Dish Delivers Exclusive 5G Details
Dish's new 5G network and its $30 unlimited plan is ready for you to sign up, and it's not a beta.
"Project Genesis is available commercially to more than 120 cities across the country and can be purchased by anyone in a qualifying location," a spokesperson told us in an email. "We do not have a cap on the number of subscribers we are picking up."
Dish launched Project Genesis, the early name for its new 5G network, in more than 120 cities today, but some details of the network's setup weren't clear from the initial announcement. See our earlier story for a map and rundown of Dish's new network, where it's available, and its phone and hotspot.
The press release is a bit unclear on what airwaves Dish is using for Genesis. It cites coverage using 5G frequency bands 29 and 70, which aren't in many phones yet, but doesn't discuss the far more popular bands 66 and 71. Dish cleared this up in the email to us.
Project Genesis markets will use bands n71 (for range) and n66 (for speed), Dish says. They will not initially use n29 or n70. The Galaxy S22 it's selling does not support n70, but "devices will become available throughout this year, including devices supporting bands 70 and 29."
That may also include iPhones. While Dish wasn't willing to make a commitment about supporting iPhones, "[Apple has] provided great support to DISH’s other mobile services over the years and we expect that collaboration to only grow," a spokesperson tells us.
As we said in our earlier story, while Dish's goal is to run all services over 5G, it hasn't mastered 5G phone calling yet outside Las Vegas. "4G calling is provided by our partner network," Dish says. That's widely understood to be AT&T.
We're hoping to be able to review Dish Project
Read more on pcmag.com
