Dish Expands 5G, But There's a Catch: Here's What You Need to Know

Dish, the fourth US carrier, says it expanded 5G in 120 cities.

It’s supposed to a viable competitor to its bigger rivals.

Dish will still need to provide more clarity on the service, which is still invite only for now.

Dish acquired wireless spectrum for years, but very little of a wireless web connection materialized.

But the FCC had a stipulation.

The company said in aWednesday release that the expansion exceedsthat threshold.

A host of issues has conspired to trip up Dish.

Supply chain issues only made the situation worse.

It’s unclear whether Dish will suffer any consequences if it ends up missing the deadline.

Neither Dish nor the FCC responded to a request for comment.

Only AT&T, Verizon and the new T-Mobile would remain.

Dish also secured rights to use part of T-Mobile’s 5G data pipe.

Dish still needed to build out its own 5G connection, a task that it started mostly from scratch.

The FCC also stipulated that coverage should reach 20% of the US population.

The deadline, however, was pushed back at Dish’s request several times.

The latest deadline was set for June 14, 2022.

Did Dish make the deadline?

In early May, Dish made its 5G servicepublicly availablein Las Vegas.

(The service plans accommodate other phones in the future.)

The service remains invite-only, and we don’t know how much area in each city is covered.

Combined, the chunks of connected 5G spectrum will serve as the backbone of its service.

First, test whether you’re located in any of the over120 citieswith 5G service.

Then register by entering your email and address on theProject Genesis member site.

More devices will be made available later in the year.