Verizon to begin testing 5G wireless network in 2016
Verizon will start field trials of 5G cellular technology sometime in 2016, the carrier announced on Tuesday, paving the way for a network could potentially eclipse 4G LTE and many landline Internet connections.
Assuming peak performance, 5G throughput could hit up to 50 times that of LTE with lag under 10 milliseconds, Verizon said. The company is currently establishing 5G "sandboxes" at centers in Waltham, Mass. and San Francisco.
Verizon further claimed that while 5G is typically expected go live in the U.S. sometime after 2020, the carrier is "accelerating the expected rate of innovation." It did not suggest how much sooner a launch might happen.
In any event, 5G adoption may take some time. There is no ratified standard for the technology and even once one is established, hardware vendors will need to make compatible devices, and carriers like Verizon could take years to build out networks. In 2015 many American carriers are still working on LTE coverage, well after the first networks turned on.
In the meantime LTE still has some room to grow, since many networks and devices aren't anywhere near the peak of the technology. With LTE Advanced, downloads can theoretically be as fast as 1 gigabit per second.
The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus only support speeds up to 150 megabits per second. That could potentially change on Wednesday with the announcement of new iPhones.
Assuming peak performance, 5G throughput could hit up to 50 times that of LTE with lag under 10 milliseconds, Verizon said. The company is currently establishing 5G "sandboxes" at centers in Waltham, Mass. and San Francisco.
Verizon further claimed that while 5G is typically expected go live in the U.S. sometime after 2020, the carrier is "accelerating the expected rate of innovation." It did not suggest how much sooner a launch might happen.
In any event, 5G adoption may take some time. There is no ratified standard for the technology and even once one is established, hardware vendors will need to make compatible devices, and carriers like Verizon could take years to build out networks. In 2015 many American carriers are still working on LTE coverage, well after the first networks turned on.
In the meantime LTE still has some room to grow, since many networks and devices aren't anywhere near the peak of the technology. With LTE Advanced, downloads can theoretically be as fast as 1 gigabit per second.
The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus only support speeds up to 150 megabits per second. That could potentially change on Wednesday with the announcement of new iPhones.
Comments
Hope they're not doing the 5G equivalent of WiMAX.
It would be hilarious to me if, as soon as they actually end up something that meets the definition of 4G, they start calling it 5G. LTE-Advanced is just about ready to be deployed, which is why this is making me wonder if that's what they're talking about (given the dearth of details in the actual article). Me too. They did see the light with LTE, so hopefully they're sticking with the standard from now on, but you never know with Verizon. They do like to lock things down, and using weird proprietary stuff makes it way easier to do that.
1 gbps is only the theoretical maximum speed of the standard. It isn't the speed at which all customers have to be given service at at all times.
Until Verizon lowers their prices substantially and offer an unlimited plan they won't get my business even if they're running a 10g network. I'll stick with my 4g T-Mobile network until then.
Mobile networks won't replace anything until the carriers remove provide reasonably priced plans with realistic data caps. Right now, faster mobile networks simply mean that you can theoretically blow through your monthly data cap faster.
Home broadband service might no longer have much of a speed advantage. But, the 150 GB to 250 GB data caps with typical residential cable, DSL, or fiber plans far eclipse what mobile plans provide.
No, I know you are reffering to 4G as bring 1Gbps, that is LTE-A . The 5G here is more like the original 4.5G ( not that is such thing)
http://www.artemis.com
Right, but LTE (other than LTE-A) doesn't have a theoretical maximum anywhere near 1 Gbps, which it's supposed to in order to meet the ITU's definition of 4G.
The important part of the original definition of 4G was a fully packet-switched network. VOIP still seems to be a pipe dream for most networks sadly.
Things like App downloads are more limited by things like speed of Flash memory, digital signature checking, etc.
Wouldn't know what to do with more speed short of tethering which is prohibitively expensive...