Sprint's upcoming 5G network will offer a smoother overall experience with better in-city coverage than 5G networks from Verizon or AT&T, Sprint CTO John Saw said today at NYU's annual 5G Summit in Brooklyn.

It'll also be the first US network to use a key 5G capability—dual connectivity—when Sprint launches its first four 5G cities this May. Dual connectivity, as shown by Qualcomm at various industry events, lets phones combine 5G and 4G networks to increase their download speeds.

Sprint can do this because it's the first US 5G network to use 2.5GHz "sub-6" wireless spectrum for 5G. Unlike AT&T and Verizon, which run their networks on super-high-frequency millimeter-wave spectrum, Sprint will run its 5G on existing 4G airwaves, which are easier to combine with 4G.

While AT&T's and Verizon's millimeter-wave 5G phones rely on 4G to establish their initial connections, they can't do dual connectivity for actual downloads yet. That means on the edges of 5G cells, we saw huge differences between (slow) 5G and (fast) 4G performance. With dual connectivity, Sprint will be able to offer a smoother off-ramp from 5G, as a connection on the new network will be additive to 4G, rather than replacing it entirely.

Spectrum similar to Sprint's is more popular in other countries. In Europe, many initial 5G launches will run on 3.5GHz spectrum, although they'll later be supplemented by millimeter-wave.

Better Coverage, Too

Sprint's 2.5GHz system also promises better coverage than we've seen so far from the millimeter-wave networks. Saw is working with existing 4G cells, which will offer the same cell-by-cell coverage with 5G. That stands in stark contrast to millimeter-wave systems, where so far I've seen cell radiuses of about 600 feet, with a 64-71 percent signal loss as soon as you go through a pane of glass.

AT&T and Verizon both say that millimeter-wave signal range and quality will get better as their base station software improves.

The extended range of 2.5GHz made Sprint bold enough to offer coverage maps back in February, something neither AT&T nor Verizon have been willing to do yet. As you can see on this map of Chicago, Sprint is promising to launch with considerably more coverage than Verizon has.

Sprint has said its first 5G phone will be the LG V50 in May, followed by the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G this summer. The carrier also promises a hotspot, the HTC 5G Hub.

What's the Downside?

Sprint's ambitions are limited only by the width of its spectrum: 120MHz in most areas. That falls short of the 400-800MHz of millimeter wave that AT&T and Verizon have. This means Sprint would likely have lower peak speeds than the other carriers (Sprint has said 400-600Mbps, as opposed to AT&T's current 1.3Gbps tests). But how much does that matter if you can't get millimeter-wave coverage at all?

The FCC is auctioning off much more millimeter-wave spectrum, but FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel and I have encouraged the government to look at putting more spectrum like Sprint's out there.

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