Dish Network has announced the launch of Project Genisis, a new pure 5g mobile network that promises speeds up to five times faster than current LTE networks. Dish 5g will be available in 120 cities initially and is expected only to increase its footprint as more towers come online.

What is Dish Network’s Project Genisis: Dish 5G?

After the merger of T-mobile and Sprint, Tmobile was required to offload (i.e., sell) a bunch of prime 800mhz spectrum, and Dish bought it up. After years of sitting on the sideline with all that spectrum (a not uncommon practice), Dish has launched a new “cloud-native Smart 5g network”. Now that Dish is the latest (last) company to launch a 5g network, they had to give it a cool name to grab some attention. To kick things off, they called the new network Project Genisis. Dish Network hopes their 5g network will help them keep up with the competition. They also hope the new network will help them attract new customers.

How will Dish Network’s Project Genisis compete with the big three of Verizon, T-mobile, and ATT?

Dish Network plans to roll out its wireless service, Project Genisis, which will compete with Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile. Dish has not yet released much information about the project, but they have said that it will use “the agility of the cloud” and be a “nation’s first and only virtualized, 0-RAN 5g wireless network.” We will need to get a bit technical to break down what that is and why it is of significant significance. But we will do our best to simplify what is going on. Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile offer 5G service, which is much faster than traditional 4G service. And they do this using specially built single-purpose (read custom silicon) processors to handle all the data and signals that the radios on the tower send and receive. Using custom silicon is perfect if nothing changes, but as the pandemic has proven, getting chips for hardware has been an ongoing concern. Also, custom hardware expects certain vendors’ specific hardware to run. This is detrimental when new changes come out in supported radio frequency as the silicon needs to be replaced or updated to support the changes.

Dish’s approach to Dish 5g is different in that rather than sending all the radio traffic to custom silicon. Instead, Dish sends it to an x86 server running on industry-standard hardware, which runs a bunch of containers, each running specific tasks generally handled by custom silicon. This virtualization enables fast, quick, centrally managed deployments of upgrades to all the towers at once. They are allowing Dish to achieve significant cost savings compared to always sending a tech to a tower.

How Project Genesis stands apart from Verizon, T-mobile, and ATT

One of the things that could set Project Genisis apart from the competition is its pricing. If they’re bragging about pricing is anything to go by, it will give customers a significant win. Pricing for Mobile Hotspot Data Plans will be only $20 a month; if you get a smartphone, it will run at $30 a month. Now for the usual semantics that customers should be aware of when they go with a project Genesis Hotspot or Cellphone. All plans are unlimited in the amount of data they can consume but are subject to network management practices at the tower level at all times. There is no High priority data, and then deprioritization as all customers are treated equally and subject to tower load conditions. Also, If you plan to set up a bunch of cameras in your cabin in the woods and have them stream 24/7 to the cloud, this is not the service for you as Dish states clearly in its terms that perpetual data streaming is a big no-no.

What are the benefits of Dish Network’s Project Genisis?

This will be easy for the consumer, as the starting price is meager, starting at $20 monthly for an unlimited hotspot on a brand new network. That new network means that speeds will be stellar (until it hits saturation). The 800mhz spectrum can penetrate deep into buildings and has a relatively long range, so it will not suffer from millimeter wave problems that are so well documented. They have roaming agreements in place with other carriers. That way, Dish’s customers can leave a dish tower. They will still have to fall back 4g LTE. Though with the same unlimited data but always under network management.

When three networks are better than one:

Dish signed agreements with ATT and T-mobile to leverage their 4g deployments outside their 5g footprint. These agreements are good for ten years and allow dish customers to have 4g LTE no matter what area of the country they find themselves in. Certain parts of the country have a robust ATT or T-mobile coverage area. To that end, Dish uses the latest LTE and 5g modem chipsets for their hotspots as they are using the Nighthawk M6 Pro. 

The Dirty Take Away

Dish’s Project Genesis is a great new 5G network worth keeping an eye on. Its fast speeds and low price make it perfect for the consumer, and it will revolutionize what we expect from pricing to performance from wireless carriers. So keep an eye out for Dish’s Project Genesis because it will surely change the way we use the internet for the better. Want to read more about Mobile Internet Solutions? Click Here Wish you had a secret guide on how to Work Remotely now that you have a Dish Hotspot? Go Here. Also curious about which 5G Home Internet Provider is the Best for you? Click here