Maureen, Author at Welcome To The 5Gstore Blog

Verizon Fixed 5G on the way in 2018, Mobile Network Due 2019

Verizon announced today in their first-quarter earnings call that it has started deploying commercial nodes in three markets in the US in support of their planned launch of their fixed 5G network later this year. “We are quickly approaching the launch date of our residential broadband service,” said Verizon CFO Matt Ellis. Sacramento is the only market Verizon has named so far; the other two markets won’t be announced until closer to the launch.

As for their mobile 5G network, rollout is further out and according to Ellis will be “very much heavily focused on urban areas.”

April 24, 2018By Maureen 5G

Huawei Plans for 5G Handset in 2019

Huawei made a splash at their Global Analyst Summit in Shenzhen this week, showing off their plans for 5G. Counterpoint Analyst Neil Shah tweeted throughout the event, sharing the announcements along with his commentary. Perhaps the most exciting announcement was that Huawei will be launching a 5G smartphone in the second half of 2019 running its own 5G chip.

April 17, 2018By Maureen 5G Phones

AT&T Demos the Extreme Speeds of 5G

AT&T has been working with small businesses in three US cities over the past year to trial their 5G network (which they plan to deploy in 12 cities by the end of the year), and today they released the results of some of their testing:

In Waco, Texas, AT&T 5G speeds were 1.2Gbps from 500 feet over a 400MHz channel, with 9-12 millisecond latency.
In Kalamazoo, Michigan, they saw 1Gbps speeds at 900 feet (275 meters) in “line of sight” conditions.
From their South Bend, Indiana, tests, no specific speeds were reported, but reported “gigabit wireless speeds” in line of sight and “some nonline of sight” conditions.

Other interesting notes from the release were that there appeared to be no negative impact from rain or snow, and large numbers of users were connected during the tests. They also reported that signals can penetrate “significant foliage, glass and even walls” even better than they had expected.

AT&T’s tests are definitely very promising, and we can’t wait to see the network deployed to the public!

April 10, 2018By Maureen 5G, 5G News

UK Study Shows Potential Impact of 5G on Universities

While the whole world is eager to see what 5G can do, no country seems more excited than the UK. Various UK departments and agencies have put together reports studying how 5G can benefit the public, and while the research obviously centers around their local communities and industries, the conclusions and data can still be used to assist researchers and officials in projecting the impact of 5G here in the US.

At a recent networking conference, Andy Sutton, visiting professor in the School of Computing, Science and Engineering at the University of Salford, presented his views on how 5G will change campuses. Among other benefits, he heralded the fact that 5G’s promised speeds and reduced latency could make remote learning more accessible.

April 5, 2018By Maureen 5G

UK Plans for Large Scale Urban 5G Test Project

The UK government has set their sights on 5G as a tool to increase safety, communication, and efficiency in communities. To see how 5G can benefit real-world communities, the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport is looking for a city with a popular of at least 500,000 people in which a 5G network can be launched. Digital minister Margot James said: “This is a huge opportunity for an urban area to become the flagship of our ambitious programme to make Britain fit for the future and a world leader in 5G. Trialling 5G at scale across an entire city is a chance to prove the economic benefits predicted from this new technology, test different methods of deployment, and boost the connectivity of ordinary people working and living there.”

Will 5G be impacted by same security flaws seen in 2G, 3G, and 4G?

While most of the world is looking towards 5G as a huge improvement over previous generations in every way, the European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA) is concerned about security flaws. In their report, ENISA noted that “there is a certain risk of repeating history” if 5G networks uses the same signaling protocols used in 2G, 3G and 4G mobile. Known flaws in the SS7 and Diameter signalling protocols have allowed traffic to be eavesdropped, spoofed, or intercepted by attackers, and there are concerns that 5G networks may use the same or similar protocols – although that remains to be seen at this stage.

March 29, 2018By Maureen 5G

AT&T Plans Rollout of 60,000 White Box Routers for 5G

While Verizon has been making the most noise when it comes to US carriers discussing their 5G plans, AT&T is not sitting idly by. This week AT&T announced their plans to being rolling out 60,000 5G “white box” routers at its cell towers over the next few years.

In their statement, they explained that AT&T is “transitioning from the traditional, proprietary routers that sit inside these structures to new hardware that’s built around open standards and can be quickly upgraded via software.” They went on to explain how their move to open source operating systems and “white box” routers will mean decreased latency at the network edge, as well as easier upgrades and updates in the future.

March 27, 2018By Maureen 5G

International Race for 5G Heats Up: Korea Telecom vs Verizon

The race to be one of the first providers to offer 5G service is worldwide, with carriers around the globe clamoring to be able to tout their networks’ availability. Here in the US, Verizon has announced plans to launch a limited 5G network this year, but some other carriers are skeptical. When Korea Telecom announced plans this week to make their 5G service available in 2019, they commented that Verizon’s promised 5G network is actually “a step backward,” since it will not provide broad coverage. As a KT executive Oh Seong-Mok explained, “it is true 5G only when coverage is guaranteed,” so because Verizon’s 2018 launch will not provide nationwide coverage, the door remains open for KT’s launch to be the first true 5G service in the world.

While KT has a point, launching a nationwide network in a country the size of the US is no small task – and if Verizon delivers on their promise to launch 5G in some areas this year, it will still be a huge step in wireless.

March 22, 2018By Maureen 5G, 5G News

Report from London Operator o2 Details Benefits of 5G

UK mobile operator O2 released a report this week titled “The value of 5G for cities and communities,” detailing the anticipated positive impacts 5G will have in a variety of sectors. The report utilizes research and examples rooted in the UK, but the message is global: the integration of 5G technology in any city or town could mean billions of dollars in savings and increased productivity.

The report illustrates potential benefits everywhere from healthcare to transportation to energy. Leveraging 5G to enable widespread adoption of video conferencing by medical professionals, for example, would allow doctors to offer remote consultations when office visits are not necessary and would improve post-hospitalization patient monitoring. In the transportation industry, 5G sensors would enable predictive maintenance to reduce train delays and cancellations. The possibilities are virtually endless, and so are the benefits!

Read the O2 report (pdf)

March 15, 2018By Maureen 5G, 5G News

5G-Related Security Concerns Kill Broadcom-Qualcomm Deal?

Donald Trump cited security concerns as the reason behind his executive order blocking Broadcom’s proposed acquisition of Qualcomm, and it appears that it’s Qualcomm’s 5G knowledge and research that US leaders are concerned about. Qualcomm has been a leader in the fledgling – but extremely important – 5G arena, and US experts may not want that expertise and advantage to be lost to the Singapore-based Broadcom. This move is certainly in line with other decisions Trump has made to penalize or block foreign interest in certain industries, so it seems likely that the motive for the decision may be purely political and not actually influenced by legitimate 5G-related security concerns.