AT&T starts actual 5G rollout in ten markets -- but without mmWave

AppleInsider

AT&T has started the rollout of its 5G mobile network, with the carrier making the low-band version of the technology available to use in ten markets across the United States - but it can currently only be used with one smartphone model.

Just as the carrier previously teased in November, AT&T launched its genuine 5G network in the United States on Friday. The initial wave, consisting of ten markets, is said to provide 5G coverage to "millions of consumers and businesses," with further expansion anticipated in the coming months.

The ten markets served by AT&T's 5G are Birmingham, AL; Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Providence, RI; Rochester, NY; San Diego, San Francisco, and San Jose, CA. In the first half of 2020, expansion of the network is planed for Boston, Bridgeport, CT; Buffalo, NY; Las Vegas, Louisville, KY; and New York City.

The rollout is for low-band 5G, which excludes mmWave. Using sub-6Ghz spectrum, the connections will be robust and wide-spread enough for normal usage, but won't offer the fast speed as promised in earlier hype for the technology.

AT&T does already offer mmWave communications, under what it calls "5G+," but in a limited fashion for "businesses and collaborators who are exploring new ways to unlock the significant performance capabilities of 5G+." While it is thought these networks will be provided to consumers in the future, AT&T hasn't offered hints as to when this will take place.

When straying outside of 5G coverage areas, customers will end up on AT&T's LTE service as well as its contentiously-named "5G Evolution," which is really an upgraded form of LTE. It became a subject of controversy after complaints its use of the 5GE logo on iPhones and other devices may have confused customers into believing their 4G LTE devices were already 5G-compatible.

To use the new 5G service, customers require a compatible smartphone. So far AT&T only provides one option: the Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ 5G, which AT&T sells for $1,299.99. Customers also have to use AT&T's $75 Unlimited Extra or $85 Unlimited Elite plans to use the 5G network.

Apple is thought to be including 5G connectivity in the "iPhone 12," but customers will most likely have to wait until September 2020 before being able to use a 5G iPhone.

AT&T trails after rival T-Mobile in launching its non-mmWave 5G network. T-Mobile opened up its own version on December 2, covering more than 5,000 cities and towns in the process.

bulk001

Apart from higher prices what benefits will 5G actually bring most customers? I see some potential benefits in some areas (say medical equipment streaming a patients stats to a hospital, mobile games who want better frame rates, maybe some AI application) but haven’t thought of a reason most customers need this extra speed. Would be interested in hearing others thoughts on what possibilities it will open up. 

badmonk

I always love how AT&T stories are accompanied by the photograph of the old school road-blurring econo-line van, it is the perfect image for these stories.

ITGUYINSD

bulk001 said:

Apart from higher prices what benefits will 5G actually bring most customers? I see some potential benefits in some areas (say medical equipment streaming a patients stats to a hospital, mobile games who want better frame rates, maybe some AI application) but haven’t thought of a reason most customers need this extra speed. Would be interested in hearing others thoughts on what possibilities it will open up. 

I'm with you.  The carriers need the "next big thing" to get consumers to sign up for more expensive plans and buy more expensive phones when, as you state, we probably have no use for the extra speed, let alone that the faster 5G has limited reach.

I'm sure, though, that the handful of people with the Note 10+ 5G will have fun running speed tests but will be disappointed when they find out it still takes 2 hours to stream a 2 hour movie!  (that seems to be what everyone does, right, is watch movies on their phone?)

Wgkrueger

Sigh, 5G is not all about speed. There’s 3 bands or tiers of the 5G spectrum that have specific benefits for each. For instance a low band tower can cover hundreds of square miles.  

bulk001

Wgkrueger said:

Sigh, 5G is not all about speed. There’s 3 bands or tiers of the 5G spectrum that have specific benefits for each. For instance a low band tower can cover hundreds of square miles.  

