Understand what LTE and 5G bands T-Mobile uses, what MVNOs use the T-Mobile network for coverage, and the best plans currently available on the T-Mobile network.
T-Mobile’s network provides coverage to over 326 million people and currently offers the largest 5G network in the United States.
T-Mobile covers over 99% of the United States population.
Here’s T-Mobile’s coverage map, as reported by the independent third party site RootMetrics:
If you’d like, you can check T-Mobile's coverage in your area by using the following resources:
You can also download and use the following applications to see if T-Mobile offers good coverage in your area:
Band n41 (2.5 GHz): Band n41 is one of T-Mobile’s primary 5G bands in their mid-band (Sub-6GHz) 5G network because it can handle a large amount of data at high speeds. T-Mobile is currently band n41 to add extra downlink capacity to their mid-band 5G network. n41 has been found deployed in 60x0MHz blocks.
Band n260 (39 GHz): Band n260 is one of T-Mobile’s mmWave 5G bands. It has a HUGE amount of spectrum behind it and can support insanely fast speeds over shorter distances. The channel sizes are typically 50MHz, 100MHz, 200MHz, or even 400MHz. T-Mobile is actively building out its mmWave 5G network and it is available in a limited selection of markets.
Band n261 (28 GHz): Band n261 is also one of T-Mobile’s mmWave 5G bands. This means that n261 has a HUGE amount of spectrum behind it and can support insanely fast speeds over shorter distances. Typically the channel sizes are 50MHz, 100MHz, 200MHz, or even 400MHz. T-Mobile is actively building out its mmWave 5G network and it is available in a limited selection of markets.
T-Mobile LTE bands: 2, 4, 12, 25, 26, 41, 66, 71
T-Mobile 5G bands: n41, n71, n260, n261
The bands in bold are T-Mobile's primary bands that they use for LTE and 5G coverage. Make sure your phone supports these LTE and 5G bands for the best coverage, performance, and data speeds on the T-Mobile network.
Band 4 (1700/2100 MHz): Band 4 is one of the primary bands T-Mobile uses for its LTE network. It’s typically deployed in 20x20MHz blocks in major markets. Tutella reported that band 4 accounted for 9% of T-Mobile’s mobile data by volume as of September 2020.
Band 66 (1700/2100 MHz): Band 66 includes the same frequency blocks as Band 4, but adds a few additional blocks of spectrum. The additional blocks are G, H, I, and J (collectively referred to as AWS-3), and a chunk at the end referred to as AWS-4. AWS stands for “Advanced Wireless Services” because the frequency bands were primarily used for newer network technologies, like 4G LTE. Band 66 is another one of T-Mobile’s core LTE bands. Tutella reported band 66 accounted for 48% of T-Mobile’s network traffic.
Band 2 (1900 MHz): T-Mobile uses band 2 predominantly in rural areas of America, particularly in locations where band 4 is not available. Band 2 travels a greater distance than band 4 and can create larger coverage areas with fewer cell sites. Band 2 is deployed in a variety of configurations in different markets, including 5x5MHz blocks and 20x20MHz blocks. Traffic on band 2 made up 31% of T-Mobile’s total mobile data by volume, and it is another one of T-Mobile’s primary LTE bands.
Band 12 (700 MHz): T-Mobile has been using Band 12 as a supplemental band to their LTE network. Its lower 700MHz frequency allows band 12 to travel greater distances and to have better penetration within buildings. Band 12 helps increase coverage and performance across a wide range of markets.
Band 71 (600 MHz): Similar to band 12, band 71 is used as a supplemental band to T-Mobile’s LTE network. Band 71’s lower frequency of 600MHz gives it even better building penetration than band 12 and allows it to travel greater distances. T-Mobile refers to bands 12 and 71 as its “Extended Range LTE” and promotes that the signal on these bands reaches 2x as far and has 4x better coverage in buildings.
Band 41 (2500 MHz): Band 41 is one of the three bands T-Mobile acquired from Sprint in the Sprint-T-Mobile merger. T-Mobile is currently using band 41 as one of its primary bands in its mid-band 5G network to add additional downlink capacity in certain markets. In some areas, band 41 is also being used to supplement LTE coverage and performance. In LTE markets band 41 is typically found deployed in 20x0MHz blocks. Eventually, band 41 will be used exclusively for 5G coverage.
Band 25 (1900 MHz): Band 25 is another band T-Mobile acquired from Sprint. Band 25 is a superset of band 2, meaning that it includes all the frequencies of band 2, referred to as “PCS” and including blocks A-F, plus a newer set of frequencies called the “G block”.
Band n71 (600 MHz): Band n71 is T-Mobile’s part of T-Mobile’s low-band 5G network. T-Mobile added 5G to band 71 in late 2019. The lower 600MHz frequency of band n71 allows it to travel great distances and have excellent building penetration, which is one of the main reasons T-Mobile’s 5G coverage map is so large. Band n71 is split into seven blocks of equal size, blocks A, B, C, D, E, F, and G, which each have 10MHz of total spectrum and are typically deployed in 5x5MHz blocks. Unfortunately, because the uplink and downlink channels are so narrow on each of the blocks, n71 typically has poor 5G performance and capacity.
Band n41 (2.5 GHz): Band n41 is one of T-Mobile’s primary 5G bands in their mid-band (Sub-6GHz) 5G network because it can handle a large amount of data at high speeds. T-Mobile is currently band n41 to add extra downlink capacity to their mid-band 5G network. n41 has been found deployed in 60x0MHz blocks.
Band n260 (39 GHz): Band n260 is one of T-Mobile’s mmWave 5G bands. It has a HUGE amount of spectrum behind it and can support insanely fast speeds over shorter distances. The channel sizes are typically 50MHz, 100MHz, 200MHz, or even 400MHz. T-Mobile is actively building out its mmWave 5G network and it is available in a limited selection of markets.
Band n261 (28 GHz): Band n261 is also one of T-Mobile’s mmWave 5G bands. This means that n261 has a HUGE amount of spectrum behind it and can support insanely fast speeds over shorter distances. Typically the channel sizes are 50MHz, 100MHz, 200MHz, or even 400MHz. T-Mobile is actively building out its mmWave 5G network and it is available in a limited selection of markets.
