TYLER, Texas — If there's anything we've learned from a year at home during a global pandemic, it's that connectivity is an essential need. For years, rural areas like East Texas have been slow to get the wireless technology that a big city like Dallas or Houston would get right away.
In a world of working remotely, that tide is starting to turn, as wireless carriers like T-Mobile are building and expanding 5G service in East Texas. Jon Freier, Executive Vice President of Consumer Markets, says the company's acquisition of Sprint is a key part of T-Mobile's 5G rollout in East Texas. "We've been able to expand our network out into rural communities, places like Tyler, and you know, greater Smith County and throughout all of, you know, East Texas and Northeast Texas."
Closing the gap between connectivity you would find in a big city and the lack of choice in rural East Texas is a priority for the company. "There's a growing divide that's happening in this country with, you know, information and technology in the large cities, and smaller communities getting further and further left behind. we think that's wrong. so we've been expanding into rural America into smaller communities, and bringing in 5G to those communities."
So what exactly is 5G? The technology is three different sets of radio bands in the United States: Millimeter Wave (mmWave), Mid-Band, and Low-Band. Millimeter Wave offers the fastest speeds, but very short range. You'll see carriers rolling this out in dense areas like sports stadiums and city street corners. Mid-Band is a sweet spot - it offers faster speeds, and better range. Generally speaking, this type of technology is good for small to mid-size cities. Low-Band is marginally faster than current 4G speeds, but it has a much longer range. this is ideal for rural areas, where carriers need to cover a big area.
One thing is for certain - all types of 5G will improve connectivity in East Texas. "Bringing 5G into those smaller communities will allow you to...be able to access the internet, but in a much more reliable way at home for people that have children in their home," Freier said.
Along with smartphone 5G, T-Mobile is also launching a home internet service that covers parts of East Texas. it's called T-Mobile Home Internet, and it joins Verizon Home Internet service as an option for some East Texans who can't get a cable provider to service their home.
From home internet to smartphones, 5G is a huge step forward, and the speed improvements will change how we use technology. "One decade ago, 10 years ago, there was two things that were the reality in this country, one, BlackBerry was the dominant mobile operating system, and the number one customer of the United States Postal Service was Netflix, shipping us all of our DVDs back and forth to our homes. Of course, that's crazy to think about that today."