When T-Mobile first introduced its Un-carrier program in 2013, it was to entice new customers to sign up with a range of benefits. These benefits included dropping contracts, subsidizing phones, extended data coverage, and more. Over time the Un-carrier programs began to include things like unlimited music and streaming bonuses, unlimited service when traveling to Canada and Mexico, and specialized business bundles. In 2022, T-Mobile announced their latest upgrade under the Un-carrier program, Internet Freedom. “The Un-carrier was created to fix a stupid, broken wireless industry, and while we aren’t done, we’ve undoubtedly changed if for good,” said T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert. “Now, with Internet Freedom, we’re taking on Big Internet and bringing the Un-carrier movement to broadband. Broadband customers are the least satisfied in America – the fees, the contracts, the price hikes, the terrible customer service. It’s ridiculous, and it looks a lot like the wireless industry a decade ago. Today, that all starts to change because the Un-carrier is here to disrupt broadband for good.”

Internet Freedom will provide homes and businesses with the best quality, fully wireless, 5G internet connectivity. One company that is poised to greatly benefit from Un-carrier’s Internet Freedom program is Lucid Drone Technologies, based out of Charlotte, North Carolina. Founded in 2017, Lucid’s initial idea was to disrupt the way building exteriors were cleaned. It’s a time consuming, labor intensive, dirty job to wash building exteriors and windows. The job is also very risky as it requires teams to climb scaffolding to reach their targets. The founders of Lucid saw an opportunity to use drones to clean buildings while safely keeping crews on the ground.

At first, Lucid looked to retrofit off the shelf drones with an apparatus to soft-wash buildings. They soon learned that there simply wasn’t an effective drone on the market that could handle the job. “The Lucid founders decided to start a responsible robotics company that puts customers first and uses technology to better the lives of humanity,” states the company website. As a part of the Y Combinator startup accelerator program (responsible for establishing companies like Stripe, DoorDash, and Airbnb), Lucid developed D1 (disinfecting) and C1 (cleaning) drones. During the height of the coronavirus pandemic, the D1 drone was critical in disinfecting large spaces indoors and outdoors, such as stadiums, offices, and public parks.

The C1 drone is changing the way building exteriors are maintained. As explained on the company website, “The Lucid C1 Cleaning Drone REV–D model is a revolutionary piece of tech that can spray any liquid such as water, cleaning solution, deicing chemicals, and more.” But what was holding back operations was the fact that the drone needs internet connectivity to safely work. In April of 2022, Lucid announced that they were partnering with T-Mobile to become pioneers of the Un-carrier Internet Freedom for businesses program.

With T-Mobile’s unlimited 5G connectivity, Lucid will be able to operate drones in more locations and eventually beyond visual line of sight, without fear of device failure from a dropped signal. “At Lucid Drone Technologies, we are committed to providing robotic solutions that allow our customers to complete jobs that were once dull, dirty, and dangerous in a safer, faster, and smarter way,” said Lucid’s CEO, Andrew Ashur. “T-Mobile not only allows us to provide our customers with the highest quality of real-time support and connectivity today, but they also have impressive 5G capabilities that allow us to push the frontier limits of responsible robotics.”

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