Sprint customers say goodbye to their 5G service – CNET [CNET]

T-Mobile has switched off Sprint’s 5G network three months after the carrier’s $26.5 billion merger with Sprint was completed April 1. It’s redeploying the airwaves as part of its own 5G service, but unless Sprint’s 5G customers have a Samsung Galaxy S20, they’ll need a new phone to use T-Mobile’s 5G network.

While T-Mobile already made this move in New York City, it’s now switched off Sprint’s entire 5G network, which was also live in parts of Chicago, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Kansas City and Miami.

T-Mobile is already switching the 2.5GHz spectrum back on, and it’s available now for 5G in some areas of LA, New York, Chicago, Houston and Philadelphia. 

“We are working to quickly re-deploy, optimize and test the 2.5GHz spectrum before lighting it up on the T-Mobile network,” a T-Mobile spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

The carrier is offering replacement phones for former Sprint 5G customers.