Dish Launches 5G Network in Las Vegas
Dish is now selling phones that work on its brand-new 5G network in Las Vegas, marking the launch of the first truly new nationwide US wireless carrier in decades.
Right now, the company is starting small, with one city. Phones will roam (without cost) on national networks when they leave Dish's coverage area in Las Vegas and Henderson, Nevada. But Dish has said it intends to cover at least 125 cities and towns, more than 20% of the US population, by June.
The company has a single phone, the $899.99 Motorola Edge+, and a single plan, a $30/month unlimited plan. The current network relies on Dish's low-band n71 spectrum for range and mid-band n66 spectrum for speed. With limited airwaves, it probably won't be the fastest, but it looks like it will deliver a respectable low-cost experience.
Dish has other future airwaves in the hopper. The company's n70 band is waiting for support from phones, which should come later this year. It also bought a lot of mid-band n77 3.45GHz spectrum, which is waiting for network equipment to become available; that will also start to happen later this year.
Overall, though, its strategy seems to be to triumph on affordability and small-city coverage, not on speed tests where it would have to catch up to companies that have been buying up spectrum since 1983. Dish also owns Boost Mobile, Republic Wireless, and Gen Mobile. All of those brands operate on the three other major carriers' networks for now.
The initial single-phone, single-city launch comes out of of Dish's previous "Project Genesis" friendly beta user program, Jeremy McCarty, Dish's GM of retail wireless, tells us.
Users will be encouraged to give feedback through a gamified Project Genesis app, where they'll get various kinds of
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