T-Mobile’s new television ad makes fun of Verizon’s 5G coverage

Now that T-Mobile has overtaken AT&T to become the second-largest U.S. carrier, the company has its sights set on Verizon. This week, T-Mobile started a new advertising campaign called “Truth Hurts.” If you wondered whether the carrier would stop being aggressive once it became number two, or whether CEO Mike Sievert would play it safe once he took over from John Legere, you can stop wondering.

Sievert disseminated a tweet today that includes T-Mobile’s latest ad that is supposed to show people in a museum analyzing some paintings. But instead of paintings, what is hanging on the wall is Verizon’s 5G coverage map. “So…this is their big 5G reveal,” says one woman as she stares at the map. “Doesn’t seem like they’re trying very hard,” says another female after staring at the wall.

The reason why Verizon’s 5G covers only a small portion of the U.S. has to do with the spectrum it is using to build out its 5G network. The carrier is using its high-band mmWave spectrum which doesn’t travel that far, and cannot penetrate buildings that well. T-Mobile, on the other hand, built its nationwide network using its low-band 600MHz spectrum. While it doesn’t deliver the same zippy 5G speeds that mmWave does, the signals do travel farther and penetrate structures better. Add in the 2.5GHz mid-band spectrum that it acquired from Sprint and some mmWave airwaves, and T-Mobile’s layer cake approach could eventually make it the 5G speed leader in the U.S.

Odds are you can’t get Verizon 5G, but look at the bright side – you can play connect-the-dots on their “coverage” map. If you want to know what a real 5G coverage map looks like watch until the end.…and that map’s getting even more magenta by the day #WeWontStop pic.twitter.com/0uannA74S3

— Mike Sievert (@MikeSievert) August 19, 2020

5G is the next generation of wireless connectivity and promises to deliver download data speeds 10 times faster than 4G LTE. With 5G, a movie that takes minutes to download will be installed in seconds. New businesses and industries will be created and the faster latency will help when driverless cars hit the road.

So T-Mobile’s latest television ad takes a shot at its rival’s 5G coverage. Nice to know that after nearly six months of putting up with coronavirus in the U.S., nothing has changed.