Author: Maureen

The scoring of 5Gstore’s top products comes from a combination of their popularity as well as the number of customer reviews they received and the average rating customers gave the product. Many of this year’s winners, like the IP Switch (both the single outlet and dual outlet versions) and Pepwave Max BR1 Mini are perennial favorites and have appeared on our “best of” lists for years. Others, like the Pepwave Max Transit and Panorama WMMxG antennas are new to the list this year.

Congratulations to all of the manufacturers of our 2020 top products!

If you ordered any of these products (or any others!) from 5Gstore, don’t forget that you can log in at 5Gstore.com and write a review of your own. We post all reviews – good and bad – and always appreciate the feedback!

Rank	Product	Reviews
1	Pepwave Max BR1 Mini with LTE Affordable router with embedded LTE (cat 4 or cat 6 LTE Advanced) for home, travel, and small business	“Overall a must get in my opinion. We are trying them out for our fleet and so far it has showed to be a great solution. Quality feels good and for the price it is a great deal.” “Excellent full function mobile router, InControl makes for easy remote management.” read more reviews
2	Single Outlet Remote Power IP Switch Allows you to remotely monitor and reboot your equipment via smartphone app or the cloud	“The EZ-62b IP auto-switch is a great little piece of hardware. It seems to work better than a previous model, the EZ-22b which was a little hit and miss. I’ve tested the EZ-62b extensively and for the money, I’m really impressed.” “Does exactly what it’s supposed to. If only they could help with my kids!” read more reviews
3	Dual Outlet Remote Power IP Switch Allows you to remotely monitor and reboot up to two pieces of equipment via smartphone app or cloud	“It’s important to me to have my router power cycle while I’m away from home for extended periods of time. The Remote Power Switch provides the ability to set specific power cycle schedules to fit my request. It’s convenient to program the switch remotely via software.” “This will save me alot of travel time having to reset everything.” read more reviews
4	Pepwave Surf SOHO MK3 Router Easy-to-use, feature-rich 3G/4G router for home and travel	“A solid business class router for a great price offering solid top notch software firmware” “We are full timers in our motorhome and when we change from one place to another we have to reconnect all of our TV’s, printer, computers and several other items to the new WiFi. Now they are all connected to this router and we only have to connect the SURF which in turn makes everything else work.” read more reviews
5	Pepwave Max Transit/Transit Duo and Transit Mini LTE routers Vehicle routers with 1 or 2 embedded modems (Cat 4, 6, 12, or 18) for failover or bonding	“If you’re serious about using cellular wifi and other WAN sources including WIFI as WAN, this is the device you need. With Primecare, you can use Speedfusion to bond your WANs for incredible bandwidth and reliability.” read more Transit and Duo reviews “Excellent product which I purchased as an upgrade to my NetGear LB1120 for home Internet connectivity. All I can say is that I am extremely impressed with all the networking options available.” read more Transit Mini reviews
6	Pepwave Max BR1 MK2 LTE Router Powerful router with GbE ethernet and AC WiFi	“We hooked it up and it works terrific! Before we purchased this we had little to no internet and on and off WiFi now both have very strong signals.” “Using Pepwave in my RV to work remotely. Easy setup, good user interface, and pulls in weak signals without an external antenna. Very satisfied with the speed.” read more reviews
7	Panorama WMMG and WMM4G MiMo Antennas Powerful wall-mount antennas for 2×2 or 4×4 cellular/5G	“I am currently using this antenna in combination with a Pepwave MAX Transit Router With Cat 18 LTE Modem in my home office. I mounted the antenna to a pole outside, pointed it towards the correct cell tower and BAM!!! DL speed 90-96 Mbs, UL speed 45-50 Mbs. Very pleased!” “This antenna provided 12 dB of improvement for my application. Yeah the antenna is only good for 9 dB gain, the rest must have come from raising it higher on the building to shoot over some trees. I’m very happy with the results, downloads of 40Mbit now (compared to 20Mbit before).” read more reviews
8	Pepwave Max BR1 Classic Router Affordable and feature-rich LTE router	“excellent product for the application” “the best bang for the money” read more reviews
9	Sierra Wireless RV50X Gateway Industrial LTE gateway with low power consumption	“Top-notch ultra-low power consumption product — the perfect replacement for the trusty Sierra Raven XE I’ve been using in my remote solar-powered surveillance system for the last 7 years. Bought this new Sierra model to upgrade the system from 3G to 4G.” “Compact and versatile cellular modem” read more reviews
10	Cradlepoint IBR600C IoT Router Semi-ruggedized compact router with Cat 4 LTE	“Consistent performance. Works great for a remote interface with a static IP address. Easy to set up.” read more reviews

At the virtual Oppenheimer 5G Summit this week, T-Mobile President of Technology Neville Ray discussed the present and future of 5G. T-Mobile has made a big push to promote their “nationwide 5G” coverage, which Ray described as coverage in about 1.4 million square miles, a major difference between Verizon’s 400,000 square miles of 5G coverage and AT&T’s purported 600,000.

