theoretical wireless speed for capable devices of 1 gigabit per second.² LTE-LAA is now live in parts of 20 cities with plans to reach at least 24 cities this year.

In terms of devices, we offer 13 different ones capable of accessing both 5G Evolution and LTE-LAA network technologies. The devices include: LG V30 and LG V35 ThinQ, Motorola Z² Force Edition, Netgear Nighthawk Mobile Router, Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S9 series devices and others.

Check out the chart below for a full list of 5G Evolution markets and locations where LTE-LAA is available, or a combination of 5G Evolution and LTE-LAA. We hope you enjoy the experience!