Okay, so stripping out the drama, it will give better coverage. Maybe good for rural and high density areas. I’m good with the coverage I have (with AT&T actually) right now though so for me still not a big deal I guess. 

jimh2

I can't see any advantages of 5G for 99.99% of phone users who use it to watch movies, Facebook, Instagram, and SnapChat. Someone throw us a bone and give us one legitimate use case that LTE can't cover. Prior to LTE we were chasing video and prior to that audio. I don't see anything to chase.

GeorgeBMac

Wgkrueger said:

Sigh, 5G is not all about speed. There’s 3 bands or tiers of the 5G spectrum that have specific benefits for each. For instance a low band tower can cover hundreds of square miles.  

Mostly, it's about the future.   Much like when LTE was rolled out -- only bigger.

So, who wants to pay a grand or more for a phone limited to what is now yesterday's technology -- particularly when that technology (communications) is the most critical factor of any mobile device?

sdw2001

Meanwhile, their customer service people tried to tell me my recent connection problems were due to the towers going down to be upgraded to 5G.  And that my iPhone XS Max was a "5G device."    I "educated" the rep about both claims being utterly wrong.  

GeorgeBMac

sdw2001 said:

Meanwhile, their customer service people tried to tell me my recent connection problems were due to the towers going down to be upgraded to 5G.  And that my iPhone XS Max was a "5G device."    I "educated" the rep about both claims being utterly wrong.  

The nice thing about AT&T is that you can get any answer from them that you want:  You just keep calling until you get the 'right' answer because every rep will tell you something different.  And, like the blind monkey, eventually they'll stumble onto the right answer.

It's such a shame:  AT&T was, at one time, thought of as the epitome of American corporate quality.  In the 80's when I went to work for a computer outsourcer (now called "cloud service") the president stood up and told us that our goal was to maintain the same level of service as "the telephone company" where, when you picked up the phone you got a dial tone -- always -- without exception -- 100% of the time.  And, if you didn't, it was a complete shock.

Oh how the mighty have fallen.

razorpit

badmonk said:

I always love how AT&T stories are accompanied by the photograph of the old school road-blurring econo-line van, it is the perfect image for these stories.

This one also works for me;

turley muller

bulk001 said:

Apart from higher prices what benefits will 5G actually bring most customers? I see some potential benefits in some areas (say medical equipment streaming a patients stats to a hospital, mobile games who want better frame rates, maybe some AI application) but haven’t thought of a reason most customers need this extra speed. Would be interested in hearing others thoughts on what possibilities it will open up. 

It will be several years before 5G provides any real benefits to the typical user. The 5G rolling out (Non-mmWave) now is essentially LTE-A. Carriers are just using a software update to light up 5G. It’s all built on LTE equipment and network core.  5G handsets can handle wider channels, but its pointless because there isn’t even enough spectrum to take advantage of it.  5G allows for 100MHz channels vs 20MHz for LTE. However LTE can bundle 5x 20’s into a 100MHz channel. TMUS is only deploying 20MHz and AT&T might be 40 or little more.  The low frequencies are crowded and there isn’t hardly any free spectrum. The mmWave 5G is super fast because it handles carriers as wide as  200-500MHz or more. There is plenty of mmWave spectrum because nobody has never wanted to use it since it only works outside and if you are within few hundred meters. 

The big promise is latency improvements but that won’t happen until 5G runs on its own network opposed to LTE. 5G core will enable more robust features as it will use AI and machine learning to optimize network in real time. 

eideard

I presume the "5G" iPhone will work in countries that actually have real 5G?  US Telcos are selling 75 lbs of steak and delivering 15 lbs of turkey.

Mike Wuerthele

Wgkrueger said:

Sigh, 5G is not all about speed. There’s 3 bands or tiers of the 5G spectrum that have specific benefits for each. For instance a low band tower can cover hundreds of square miles.  

