Verizon adds four US cities to growing 5G network
Verizon on Wednesday activated 5G Ultra Wideband services in select areas of Atlanta, Detroit, Indianapolis and Washington, D.C., bringing the number of U.S. cities with access to the speedy mobile network up to nine.
The nation's leading mobile provider by subscribers announced the expansion in a post to its website, noting business customers and general consumers can access the 5G network with a lineup of five devices.
When Verizon first flipped the switch on its 5G network in April, compatibility was limited to the Motorola Z3 smartphone with separate 5G moto mod. Other manufacturers have entered the 5G race in the intervening months, with Verizon now offering supporting models from LG, Samsung and Inseego.
Specifically, customers can select the LG V50 ThinQ 5G, Moto Z3 or Z4 with 5G moto mod, Samsung Galaxy S10 5G or Inseego MiFi M1000, the latter being a mobile 5G hotspot.
"Customers in these cities are at the forefront of game-changing technology, with access to download speeds and bandwidth that will power the future of consumer, business and government mobile applications," Verizon CTO Kyle Malady said of the new 5G locales. "Similarly, cities that embrace new technology, like 5G Ultra Wideband, have a leg up in competition to attract businesses and create jobs."
Coverage in Atlanta, Detroit, Indianapolis and Washington, D.C., is limited to highly populated areas such as parks, museums, college campuses and other public spaces, Verizon said. The company intends to expand coverage beyond those areas in the coming months.
Verizon first announced plans for its 5G service in February, promising customers in 30 U.S. cities would gain access to the network by the end of 2019. The company rolled out 5G Ultra Wideband in Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis, Providence and St. Paul earlier this year and is working to debut the technology in Boston, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Des Moines, Houston, Kansas City, Little Rock, Memphis, Phoenix, San Diego and Salt Lake City.
Apple is rumored to join the 5G party in 2020 after settling a worldwide legal dispute with cellular modem supplier Qualcomm in April. The tech giant is expected to rely on Qualcomm's 5G baseband chip for iPhone and iPad connectivity in the near term, but could make the switch to first-party silicon in a couple years.
The nation's leading mobile provider by subscribers announced the expansion in a post to its website, noting business customers and general consumers can access the 5G network with a lineup of five devices.
When Verizon first flipped the switch on its 5G network in April, compatibility was limited to the Motorola Z3 smartphone with separate 5G moto mod. Other manufacturers have entered the 5G race in the intervening months, with Verizon now offering supporting models from LG, Samsung and Inseego.
Specifically, customers can select the LG V50 ThinQ 5G, Moto Z3 or Z4 with 5G moto mod, Samsung Galaxy S10 5G or Inseego MiFi M1000, the latter being a mobile 5G hotspot.
"Customers in these cities are at the forefront of game-changing technology, with access to download speeds and bandwidth that will power the future of consumer, business and government mobile applications," Verizon CTO Kyle Malady said of the new 5G locales. "Similarly, cities that embrace new technology, like 5G Ultra Wideband, have a leg up in competition to attract businesses and create jobs."
Coverage in Atlanta, Detroit, Indianapolis and Washington, D.C., is limited to highly populated areas such as parks, museums, college campuses and other public spaces, Verizon said. The company intends to expand coverage beyond those areas in the coming months.
Verizon first announced plans for its 5G service in February, promising customers in 30 U.S. cities would gain access to the network by the end of 2019. The company rolled out 5G Ultra Wideband in Chicago, Denver, Minneapolis, Providence and St. Paul earlier this year and is working to debut the technology in Boston, Charlotte, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Des Moines, Houston, Kansas City, Little Rock, Memphis, Phoenix, San Diego and Salt Lake City.
Apple is rumored to join the 5G party in 2020 after settling a worldwide legal dispute with cellular modem supplier Qualcomm in April. The tech giant is expected to rely on Qualcomm's 5G baseband chip for iPhone and iPad connectivity in the near term, but could make the switch to first-party silicon in a couple years.
