Snippet: Racing to 5G ☇

Right now, all of the wireless carriers and Dish Network are sharing plans for their new 5G networks. While I think good LTE is very satisfactory, the promise of 5G for things like home Internet, IoT, and other smarter devices is fascinating. In my case, I could go from two home Internet options to seven, and that competition would be amazing. At this point, all the carriers are announcing plans of cities to be the first to 5G, and it looks like Sprint is still going to be later to the party than some of its competitors, but it will be market dependent.

If you read this site regularly, you may recall that I did a tear-down exercise on Sprint in early 2016, as I think it’s a company with a lot of potential, but filled with mediocrity. Most of what I wrote didn’t happen and the company has mostly been drifting along since then. I’d bet the farm on 5G and offer it everywhere fast. You might not convince people to get your phones (and backwards device-provisioning), but there are plenty of places where Sprint offers some sort of service. That could be prime to steal home and small business Internet from wireline companies like Comcast, Spectrum, AT&T, CenturyLink, and whomever else people grumble about on a monthly basis. Even as someone who has been critical in the past, I’d be willing to give their 5G service a try. The wireless companies can offer home Internet almost as frictionless as streaming services.