AT&T & Verizon 5G rollouts stall, reinforce claims that tech not coming to iPhone until 20...
The two biggest U.S. wireless carriers, AT&T and Verizon, are unlikely to have much in the way of true 5G service deployed by the end of 2019, perhaps backing the view that Apple won't have support in iPhones until fall 2020.
Verizon has a lack of standards-ready hardware, meaning it won't be able to expand home service beyond parts of Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, and Sacramento until the second half of the year, CEO Hans Vestberg revealed in a results call on Wednesday. The carrier has no coverage map on its website.
AT&T so far has 5G in 12 cities, such as Houston, Atlanta, and New Orleans, but has kept quiet on exact coverage and performance.
The issue is that the carriers' equipment partners were unable to deliver on promises, PCMag noted. Motorola and Samsung are delaying standardized home routers to focus on phones, and AT&T may have launched using early firmware, capping performance.
AT&T has said it won't have nationwide mobile 5G until early 2020. In the interim it has come under attack for using a "5G E" label for what is really 400-megabit 4G.
Multiple reports have pointed to Apple waiting until 2020 to ship 5G-capable iPhones. Although rival phones with the technology are already on the market, both compatible modems and networks are in their infancy. The company's preferred modem maker, Intel, is unlikely to have a 5G chip ready until 2020.
The wait may disappoint 2019 iPhone shoppers hoping for futureproof devices. It's consistent with Apple's past approach to cellular standards though -- the original 2007 iPhone shipped without 3G, and 4G was missing in action until 2012's iPhone 5.
Verizon has a lack of standards-ready hardware, meaning it won't be able to expand home service beyond parts of Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, and Sacramento until the second half of the year, CEO Hans Vestberg revealed in a results call on Wednesday. The carrier has no coverage map on its website.
AT&T so far has 5G in 12 cities, such as Houston, Atlanta, and New Orleans, but has kept quiet on exact coverage and performance.
The issue is that the carriers' equipment partners were unable to deliver on promises, PCMag noted. Motorola and Samsung are delaying standardized home routers to focus on phones, and AT&T may have launched using early firmware, capping performance.
AT&T has said it won't have nationwide mobile 5G until early 2020. In the interim it has come under attack for using a "5G E" label for what is really 400-megabit 4G.
Multiple reports have pointed to Apple waiting until 2020 to ship 5G-capable iPhones. Although rival phones with the technology are already on the market, both compatible modems and networks are in their infancy. The company's preferred modem maker, Intel, is unlikely to have a 5G chip ready until 2020.
The wait may disappoint 2019 iPhone shoppers hoping for futureproof devices. It's consistent with Apple's past approach to cellular standards though -- the original 2007 iPhone shipped without 3G, and 4G was missing in action until 2012's iPhone 5.
Comments
Better to wait. When 4G/LTE came out (before 4G was reinterpreted to mean network speeds of 100Mbps rather than the 4G technology - kind of like what 5GE seems to be now), it chewed through battery like a thing that chews through batteries. You couldn't even maintain charge on a device plugged into power running 4G.
Then, when the iPhone finally got 4G, I had to switch carriers because Telstra was the only one in Australia with any 4G build out worth a damn. (Current indications seem to be this will be the same for 5G over the next couple of years.)
So better to wait until the technology is a bit more established, and there's actually some networks for it to run on, than push it out the door to claim "We have 5G!" which seems to be the strategy of some other manufacturers.
Not complaining, as Apple will undoubtedly still be making the best phones on the planet, but curious what the hook(s) is(are) going to be.
Rant:
Of course, most people would be thrilled if Apple advanced their services to a level that at least attempts to approximate the quality of their hardware and core software. But Apple seems content to let the services stagnate in mediocrity indefinitely:
-Siri, even after 7(?)* years in development, still is completely incompetent and frustrating to use for even basic, everyday things
-The most social app (and Apple's biggest opportunity to wedge into culture), Apple Music, still has nearly zero ability to customize a personal profile and socialize with others, a truly pathetic oversight at this point in its development.
-Maps still sends me hundreds of miles away on basic searches (how many more years do we need to wait until they stop slow walking it and release Apple's walk-thru 3-d maps universe that they're obviously gearing up for?)
-etc
*I just asked siri, "When was Siri released?", the answer, "Sorry, I can only take that request while you're listening to music or a podcast." Huh? It's pathetic how often siri fails, even though I try to keep my expectations as low as possible.
And I'm still waiting for someone to explain exactly how this will make my iPhone better. Everyone gushes about increased speeds, but decent LTE speed is plenty fast enough for anything you use a cell phone for. The frequencies actually have less ability to penetrate buildings, so it won't improve reception. If someone has some real world use that requires 5G, could they please speak up?
Could this be why all the politicized hoopla over Huawei? Apparently they are the only ones who can do 5g right.
You want hardware from a shadier company than Samsung? That’s pretty shady.
So if only one company can do it and they have been accused of lying, either they are lying or the rest of the market is just that bad, or, the technology isn’t there yet.
Hmmmm I wonder which one it is?