Ultimately, but even not including mmWave, the networks rolling out now incorporate almost nothing that makes the low-band 5G good, and as such, there are next to no advantages over existing LTE.

turley muller

eideard said:

I presume the "5G" iPhone will work in countries that actually have real 5G?  US Telcos are selling 75 lbs of steak and delivering 15 lbs of turkey.

It’s all real 5G and will work anywhere as long as the device supports that frequency band. TMUS and AT&T have been candid in stating don’t expect much improvement from LTE. It’s the media that has hyped 5G confusing consumers and planting unrealistic expectations. The US carriers are waiting on the FCC to make mid-band spectrum available. That will boost speeds. 5G will eventually be robust, but it will take time. The mmWave 5G is pretty much a farce because it will never be widely deployed. And only works if you are outside. Mid-band is the sweet spot, and if TMUS and Sprint merge, their combined spectrum holdings would allow them to have the best sub-6MHz 5G network bar none. Sprint has a ton of 2.5GHz spectrum it’s sitting on.  

avon b7

jimh2 said:

I can't see any advantages of 5G for 99.99% of phone users who use it to watch movies, Facebook, Instagram, and SnapChat. Someone throw us a bone and give us one legitimate use case that LTE can't cover. Prior to LTE we were chasing video and prior to that audio. I don't see anything to chase.

Current infrastructure cannot offer the wireless bandwidth nor the speed nor the latency nor support the sheer amount of devices requiring those aspects of the network.

5G is being labelled another industrial revolution. It is estimated that by the end of next year there could be over 20 billion IoT 'devices' using 5G.

5G, in the longer term, will offer all of the above at a far lower cost than current LTE equipment.

The use cases cover just about everything you can think of. Southern Spain is currently piloting many use cases:

"The projects will explore dozens of 5G use cases, including agriculture, health, smart cities and territories, security and defense, society, economy and digital culture, digital transformation, and tourism. The ministry added that 10 of the use cases will involve virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR); five will focus on applications of drones; and three will explore facial recognition.

Telefónica will conduct a trial in Galicia in collaboration with a number of companies, including Ericsson, Nokia, and Spain-based Telnet. That project will have $12 million in funds and last more than 24 months. It will focus on use cases including connected cars, drones, AR, fixed wireless access, and health."

https://www.sdxcentral.com/articles/news/vodafone-and-telefonica-get-nod-for-spanish-5g-pilots/2019/05/

https://mobileworldcapital.com/press/spain-at-the-forefront-of-5g-pilots-in-europe/

There will be enormous implications for end users and industry alike. 

You probably haven't seen the reviews of 5G for mundane things like YouTube. Videos that have loaded instantly. Get used to that kind of response on a daily basis and even a half second delay becomes a big pain if you go back to LTE.

Security (for example through network slicing) will be far better for end users and things like online banking.

QoS. 5G offers quality of service where necessary.

As for things like streaming, don't forget that basically, streaming only exists to overcome the drawbacks of slow networks. Most people would prefer to get the entire file onboard over streaming it (space permitting).

Then you have smart city applications that go as far as your imagination. Health is another prime example where your phone will be your hub to new developments.

jd_in_sb

And in other news, Apple has begun marketing  the iPhone 11 as the “iPhone 12.” The actual iPhone 12 will be rolled out in the future. 

bulk001

Thanks for the links @"avon b7" The big advantages then seem to be on the backend for companies (lower latency, better coverage etc) and an internet chip in everything so what little privacy we have will be hacked or sold by Google! So far in my house the IoT has given us a doorbell, light controller, a thermostat, a roomba controller, Alexa and a fridge from Samsung with the promise that I can look inside to see what I need to buy when shopping (how many have ever really done that?). Certainly some small conveniences but not the next industrial revolution. I remain open to ideas but largely unconvinced that I really need it.  

