Now that the merger between T-Mobile and Sprint has been finalized, the real work of integrating the two networks begins. This is a process that will take several years, and obviously, Sprint's initial batch of 5G phones will not be able to come along for the ride.

In fact, according to CNET, Sprint will release the 5G phones it released last year (Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, LG V50 ThinQ 5G, OnePlus 7 Pro 5G) once Sprint's 5G infrastructure is re-launched later this year, with integrated T-Mobile 5G They will not be updated to work on the network.

Sprint specifically claimed last summer that the Galaxy S10 5G would work with any 5G network offered by the combined company in the future, even though both Sprint and T-Mobile had heavily touted the combined 5G network as one of the main benefits of the integration The problem is two-fold. [The problem is twofold. First, LG and OnePlus 5G phones configured for Sprint do not support T-Mobile's low-band 5G. Rather than allowing these customers to continue using the mid-band portion of T-Mobile's overall 5G network, the company appears to be trying to steer customers to new 5G devices through price reductions.

Another problem is that, ironically, the frequency bands held by Sprint and T-Mobile actually match up a little too well. In particular, the two carriers use the 2.5 GHz spectrum for different purposes; as Android Police explains, that frequency that S10 5G uses to connect to Sprint's LTE network via band 41 is currently being deployed as T-Mobile's 5G. S10 5 G does not support T-Mobile's implementation, so it gets the axe too.

This is precisely why T-Mobile must systematically halt Sprint's 5G deployment and reconfigure it to mesh with its existing infrastructure. Meanwhile, Sprint has stopped selling the aforementioned 5G phones it offered last year. Currently, the only 5G handsets available from Now Network are the Samsung Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20 Plus, and Galaxy S20 Ultra, all of which have new modems that fully support T-Mobile's integrated network.

Because of all this 5G swapping, Sprint is running the following promotion for customers who currently own one of these three 5G devices to upgrade to the $999, 6.2-inch Galaxy S20 at a discounted rate. How much you save depends on how much you've already paid for your existing phone, though. The Galaxy S20 is a second-generation 5G device with more comprehensive network support, and at $10 per month for 18 months, it's a great deal. However, even the regular Galaxy S20 cannot support all of T-Mobile's 5G network, as it does not support millimeter wave. Millimeter wave support is reserved for the $1,199 S20 Plus and $1,399 S20 Ultra, which are not included in this promotion.

This is unsatisfactory. If they are encouraging subscribers to upgrade to a device that can take advantage of advanced networks, why not go that far? And while the S20 is a very good phone, it is not exactly what these customers paid for.

One has to imagine that some OnePlus and LG buyers chose those devices specifically because they did not want to buy a Galaxy. All three of Sprint's 5G phones had much larger displays than the standard S20's 6.2-inch screen.

Ultimately, Sprint's offer, while good, is not good enough and will not completely blunt the sting felt by those who got the Galaxy S10 5G device last year and were told the new phone would be available in the future.