5G???

[kiddiedoc]

Can anyone tell me when 5G will be active around K- town and a sentence or so description of the benefits over 4?

 

[Tin Man]

5G is initializing in two manners - sub-6ghz spectrum and millimeter wave. "Sub 6" deploys on radio towers on which 4G (LTE) is already deployed. AT&T and T-Mobile have most of theirs in the 600mhz to 850mhz range. Verizon has deployed theirs in much higher bandwidths. The advantage of the lower spectrum is distance and penetration through walls and other physical objects. Millimeter wave is deployed in spectrum which is effective over shorter distances without physical obstructions. It's advantage is bandwidth. "Big pipe" offering individual users in public spaces, stadiums, and the like up to 1gb down/up. All providers have deployed both "Sub 6" and "MMW."

5G technology can reduce latency to near zero. This makes possible real time applications (antonymous vehicles, interactive holograms, etc.). Improvements for today's uses include faster downloads, higher definition, and "glitch-free" streaming experience (assuming no problems at the server).

Today, according to independent tests, AT&T's 5G and LTE networks perform best overall. T-Mobile is next for 5G, having similar spectrum. Verizon is playing catch-up.

 

[Tin Man]

If you want to be ready for 5G in K-town, I note that AT&T is offering new, competitive unlimited plans which you can mix and match, and they're offering the 5G iPhone12s for free with qualifying trade-ins. Worth checking out.

 

[kiddiedoc]

Thanks. Just got a Samsung that has 5G and noticed the 5G symbol this morning in my header.

 

[franklinpence]

Really good overview @Tin Man. Only thing I would add is that in the sub6 5G areas, the early speeds will be similar to LTE. But speeds will improve, and latency will be reduced over time.

In the MMWave areas, it will be interesting to see how the providers balance increased speeds/data consumption with network capacity.

 

[Jackcrevol]

Really good overview @Tin Man. Only thing I would add is that in the sub6 5G areas, the early speeds will be similar to LTE. But speeds will improve, and latency will be reduced over time.

In the MMWave areas, it will be interesting to see how the providers balance increased speeds/data consumption with network capacity.

Got a friend who builds cell towers for most major companies. Verizon and ATT are still building LTE towers.

Verizon and Sprint both tried to acquire or be acquired by Comcast and or Spectrum for backhaul fiber.

Friends in the business say Big Red has fallen flaccid in trying to get its network out, still years away.

5G is proximity driven. There's a big to do in Farragut about people being told 5G towers, which need to be built close to (conceivably a backbone) homes. Fiber-to-curb 5G to home. Residents being told that Verizon is a utility and thus have access to public right of way like Spectrum ATT and Power.

So far 5G is quite a joke in my mind. Fiber is just not there for it. If you want to invest, nows the time. Ten years from now, when the infrastructure is in place and fiber catches up, itll be dynamite.

 

[3rdDegreeVol]

5G is initializing in two manners - sub-6ghz spectrum and millimeter wave. "Sub 6" deploys on radio towers on which 4G (LTE) is already deployed. AT&T and T-Mobile have most of theirs in the 600mhz to 850mhz range. Verizon has deployed theirs in much higher bandwidths. The advantage of the lower spectrum is distance and penetration through walls and other physical objects. Millimeter wave is deployed in spectrum which is effective over shorter distances without physical obstructions. It's advantage is bandwidth. "Big pipe" offering individual users in public spaces, stadiums, and the like up to 1gb down/up. All providers have deployed both "Sub 6" and "MMW."

5G technology can reduce latency to near zero. This makes possible real time applications (antonymous vehicles, interactive holograms, etc.). Improvements for today's uses include faster downloads, higher definition, and "glitch-free" streaming experience (assuming no problems at the server).

Today, according to independent tests, AT&T's 5G and LTE networks perform best overall. T-Mobile is next for 5G, having similar spectrum. Verizon is playing catch-up.

Verizon has also deployed sub-6 at 850 MHz where they own that spectrum and will be rolling out sub6 at PCS (1900 MHz) and AWS-3 (2100 MHz) in areas where they don't have 850. The benefits of NR over LTE are modest in terms of speed all things being equal. Maybe 10-15% initially. The biggest benefits come from the latency improvements and the ability to extend NR to higher frequencies such as millimeter wave. The latency has improved some now, but the big gains will come when the new 5G core networks come online as they are designed to implement the lower latency of the new spec. Right now all the 5G networks are still using 4G cores.

In my opinion, the biggest impact in the next few years will be the deployment of mid-band spectrum (i.e. 3 to 6 GHz). This has the best combination of coverage versus capacity. Millimeter wave is very much a long-term play. Currently mmWave can do up to 3Gbps but, being time division duplex (unlike sub-6) the bandwidth has to be shared by both the upload and download. I'd expect that most carriers will choose to favor download over upload, as that's where the majority of the traffic is, so I wouldn't expect symmetrical speeds.