T-Mobile promises a stronger LTE network as it continues to trounce rivals in net additions

T-Mobile promises a stronger LTE network as it continues to trounce rivals in net additions

T-Mobile impressed by beating estimates in Q2, which is usually its weakest quarter.

T-Mobile has no chill. Even as it continues to outpace the rest of the industry in almost every metric, from net user additions to year-over-year revenue growth, it can't help but take shots at its biggest competitors, Verizon and AT&T.

After claiming, based on independent speeds tests, that Verizon fell to third place in national rankings for LTE download speeds, T-Mobile CEO John Legere said that the "duopoly" of AT&T and Verizon just can't keep up with the tremendous demand for unlimited plans.

Both Verizon and AT&T are completely choking in the wake of their unlimited launches and have seen significant network slowdowns. Their networks just can't take it. Meanwhile T-Mobile's network has actually become even faster in download speeds and America's best unlimited network just keeps getting better.

As part of the company's Q2 earning results, T-Mobile said that it will light up its first 600MHz sites in August, well ahead of schedule. Low-frequency spectrum such as that is useful for penetrating thick walls and basements and counteracting the tall buildings and high density of large cities, while also traveling longer distances in rural areas.

T-Mobile snapped up 31MHz, or 45% of the total, of 600MHz spectrum during the FCC's recent auction, paying $7.99 billion for the privilege. And while it plans to hold some of it back for a 5G deployment in late 2019/early 2020, much of it will be put to use shoring up its LTE network in most of the country.

T-Mobile's weakness continues to be coverage and reliability in big cities. Despite claiming that its network is the fastest in the country, the company doesn't have as much spectrum as AT&T and Verizon in large, densely-populated metropolitan areas, and often experiences periods of signal crunch. Expanding its signal to include 600MHz spectrum will certainly help alleviate some of that pain, but it will take new devices launching later this year to utilize it. T-Mobile confirmed in a recent press release that both Samsung and LG would release phones with 600MHz compatibility later year — like the Note 8 and V30, respectively — with more coming in 2018.

With 1.3 million total net additions to its customer base and nearly 800,000 branded postpaid net adds, T-Mobile says that it will likely "capture over 100% of industry growth," which means that it is taking customers from its competitors. After continuing to take pot shots at Sprint, which Legere says "is giving away phone service for free — like literally giving it away," T-Mobile is in a pretty dominant position, despite being well below AT&T and Verizon in terms of overall user numbers. Its base sits at just under 70 million users.

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