Comments
If 5G has such a short range and the signal can’t pass through most building materials, then how is it the future – unless we’re all going to walk around with antenna hats?
Some of these poles were installed more than 70-80 years ago but are still being used to carry electric, copper, fiber optic and cable lines. But, according to the inspectors, the old poles are often in better shape than the newer ones because, back then, they used toxins like creosote to insure that they didn't rot. The people working with those toxins likely rotted, but not the poles.
Actually, there are different parts to 5G. one part uses mm waves that allow very high data rates. The problem with this frequency is it has very poor penetration and only works over short distances (articles I've read have said even leaves on trees will block transmission.) That's why the providers need to put new antennae up every few blocks. My understanding is they can get around some of these issues by using beam forming technology to better focus the transmission, which theoretically could work but seems like it would be technically infeasible to do for several hundred connections that are all simultaneously moving. It would be more feasible for a fixed installation.
Another part is changing how the existing frequencies are used to allow more connections, higher bandwidth, etc. From articles I've read, the mm wavelength portion will likely never extend beyond densely populated areas while the other changes can be utilized more broadly. All of this requires back-end infrastructure improvements as well. What we will see in terms of coverage, roll out dates, actual speeds, etc. remains to be seen and is up for debate, as is what effects it will have on 4G/LTE service.
Currently, under current (LTE) conditions, those discussions will be limited to social issues (safety versus independence) -- and will cause many to shudder at the thought of the ultimate Big Brother. But it will be driven by the trucking and insurance industries as well as safety advocates.
Each wireless generation has brought new issues that were dealt with via legislation.
Not many years ago the rooftops of many residential buildings in Spain were TV antenna farms where each home owner had their own gear up on the roof. Not now. Those days are long gone. Now there is one 'community' antenna that is maintained by the residents in each building. Not many years ago those same buildings might have housed cell towers from different mobile operators. Not now. Now operators are forced to share their infrastructure so for example we don't see different companies digging up streets to lay fibre.
In the case of 3G and 4G the signals were never designed to penetrate your home. All you are receiving is residual signal from the street. Walls have always been a problem. All some variants of 5G will do is highlight the problems that walls and other objects represent. Obviously this means more equipment will be needed in some areas but in reality the same was true of DVB.
I live in a problem area. Close to a mass of water (the Mediterranean), elevated temperatures and 'shade' (hills/mountains). There are technological challenges to be overcome and as government runs the communications show it also provides the solutions to any problems. It obliges local councils to facilitate solutions such as making urban infrastructure available to operators. It also obliges the operators to meet coverage targets.
The foreseeable problems for 5G have actually been studied and mostly, legislation is in place but there are always unforseen issues to even the best thought out legislation.
Here is an example:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/may/19/revealed-5g-rollout-is-being-stalled-by-rows-over-lampposts
However, where I live, the LED lamposts even have connections for the Christmas lights and sensors.
Worldwide, YMMV but it is up to government to resolve the root issues.
Most construction legislation here already includes communications requirements so I can see a time when 5G is literally pumped into our homes along with the DVB signal from rooftops and fibre from floor level.
Out on the street, lamp posts, bus stops, flag poles and of course cell towers (free standing or building mounted) etc will cover our needs.
Then there are CPE solutions too.
So, 5G will be rolled out with little or no oversight -- so, I suspect that individual areas will either have to deal with an unregulated regional monopoly or pay excess rates so that all three carriers duplicate each other's efforts.
In my case, the only thing blocking having 3 transmitters on every telephone pole will be that Verizon owns the poles and will decide if they want to share them or not.
In my case I could swap to any of the big three operators (vodafone, Movistar, orange or their other brands, O2, Jazztel etc) or any of a host of competitive virtual operators that have no infrastructure of their own.
Basically, wireless in the U.S. -- like its cable -- is an unregulated mess.