Verizon to conduct field tests of 5G wireless technology next year

[Shawn Knight]

4G LTE is the predominate wireless communication standard in the US, the result of years of infrastructure build outs on behalf of cellular providers across the country. It is worlds faster than the turtle-like speeds you get from 3G yet already, several companies including Verizon are turning their attention to what’s next in wireless.

The nation’s largest telecom on Tuesday revealed plans to launch field trials of 5G wireless technology sometime next year. Verizon said it is creating 5G network environments, or “sandboxes,” at its Waltham, Massachusetts, and San Francisco Innovation Centers.

The primary benefit of 5G will of course be speed. As explained during its inaugural Verizon 5G Technology Forum last month, the new wireless technology will offer roughly 50 times the throughput of current 4G LTE technology. It’ll also afford latency in the single milliseconds and the ability to handle exponentially more Internet-connected devices should the Internet of Things live up to its hype.

As was the case in the early development of 4G LTE, Verizon is relying on a shared environment to expedite the process. The company said it has established working teams with Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Ericsson, Nokia, Qualcomm and Samsung to ensure an aggressive pace of innovation.

Roger Gurnani, executive vice president and chief information and technology architect at Verizon, said each partner is a leader but collectively, they represent more than $50 billion in annual research, development and technology investments as well as thousands of patents.

Samsung last year revealed that its 5G network clocked 7.5Gbps, or 940MB per second in a stationary environment. At the time, that was the fastest-ever 5G stationary test. When testing in a moving vehicle at 62 mph, speeds dipped to 1.2Gbps, or 150MB per second.

Despite field testing next year, Verizon conceded that 5GB technology is likely to be introduced to consumers sometime after 2020.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/62037-verizon-conduct-field-tests-5g-wireless-technology-next.html

 

[Theinsanegamer]

What's the point? so you can blow through your 2GB data cap in 16 seconds? Unless they are going to bring back unlimited plans or add a couple of zeros to their current caps, this is all but useless.

And yes, I realize that the point is being able to serve high speed to hundreds of customers simultaneously, but if the end user is getting 5g speed, whats the point if data caps are not significantly raised?

 

[davislane1]

What's the point? so you can blow through your 2GB data cap in 16 seconds? Unless they are going to bring back unlimited plans or add a couple of zeros to their current caps, this is all but useless.

And yes, I realize that the point is being able to serve high speed to hundreds of customers simultaneously, but if the end user is getting 5g speed, whats the point if data caps are not significantly raised?

I occasionally have to use wireless to trade. Extremely small data usage but speed has a profound impact on order execution. Same is true for anyone else who uses wireless for low-data high-volume work.

For content consumption, on the other hand...

 

[Theinsanegamer]

What's the point? so you can blow through your 2GB data cap in 16 seconds? Unless they are going to bring back unlimited plans or add a couple of zeros to their current caps, this is all but useless.

And yes, I realize that the point is being able to serve high speed to hundreds of customers simultaneously, but if the end user is getting 5g speed, whats the point if data caps are not significantly raised?

I occasionally have to use wireless to trade. Extremely small data usage but speed has a profound impact on order execution. Same is true for anyone else who uses wireless for low-data high-volume work.

For content consumption, on the other hand...

Wouldn't that benefit more from decreasing latency though? I usually have ~100ms response times through 4g, so even though I can hit 60-70Mbps, it doesnt feel nearly as fast as my home internet, which is 30Mbps and 32ms latency.

Now if they could nail the latency AND speed, that would be something.

 

[davislane1]

Wouldn't that benefit more from decreasing latency though? I usually have ~100ms response times through 4g, so even though I can hit 60-70Mbps, it doesnt feel nearly as fast as my home internet, which is 30Mbps and 32ms latency.

Now if they could nail the latency AND speed, that would be something.

Both are important. You need appropriate down speed for quotes and low latency to get orders from the computer to the order server.

 

[SirDigby]

Now if they could nail the latency AND speed, that would be something.

The article said "It’ll also afford latency in the single milliseconds".
And data caps will always increase, some companies in the UK still offer unlimited data but the common maximum tariff is 20GB. But when you consider the data plans for when 3G was around it was closer to 2GB. When 5G comes out in about 5 years or so, we'll likely see data caps for 50GB and 100GB.
Thing about 4G is that it's LTE, so it's speed is still going up with new iterations and technology, I think Cat6 is the latest spec that high end phones have been equipped with to accommodate 4G?

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Now if they could nail the latency AND speed, that would be something.

The article said "It’ll also afford latency in the single milliseconds".
And data caps will always increase, some companies in the UK still offer unlimited data but the common maximum tariff is 20GB. But when you consider the data plans for when 3G was around it was closer to 2GB. When 5G comes out in about 5 years or so, we'll likely see data caps for 50GB and 100GB.
Thing about 4G is that it's LTE, so it's speed is still going up with new iterations and technology, I think Cat6 is the latest spec that high end phones have been equipped with to accommodate 4G?

well, here in the US, a 20GB plan through verizon is $120 a month, plus $20 per line. for 1 person, thats $140, plus the phone itself, which puts that plan at $160. Going to 25GB adds $55 per month. that's a LOT of money for a single phone. And, at 100Mbps, it would take 98 seconds to push through 20GB. of course, you CAN get a 100GB plan. it just starts at $750 per month!

The caps wont be raised by much, there's too much money in data overages, which are $15 per GB. Maybe a couple of gigs, but more than 20? not for less than $200 per phone, and very few people here would pay that much for a phone.

 

[SirDigby]

well, here in the US, a 20GB plan through verizon is $120 a month, plus $20 per line. for 1 person, thats $140, plus the phone itself, which puts that plan at $160. Going to 25GB adds $55 per month. that's a LOT of money for a single phone. And, at 100Mbps, it would take 98 seconds to push through 20GB. of course, you CAN get a 100GB plan. it just starts at $750 per month!

The caps wont be raised by much, there's too much money in data overages, which are $15 per GB. Maybe a couple of gigs, but more than 20? not for less than $200 per phone, and very few people here would pay that much for a phone.

My apologies, can you clarify whether we are talking about mobile data or residential data plans as I was talking about mobile data which is generally what 4G/5G is associated with here in the UK - not many people use mobile data dongles for residential internet purposes.

Also, may I refer you to this Tom's Hardware article as a sort of 'breakdown' of what 5G really entails for users.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

My apologies, can you clarify whether we are talking about mobile data or residential data plans as I was talking about mobile data which is generally what 4G/5G is associated with here in the UK - not many people use mobile data dongles for residential internet purposes.

Also, may I refer you to this Tom's Hardware article as a sort of 'breakdown' of what 5G really entails for users.

those are all mobile data plans. mobile data is much more expensive here than in the UK.

 

[SirDigby]

those are all mobile data plans. mobile data is much more expensive here than in the UK.

I wonder why, other than monopolistic telecoms companies. I think the USA has roughly as many Telco's as the UK, yet we're 1/3rd the size of Texas.
I recently got an LG G4 on contract with a 3GB 4G data plan with unlimited texts and calls and it's £35 (£15 for the phone and £20 for the data plan) which is roughly $53. The cheapest available I think is £20 for a 20GB data plan under BT Mobile, but with an employee discount I can get this for £16 which is just under $25.