T-Mobile doesn’t have 5G in Nebraska. Here’s why.

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I don’t know if you’ve been catching the commercials where T-Mobile is claiming better 5G coverage. They love to show you their 5G map, then show you a competitor’s 5G map. It’s not really an apples-to-apples comparison, but I also don’t want to say anything bad about T-Mobile here. They are a worthy competitor with service that reaches most of the continental US…

…except Nebraska.

They try their best to hide the fact that their expansive 5G map has a Nebraska-sized hole in it. At the end of their commercial, they cover up Nebraska with their logo. But it’s pretty easy to see that there are 47 states in the continental US that look like they’re getting T-Mobile love and one that doesn’t.

Now, this is probably an academic argument for most folks. If you look closer, Nebraska’s main population centers, like Omaha, do have 5G coverage. It’s the wide open plains that don’t. And certainly, there are those of you who live out there. It’s great if you do. But, numerically, at least, most folks don’t ever get out to that part of the state.

But still, you’d think that they’d put in a little effort, right? Here’s why they aren’t.

It’s all Sprint’s fault

If you want to understand where T-Mobile is coming from, you have to look at their acquisition of Sprint, and what that means as far as the history is concerned.

You can spend hours reading up on my complaints about Sprint. And honestly that’s only about half the article’s I’ve written about them. The rest were cleaned out in 2017 when we changed blog platforms. It’s not that I have a real grudge against them, just that they made so many frustrating decisions that I knew sooner or later they would fail.

Sprint’s biggest mistake was being non-standard. When other US carriers went left, they went right. Over the years this meant they didn’t have access to the latest phones, they lagged behind in some services, and this made people want to change carriers. They made bad decisions. There’s no getting around it.

When it came to coverage, Sprint didn’t do well in rural states. Not at all. And that’s really at the heart of things here.

T-Mobile’s got work to do

T-Mobile has committed to shutting down Sprint’s old network by the end of June, 2022. That means if you still have a phone with the Sprint logo, it probably won’t work past that time. T-Mobile has been working hard getting people locked into new phones, but of course this also means they must have coverage in the areas where people need it.

The company has, apparently, been working on beefing up their coverage where they need it. That way as people migrate off Sprint’s network, they won’t find a lot of congestion. In the meantime, T-Mobile was never terribly strong in rural Nebraska. Since you can’t always do everything at the same time, they made the choice to focus on fixing service in more populated areas. I wouldn’t be surprised to see improvements in Nebraska in 2022 and 2023, but of course that’s not going to help you right now.

Don’t wait around

If coverage in Nebraska is important to you, there’s something you can do! Call Signal Connect now at 888-233-7563. We’re AT&T Preferred Dealers and we can set you up with 5G phones that work today in your home state. Why wait around for T-Mobile to get to you?

We have experts available in our Midwest corporate offices that understand your needs and can get you moving today! Just give us a call! If it’s after East Coast business hours, fill out the form below and we’ll get back to you, usually within one business day.

About the Author

Stuart Sweet
Stuart Sweet is the editor-in-chief of The Solid Signal Blog and a "master plumber" at Signal Group, LLC. He is the author of over 10,000 articles and longform tutorials including many posted here. Reach him by clicking on "Contact the Editor" at the bottom of this page.