Author: Maureen

At AT&T’s Shape Conference in Los Angeles this week, attendees were able to test out the carrier’s new 5G network, and the speeds did not disappoint. A CNet tester using a Galaxy S10 5G phone ran 12 tests and achieved speeds over 1Gbps in all 12, and saw speeds over 1.4Gbps in 8 of the 12. At those speeds, downloading a 1.9GB app took the tester less than two and a half minutes, and downloading five hours of video on Netflix took under a minute. This is significantly faster than tests done on Verizon’s and Sprint’s 5G networks.

AT&T’s 5G Plus network won’t be available to consumers until 2020, but the performance is very promising.

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5G and Wi-Fi 6 are both emerging technologies that have garnered lots of press in 2019, with proponents of each anticipating the major impact they will have on industries and individuals. Rather than being true competitors, 5G and WiFi 6 will likely each be appropriate for different applications and will actually complement each other in many network setups.

5G is a cellular technology like 4G LTE, operating off cell towers. It will provide much higher speeds with lower latency over LTE, but it requires many more radio access points and does not penetrate buildings well. 5G is currently being rolled out by AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint and is likely to be popular with enterprises as an alternative to traditional fixed-line internet options.

Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) is the latest version of Wi-Fi, also offering increased speed and low latency. Wi-Fi 6 is less prone to interference than 5G – but like all Wi-Fi, of course, it requires an internet connection to broadcast (unlike 5G, which is wireless internet itself).

Both of these technologies will likely have a big impact on enterprises that rely on wireless connectivity for devices, employees, and customers.

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After months of hype, Sprint has officially turned on their 5G network in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, and Kansas City. Sprint CTO John Saw spoke with reporters in Dallas, saying “This is probably going to be the largest initial 5G launch in terms of coverage and footprint. This is just the beginning.”

Sprint is hoping that their choice of frequencies used for 5G will separate them from AT&T and Verizon. AT&T and Verizon are using millimeter wave technology for their 5G networks, which allows for great speed but poor coverage, while Sprint is building their 5G network on top of its mid-band 2.5GHz wireless spectrum and also utilizing their LTE Advanced network to provide a combination type of service that should prove to be more reliable.

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Sprint will be launching their 5G service in select markets by the end of the month, and starting tomorrow customers in the target cities will be able to preorder a 5G-capable device to use on the new network. The LG V50 ThinQ smartphone will be available for users who want a 5G-capable phone, and the HTC 5G Hub hot spot will be the data-only option. The preorder will open May 17 for users in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, and Kansas City, and Sprint plans to expand the offering to Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, Phoenix, and Washington, DC in the coming weeks.

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At the Big 5G Event in Denver, Colorado, Sprint talked about their 5G plans and highlighted how 5G will impact IoT in particular. Mishka Dehghan, vice president of 5G development at Sprint Business, talked about Sprint’s Curiosity IoT platform which will power applications ranging from smart city technologies to applications for the medical field.

Sprint’s 5G service will launch this month in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Dallas.

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Verizon promised to launch 5G service in 30 cities in 2019, and they’re moving forward with that goal with the announcement of 20 more cities that will join Chicago and Minneapolis as 5G-covered cities:

• Atlanta
• Boston
• Charlotte
• Cincinnati
• Cleveland
• Columbus
• Dallas
• Des Moines
• Denver
• Detroit
• Houston
• Indianapolis
• Kansas City
• Little Rock
• Memphis
• Phoenix
• Providence
• San Diego
• Salt Lake City
• Washington DC

Additionally, Verizon announced today that the 5G-capable Galaxy S10 is now available for preorder.

Pricing for the S10 starts at $1,300 for the 256GB model, and a 512GB option is available for $1,400. Preorder customers will also receive a a “VIP kit” with extra goodies, including Samsung’s wireless Galaxy Buds, a wireless charging battery pack and a water bottle. The phone is expected be be available on May 16. Customers can preorder from Verizon’s site or from Samsung.com.

5G is big news in 2019, but since it is still in its infancy, there are lots of questions about how it will impact users once it’s more widespread. Security and privacy are top concerns for many experts, and while 5G networks themselves are likely even more secure than older generation networks, the influx of 5G-connected devices that we may see in the coming years means there will simply be far more devices for hackers to potentially exploit.

As researcher Sasa Radomirovic, senior lecturer in information security at the University of Dundee in the U.K, says, “For each 5G equipped thing, there will be the possibility that an attacker or manufacturer abuses it to invade your privacy.”

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Samsung has announced that their first 5G-capable smartphone, the Galaxy S10, will launch in South Korea on April 5, where it will be the first 5G phone in the country.

The S10 is expected to launch in the US soon after the Korea launch, possibly around April 11 to sync up with Verizon’s mobile 5G network launch. No price has been announced yet, but it is expected to retail for a couple hundred dollars more than the non-5G S10+ model. However, carriers may discount the phone to give customers an incentive to move to new 5G-capable hardware.

With all 4 of the major US carriers (AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile) heavily promoting their upcoming or in-progress 5G wireless networks, customers are eager for information on how and when they’ll actually be able to use 5G service via their smartphone. Android Central has compiled a helpful summary of each carrier’s plans and what consumers should expect. Key points include:

• Like past cellular technologies (e.g. 3G and LTE), the carriers are using different technologies and frequencies and so phones are unlikely to work across all carriers
• AT&T is already showing a “5Ge” icon on some customers’ phones – but this is not 5G; it’s an upgrade to their 4G LTE service.
• Verizon will begin offering the 5G Moto Mod for the Moto Z3 in April.
• Sprint plans to make its 5G service available to Google Fi users.

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