Dish launches 5G VoNR in Denver

Dish Network officially launched its 5G network in its home base of Denver, including 5G voice based on Voice over New Radio (VoNR) for folks who have a compatible device through Boost Infinite or Boost Mobile.

The Denver market wasn’t among those covered when the company in June announced that it covers more than 70% of the U.S. population with its 5G broadband network. Dish’s 5G network now offers broadband coverage to 73% of the U.S. population.

Dish announced the Denver market on Tuesday via a press release, and it was posted on LinkedIn last week. Interestingly, the release lists more than 20 cities that are considered part of the Denver market, including Cheyenne, Fort Collins and Parker, so it extends well beyond Denver city limits.

5G VoNR expansion

Dish claims it has the world’s largest commercial deployment of 5G VoNR in more than 89 markets nationwide. That’s no small feat considering incumbent operators are taking their time rolling out VoNR. The legacy operators often say they want to get VoNR working as good or better than LTE and it’s been a relatively slow migration. The incumbents, unlike Dish, have LTE networks they can fall back on.

Dish has MVNO agreements with AT&T and T-Mobile, which is how customers get connected when the Dish-owned 5G network isn’t available.

Cloud-native, open RAN

While Dish is struggling to turn itself into a viable competitor to AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon, it doesn’t miss a chance to boast about its cloud-native, open Radio Access Network (RAN) 5G network.

“We’re investing in our network, actively bringing new markets online across the country and we’re proud to officially launch the Boost Wireless Network in Denver,” said John Swieringa, president of technology and COO at Dish Wireless, in a statement. “The continued rollout of additional markets every month allows us to compete at scale as the nation’s 4th wireless carrier, driving innovation and value.”

Boost Infinite plans start at $25/month whereas the Boost Mobile prepaid plans are as low as $15/month. Monthly plans are available online at BoostInfinite.com or Amazon.com/BoostInfinite.

While analysts have criticized the way Dish brands its services and say it’s not doing itself any favors by limiting physical retail stores for the postpaid brand, Dish points out that there are more than 40 Boost Mobile stores located in the Denver market. Some Boost Mobile stores have been spotted pitching Boost Infinite.

Dish is giving customers in Denver a choice of devices, including the latest iPhone 15, Samsung A23 5G, Motorola Razr 2023, its own Boost-exclusive Celero 5G+ and more.

Dish said additional markets are set to go live every month through the first half of 2024.