Last month, T-Mobile announced its plans for rolling out its 5G network (among other post-Sprint merger plans). Today, the company went ahead and flipped the switch for its 5G network, though no one can actually use it until later this week. The network currently covers "200 million people" in the US, and for starters, customers will be able to pick up either the 5G OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren Edition or Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ this Friday.

This nationwide rollout is a different form of 5G than what we've seen from the likes of Verizon, but that comes with some advantages. T-Mobile’s 600MHz spectrum is “low-band” 5G, which means it's essentially using the same airwaves as LTE, but this isn't a "5G E" situation. T-Mobile's 5G is truly 5G, but it's just not the fastest version right now. The big benefit to T-Mobile's network is much farther range and better coverage.

So while you're going to hear T-Mobile do a lot of boasting about being the first with "nationwide" 5G coverage, they won't be bragging about speed. To be honest, for most people, that's probably a fair trade-off. The company has, however, already started working on its 5G network with the faster and more limited mmWave frequencies in a few cities.

The OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren Edition and the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ 5G are available for pre-order today online and will be available in T-Mobile stores on December 6th. The OnePlus 7T Pro McLaren Edition is going for $899 while the Galaxy Note 10+ will cost you $1,299. These phones do not support mmWave, so you won't be able to access T-Mobile's faster 5G network once that launches in the future.

Source: T-Mobile