Research firm Opensignal released a new report today that noted how the 5G data speeds of AT&T and Verizon near airports improved sharply after the carriers were allowed to increase the power levels of their C-band spectrum near airports at the beginning of July. In addition, both firms added additional C-band spectrum in the area. First, some background. It all dates back to T-Mobile’s $26 billion acquisition of Sprint, a deal that was made so that T-Mobile could get its hands on Sprint’s hoard of 2.5GHz mid-band spectrum.
While AT&T and Verizon started building out their 5G networks using high-band airwaves, T-Mobile used the mid-band spectrum it obtained from Sprint. Because of the characteristics of high-band, AT&T and Verizon had to deal with a slower roll-out; despite offering faster download data speeds, mmWave signals are limited when it comes to reach. So what good are the…
