T-Mobile 5G - 1 1/2 years later

I’ve posted an initial T-Mobile 5G experience with LG Velvet (in the fall of 2020), and a summer road trip / review in summer of 2021 on the east coast.

Here’s my basic review 1 ½ years after T-Mobile deployment of 5G.

• 5G signal (n71 SA/NSA) has still increased, but not very much since the summer of 2021.  This may be in part due to COVID, and also in part due to T-Mobile revisiting sites to deploy n41, but is still increasing.
• Performance overall on n71 SA (standalone) has actually decreased in many areas.  Where I could obtain ~150Mbps on n71SA or 400Mbps on NSA with LTE, performance (speed) has dropped to 30-60Mbps typically on n71. 
• 5G n41 (SA and NSA) has been deployed in my area over the past year, much of that in the past 6 months.  n41 has been deployed to many communities.  This is the good part.  Many of these are typically on large macros, and is much more spartan than the maps show.  Much of this is 5G n41 NSA, and only urban areas (i.e. LA Basin) have n41 SA deployed.  Most sites that I've seen with 100MHz of n41 have backhaul capped to output a max around 750Mbps.  A few sites push nearly double, giving ~1400Mbps (I've maxed nearly 1600Mbps).

Performance and Use

Actual 'generic' use - performance in general has been good .. in my area.  Many other areas, whether urban or rural have issues where backhaul hasn't been upgrades, or Sprint sites merged.  I do find myself from time to time roaming on Sprint B41,B26 or B25 on the edge of town where T-Mobile has 1 bar of LTE 600.  Similarly, coverage maps have effectively removed GSM  and 3G coverage where there's only 3G and 2G coverage.  I do expect that T-Mobile keeps its '2G and 3G' coverage removed, as it will be gone in ~4 months.

General use performance is still 'hot and cold' islands.  Many macros were upgraded, and many 'in between' are running on what appears to be T1's (that's another story). 

To summarize:  my area (and travels) have been getting better.  Rural is still in need of upgrades and actual service in many places.  Sprint cut over along with 2G/3G shutdown should be interesting.  Verizon has posted its online C-band maps and coverage, which appears to be not too shabby.

My words for T-Mobile:  Worry about keeping the Sprint / T-Mobile subs, which means fixing those rural areas, as well as the ‘hotspot’ style deployment.