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T-Mobile has had its infrastructure developed, as it is one of the largest wireless carriers in the United States. However, there are some shades here as to how T-Mobile’s network is better or worse than the others, especially AT&T. Does it mean that T-Mobile uses the network that belongs to AT&T Internet? Alright, let’s take a closer look.
T-Mobile's Own Nationwide Network
While T-Mobile uses other companies’ towers in some places, in others, they have established a large network of towers of their own. Currently, as of September 2021, T-Mobile said it had 313 million people with 4G LTE coverage on its network, which is 96% of all Americans.
Further, after the merger in 2020 with Sprint, T-Mobile has been also rapidly integrating the two companies’ networks. This has already had a positive impact on increasing its influence and opportunities in many areas. At the moment, more than two-thirds of T-Mobile traffic is carried by its infrastructure.
Thus, even though T-Mobile has to lease its coverage gaps from other carriers, the overwhelming majority of the customers are covered by T-Mobile’s towers and infrastructure. T-Mobile recently launched its 5G, which currently has over 160 million people under its coverage plan to expand the coverage to 210 million in 2022.
International Roaming with AT&T and other Carriers
Thus, even though T-Mobile has its own rather powerful network, no carrier’s network covers absolutely all the territory. It will, however, roam on other networks, including AT&T in areas where T-Mobile has not developed networks. This implies that in an area that has an ATT signal but no T-Mobile signal, T-Mobile clients will adapt to ATT’s signal.
These roaming agreements are usually used to provide coverage in areas that might not be economically feasible for each company to cover individually. All carriers rely on partners to deliver complete national coverage maps. Thus, even some of the T-Mobile clients, especially those living in rural areas, may indeed use AT&T cell towers at some point in time.
The roaming also works the other way around – AT&T customers can use T-Mobile networks where AT&T has no networks. Either way, the idea is to keep customers connected when they travel to other regions that are not covered by their home network.
Shared Infrastructure Arrangements
That is not the only layer to the interaction between AT&T and T-Mobile’s networks. Where each of these companies has its towers, they sometimes take or sub-lease space on each other’s cell sites through infrastructure sharing.
For instance, while an area may only allow one cell tower, AT&T and T-Mobile may agree to jointly erect the single tower, and jointly operate it. It does so to avoid incurring costs by both companies each constructing their tower. In such circumstances, it is quite possible that AT&T and T-Mobile equipment can be in a state where they share the same physical cell site.
Thus in a limited number of locations, T-Mobile does get antennas placed directly on the towers owned and managed by AT&T. However, the equipment that each runs remains the property of each carrier. This is different from simple roaming where customers get transferred from one carrier’s equipment to the other’s network completely.
Is T-Mobile’s Service Quality Affected?
A frequently asked question is whether the utilization of AT&T towers for T-Mobile degrades the company’s service quality once roaming is activated. Fortunately, in most cases the response is negative.
The underlying wireless technologies include 3G, LTE, and 5G, meaning that there is a similar handoff of connections from one network to the next. It can be slower than being on T-Mobile’s network but the difference is generally small, especially for download and upload speeds.
Some scenarios where structures are directly shared can enhance T-Mobile since cell locations have site limits. When the magnitudes of the devices are split across two networks at one tower location, congestion is much lower than if one carrier is managing all traffic for the same location. Hence, infrastructure sharing with AT&T can improve T-Mobile’s capabilities.
Expect More Merging of Networks
While T-Mobile has its network that in today’s world relies on AT&T’s infrastructure in only a few aspects, the relations between these large mobile operators are destined to be tightened. In 2021, T-Mobile and AT&T have entered into a significant network partnership agreement to enhance each other’s networks.
Further infrastructure-sharing agreements will seek to strengthen both 5 and 4 infrastructure by synchronizing the usage of cell sites in the coming few years. Therefore, going forward, T-Mobile customers should anticipate an even tighter link with AT&T’s networks that should hopefully pave the way for faster connections.
In Conclusion
Currently, the overwhelming majority of T-Mobile customers use an independent wireless network constructed by T-Mobile. In limited zones that T-Mobile cannot directly cover, it engages partners like AT&T in roaming to cover the gaps. While these two companies do already have some overlap in terms of cell sites, there is more integration to come.
So today in most areas T-Mobile manages its network, most often owning the infrastructure. But the links between the companies will probably increase in the future – and, in essence, the overall package of the United Mobile that all the carriers offer their customers throughout America will only be beneficial. In this way, the relationships presented in the text are mutually beneficial for everyone!
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