With the T-Mobile/Sprint merger being finalized earlier this month, T-Mobile announced a number of updates for customers of both carriers. These updates are not part of the long-term plans that T-Mobile laid out, but they do offer some nice benefits for Sprint customers right away. However, it's not all good news as some Sprint customers will be losing 5G access.

Part of the announcement from yesterday was Sprint Galaxy S20 5G owners gaining access to T-Mobile’s sub-6GHz (600MHz) low-band 5G network. The Galaxy S20 5G is not Sprint's only 5G phone, though. What about the rest of the lineup? Unfortunately, the older Sprint 5G phones will not get access to T-Mobile's 5G network and they will eventually lose Sprint 5G as well.

The devices that will be impacted by this are the OnePlus 7 Pro, LG V50, and Galaxy S10. T-Mobile is reframing Sprint's existing 5G network, which will eventually shut it down. Since those devices lack the necessary hardware to connect to T-Mobile's sub-6GHz low-band 5G network, they will be out of luck. Sprint's 5G network is currently in ten markets across the US, including New York City, which will be turned off shortly before the redeployed network goes live.

The older 5G devices will still have access to Sprint's 4G LTE network, of course. And along with yesterday's news, they will be able to roam on T-Mobile's 4G LTE network. T-Mobile will be alerting Sprint customers who own these devices about this upcoming change. They will be offering those users a number of incentives to get them on the Galaxy S20 5G.

  • Those who currently own, lease or make payments on a 7 Pro 5G (256GB), S10 5G (256GB), V50 ThinQ (128GB) and are paying less than $10/mo. will get a Samsung Galaxy S20 5G for $0/mo. after $41.67/mo. credit with a new 18-month lease.
  • Those who currently lease or make payments on a 7 Pro 5G (256GB), S10 5G (256GB), V50 ThinQ (128GB) and are paying more than $10/mo. will get a Samsung Galaxy S20 5G for $10/mo. after $31.67/mo. credit with a new 18-month lease.
  • Those who purchased an HTC 5G Hub on an installment plan will get a credit of $12.50/mo. for the remainder of the term. If they purchased the hotspot outright, T-Mobile will give them a one-time credit of $300 applied to their bill.

Via: CNET