Author: Maureen

AT&T’s consumer 5G network launches today, with the network going live in 10 cities and the $1,300 Galaxy Note 10 Plus 5G officially on sale. AT&T previously made 5G available to select business users in a few markets around the country, but today is the first time consumers have the option of signing up. 5G is now available to AT&T customers with compatible phones in Birmingham, AL; Indianapolis, IN; Los Angeles, CA; Milwaukee, WI; Pittsburgh, PA; Providence, RI; Rochester, NY; San Diego, CA; San Francisco, CA; and San Jose, CA.

The network launched today utilizes low-band 850MHz spectrum technology that has broader range but slower speeds than the fastest 5G service available from Verizon and to AT&T’s business customeres (which uses mmWave). The advantage to the low-band technology is that the coverage is much better, but it won’t be as fast as Verizon’s 5G service.

The company has also promised that “low-band 5G availability will continue to rapidly expand,” listing Boston, MA; Bridgeport, CT; Buffalo, NY; Las Vegas, NV; Louisville, KY; and New York City as being next on the list for launch in 2020.

The Federal Communications Commission has launched its latest spectrum action, which makes available the next batch of high frequency millimeter wavelengths. The auction encompasses 3,400MHz of spectrum with licenses in the upper 37GHz, 39GHz and 47GHz bands, which are vital for 5G. These high frequencies allow for the speed and low-latency that make 5G such an improvement over 4G.

“These airwaves will be critical in deploying 5G services and applications,” FCC Chairman Ajit Pai said in a statement. “Auctioning the 39 GHz and upper 37 GHz bands together presents a critical opportunity for 5G deployment as it represents the largest amount of contiguous spectrum available in the millimeter-wave bands.”

AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon, as well as satellite provider Dish Network, have filed to participate in the auction. The providers will likely bid for several rounds, with the auction expected to complete early next year.

T-Mobile’s nationwide 5G service went live on Friday, and reports and reviews from early adopters are now rolling in.

While T-Mobile has promoted that their 5G service will be significantly faster than LTE (although not as fast as Verizon’s or AT&T’s 5G service, due to the frequencies being used), initial reports indicate that the real-world performance may not actually be dramatically better than LTE. A reviewer from CNET testing the service in New York City reported 5G download speeds between 20Mbps and 50Mbps, with some peaks above 100Mbps, but noted that his LTE speeds at the same locations were very similar. Their tester in Maui reported slightly more exciting results, regularly seeing 5G download speeds 100Mbps with peaks of 256Mbps, while their LTE speeds averaged lower and peaked at just 131Mbps.

For comparison, users of Verizon’s 5G network in New York often see speeds of 1Gbps outdoors. However, the coverage is poor and users can only access that type of service in a very limited range. T-Mobile’s 5G coverage and building penetration is much better, with users reporting similar 5G speeds indoors vs outdoors and no trouble maintaining connection as they moved around town.

T-Mobile’s 5G coverage seems to be living up to the company’s promises, which is a big advantage over other carriers. With regard to speed, though, it may not be worth upgrading from an LTE device just yet.

Amazon Web Services Inc. (AWS), part of Amazon.com, has announced their latest service: AWS Wavelength, which will give developers the ability to build applications for end-users with single-digit millisecond latencies over 5G. Wavelength incorporates the power of AWS with the advantage of Verizon’s 5G network, so developers can segment out the parts of their application that require ultra-low latency within the 5G network, and connect back to the rest of their application running in AWS. Applications requiring the lowest possible latency include things like smart cars, virtual reality, and autonomous equipment and vehicles.

AWS has partnered with Verizon to make AWS Wavelength available in the U.S. and Wavelength is available not as a pilot project to select users in Chicago. Other 5G providers have been selected to work with AWS to bring Wavelength to other parts of the world.

“With Wavelength, we bring 5G and cloud together to give our customers the powerful new capability to run cloud services consistently within a few milliseconds of mobile end-users,” said Matt Garman, AWS Vice President Compute Services. “This is a game changer for developers that is going to unlock a whole new generation of applications and services. We are really excited to see our customers innovate with these unique new capabilities that they did not have access to before.”

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AT&T has made splashes about 5G in the past by showing customers a “5GE” icon on their phone (which is still just LTE service) and by launching their mmWave 5G+ service, which is available only to businesses and has very limited coverage. Now they are finally ready to bring true 5G service to customers, with the announcement that they will launch 5G in five cities this December.

Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Providence, Rochester, and San Diego are the lucky cities that will be getting AT&T 5G in December. Customers in those markets will need a Galaxy Note 10 Plus 5G phone activated on one of two unlimited plans in order to use the service.

AT&T has also promised to launch 5G in 10 more cities by February of 2020: Birmingham, Boston, Bridgeport, Buffalo, Las Vegas, Louisville, Milwaukee, New York, San Francisco, and San Jose.

Read more and see the coverage map

President Donald Trump said today he met with Apple CEO Tim Cook to request that he help develop telecommunications infrastructure for 5G networks in the U.S.

“They have it all – Money, Technology, Vision & Cook!” Trump tweeted.

Trump has said before that the United States intended to deploy 5G services quickly and that they plan to cooperate with “like-minded nations” to promote security in 5G networks. Mobile operators need to upgrade their networks with 5G gear, mostly made by China’s Huawei Technologies, who is currently not in favor with the US government. The United States has been asking other countries not to grant Huawei access to future 5G networks, citing spying concerns.

Congress is considering legislation that would authorize up to $1 billion for smaller wireless providers to replace network equipment from Huawei and ZTE, citing national security concerns. Development and investment from Apple into 5G infrastructure would provide an alternative to the manufacturers the US is hoping to avoid having to allow.

Verizon launched their 5G service in three new cities today, bringing their total number of cities with 5G to eighteen. Boston, Houston, and Sioux Falls are the latest markets to be lit up with Verizon 5G.

“We are building our 5G Ultra Wideband network to support the type of transformative breakthroughs people imagine when they think of next-generation connectivity,” said Kyle Malady, Verizon’s chief technology officer, in a press release today.

Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband service can be utilized in limited areas of the three new cities. In Boston, users will find 5G in the Fenway area as well as around Northeastern University. Houston users will find 5G in East Downtown, Uptown, Greenway Plaza, the Museum District and Rice Village, and around landmarks like The Galleria Mall, NRG Stadium, BBVA Compass Stadium and Rice University Stadium. In Sioux Falls, Verizon 5G subscribers will find the service in the downtown area around landmarks like Levitt at the Falls, the Orpheum Theatre, Washington Pavilion, the State Theatre, and the US Federal Courthouse.

Verizon plans to launch 5G in 30 cities around the country by the end of 2019. 

As an incentive towards gaining support and approval for their merger with Sprint, T-Mobile has announced a plan called the “Connecting Heroes Initiative” to provide free service to first responders for 10 years. The program would include unlimited talk, text and 5G smartphone data to every public and nonprofit state and local law enforcement, fire and EMS first responder agency across the country.

“First responders are under more pressure than ever before. With the 5G network New T-Mobile will create, we can do our part to help say thanks,” T-Mobile CEO John Legere said.

T-Mobile’s offer will only come to fruition if the pending Sprint merger closes, and there may be limitations on the number of lines or the streaming video quality. More details will likely be available as the merger moves through the courts and FCC for approval.

After announcing last week that they’d be making 5G available nationwide by the end of the year, T-Mobile has now given a launch date: December 6.

CEO John Legere and COO Mike Seivert announced in a webcast that the new 5G network will launch in over 5,000 markets next month. Unlike Verizon and AT&T’s 5G networks, the new network T-Mobile will be launching will operate low-band spectrum, which is not as fast as the frequencies used by other carriers but offers much better coverage – and is still much faster than 4G LTE.

Users will need either the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus 5G or the OnePlus 7T Pro 5G McLaren edition to utilize T-Mobile’s 5G network. However, they will not need to change their service plan – existing plans will include 5G with no changes or extra fees.

US Cellular reported their third quarter financial results this week, with their operating income up 3% over the same period last year. Service revenues were up 2% and they lost fewer subscribers than last year.

President and CEO Kenneth Meyers is happy with the progress, saying that the company “generated improved financial results and although subscriber activity was slow early in the quarter, we gained momentum and finished strong, achieving sequential improvement in postpaid handset net additions by delivering on our customer satisfaction strategy and implementing many of our strategic initiatives.”

Meyers also addressed the company’s 5G plans, saying that they are “on track to launch 5G service in Iowa and Wisconsin during the first quarter of 2020.” The modernization efforts they are making to their network in preparation for 5G are also benefiting current 4G subscribers, bringing better quality and improved speeds.