MplsP

bulk001 said:

Thanks for the links @"avon b7" The big advantages then seem to be on the backend for companies (lower latency, better coverage etc) and an internet chip in everything so what little privacy we have will be hacked or sold by Google! So far in my house the IoT has given us a doorbell, light controller, a thermostat, a roomba controller, Alexa and a fridge from Samsung with the promise that I can look inside to see what I need to buy when shopping (how many have ever really done that?). Certainly some small conveniences but not the next industrial revolution. I remain open to ideas but largely unconvinced that I really need it.  

This is just it.

There are no smartphone benefits to 5G that I've seen anyone specifically articulate. The best they can do is talk about the differences in latency, connected devices, etc and then say something like "it's about the future and uses that have yet to be developed." Yet they can't articulate those uses because we evidently need a country full of 5G phones before they will be developed. 

As near as I can tell, the true benefits of 5G will not be for smartphones. they will (potentially) be for other devices. Beyond that, the much of the improvements from 5G require infrastructure improvements to the internet backbone, not the modem in your phone. I think the Telecoms are hyping 5G just to get people to sign up for more expensive service so they can bankroll the upgrades.

GG1

MplsP said:

bulk001 said:

Thanks for the links @"avon b7" The big advantages then seem to be on the backend for companies (lower latency, better coverage etc) and an internet chip in everything so what little privacy we have will be hacked or sold by Google! So far in my house the IoT has given us a doorbell, light controller, a thermostat, a roomba controller, Alexa and a fridge from Samsung with the promise that I can look inside to see what I need to buy when shopping (how many have ever really done that?). Certainly some small conveniences but not the next industrial revolution. I remain open to ideas but largely unconvinced that I really need it.  

This is just it.

There are no smartphone benefits to 5G that I've seen anyone specifically articulate. The best they can do is talk about the differences in latency, connected devices, etc and then say something like "it's about the future and uses that have yet to be developed." Yet they can't articulate those uses because we evidently need a country full of 5G phones before they will be developed. 

As near as I can tell, the true benefits of 5G will not be for smartphones. they will (potentially) be for other devices. Beyond that, the much of the improvements from 5G require infrastructure improvements to the internet backbone, not the modem in your phone. I think the Telecoms are hyping 5G just to get people to sign up for more expensive service so they can bankroll the upgrades.

Yes! You got it. From what I've read, the 5G network infrastructure will go through a huge transformation in both hardware and software to ultimately be able to serve devices in two new usage areas: gazillions of IoT devices, and mission-critical (low-latency) applications. The amount of phone usage won't grow nearly as much as IoT usage (not sure about the amount of mission-critical usage), so in reality the only benefit to a phone user is mmWave. Current phone users in existing bands will really see no benefit with 5G. Look up "network slicing" for the REAL direction of 5G. Hint: the amount of future IoT devices will greatly exceed phone users soon.

GeorgeBMac

MplsP said:

bulk001 said:

Thanks for the links @"avon b7" The big advantages then seem to be on the backend for companies (lower latency, better coverage etc) and an internet chip in everything so what little privacy we have will be hacked or sold by Google! So far in my house the IoT has given us a doorbell, light controller, a thermostat, a roomba controller, Alexa and a fridge from Samsung with the promise that I can look inside to see what I need to buy when shopping (how many have ever really done that?). Certainly some small conveniences but not the next industrial revolution. I remain open to ideas but largely unconvinced that I really need it.  

This is just it.

There are no smartphone benefits to 5G that I've seen anyone specifically articulate. The best they can do is talk about the differences in latency, connected devices, etc and then say something like "it's about the future and uses that have yet to be developed." Yet they can't articulate those uses because we evidently need a country full of 5G phones before they will be developed. 

As near as I can tell, the true benefits of 5G will not be for smartphones. they will (potentially) be for other devices. Beyond that, the much of the improvements from 5G require infrastructure improvements to the internet backbone, not the modem in your phone. I think the Telecoms are hyping 5G just to get people to sign up for more expensive service so they can bankroll the upgrades.

Did you say the same going from 3G to 4G/LTE?   You should have because the same rationale applies.