5G is a popular topic as of late. With pretty much all major carriers promising to deliver their upgraded networks this year, faster speeds delivered by Sub-6GHz and mmWaves (millimeter waves) are right on the horizon.
There"s good news for Google Fi users today, as Sprint announced that it has expanded its contract with Google to support 5G. For those unfamiliar, Fi is Google"s cellular network that runs off of the backs of T-Mobile, Sprint, and U.S. Cellular. Sprint will be delivering 5G through the 2.5GHz spectrum and Massive MIMO technology.
"Connecting our customers to great high-speed coverage is a vital part of the Google Fi service, made possible by our carrier partners," said Matt Klainer, Vice President of Consumer Communications Products at Google. "We’re thrilled to have Sprint working towards an upgrade for the Fi network to include 5G."
Obviously, there are currently no devices that actually support it. It"s possible that LG could release a variant of the V50 ThinQ - which was announced this week at Mobile World Congress at Sprint"s first 5G smartphone - that"s made for Fi. Either way, there will almost certainly be 5G devices that are designed for Google Fi later on this year.
Sprint also confirmed that it"s still planning on delivering 5G in the first half of this year. It didn"t explicitly say that Fi users will have access to that; that will likely rely on the availability of new devices.