“Just between us and Verizon today, that’s a million square miles of coverage differential, so if you think about 5G coverage, the leadership … advantage that we put in place, it’s game on. Verizon has a lot of work ahead of them to catch us. And of course… I love that, because I chased that Verizon coverage map for much of my career.”

T-Mobile’s strategy of having 5G spectrum in low, mid and high bands has given them a distinct advantage over other carriers, allowing them to deliver on both speed and coverage. As Ray explained though, while the speeds on T-Mobile’s Extended Range low-band layer can be more than double the average LTE speeds, T-Mobile wants to improve on that by rolling out carrier aggregation in early 2021. This feature will aggregate T-Mobile’s low-band and mid-band layers together for improved speeds.

That technology will also help T-Mobile work towards offering voice over 5G, or VoNR, i.e. the ability to make voice calls over the 5G network. “we’re working really hard with our vendors,” said Ray. “We have voice on LTE. Why wouldn’t we have a solution on 5G that can offer voice services? We’ll probably be the first company that drives that.”

Today, T-Mobile launched its first dedicated hotspot for its 5G network: the Inseego M2000. The M2000 hotspot supports low and mid-band 5G as well as 7-band aggregation on T-Mobile’s 4G LTE network, for areas where 5G isn’t available, a combination of service T-Mobile is referring to as “Ultra Capacity”.

T-Mobile has several plan options for the new hotspot, including an amazing 100GB plan for $50, available “for a limited time” starting Dec. 13.

The M2000 is physically similar to the M2100, which has been available for Verizon. It features a touch screen on the front and a 5,000mAh removable battery, utilizes Wi-Fi 6, and supports up to 30 connected devices.

The auction for spectrum licenses on the C-Band, a mid-band spectrum between 3.7 and 4GHz, kicked off this week and as expected US carriers bid eagerly in hopes of utilizing the spectrum to vastly improve their 5G networks. Experts agree that mid-band frequencies are critical for 5G usability, since they can provide both improved speeds vs 4G LTE while also providing better coverage than the superfast but extremely limited millimeter wave bands used by Verizon and AT&T.

Day 1 of the auction generated more than $1.9 billion in gross proceeds. The auction offers 280-megahertz of spectrum, with 5,684 licenses available. After Round 2, the average nationwide price per MHz-POP was $0.022438, according to auction results tracking by BitPath COO Sasha Javid.

Wall Street firm MoffettNathanson emphasized just how critical the C-band auction is for carriers.

“Today opens what may be the most important wireless auction of our time. Who ‘wins’ the C-Band auction will shape the competitive dynamics of 5G for a decade,” wrote MoffettNathanson analysts.

The winners of the auction remain to be revealed, but Verizon secured $12.5 billion in financing ahead of the auction and is expected to be the most aggressive participant.

This week, Finnish cellular vendor Nokia reported on research completed with Telefónica which confirms that 5G networks are up to 90% more energy efficient than 4G networks. The report characterized 5G as “a natively greener technology with more data bits per kilowatt of energy” than any earlier wireless technology generations, but noted that additional action is going to be needed to slow rising CO2 emissions that may result from more network traffic.

“Nokia’s technology is designed to be energy efficient during use but also require less energy during manufacture,” said Tommi Uitto, president of Mobile Networks at Nokiat. “This important study highlights how mobile operators can offset energy gains during their rollouts helping them to be more environmentally responsible while allowing them to achieve significant cost savings.”

Many cellular leaders worldwide, including the major carriers in the US, have pledged to take measures to reduce their contributions to global warming. Verizon pledged in 2019 to be carbon neutral by 2035, and AT&T joined that commitment in September of this year. T-Mobile committed in 2018 to moving to 100% renewable power by 2021, by purchasing enough wind power annually to account for every unit of electricity the operator consumes, although their merger with Sprint may alter those plans.

At a FierceWireless 5G virtual event this week, AT&T’s VP of Mobility & Access Architecture Gordon Mansfield discussed the carrier’s strategy for building out their 5G network.

AT&T’s big competitors in the 5G space are Verizon and T-Mobile, who have adopted different approaches to their respective networks: Verizon primarily uses mmWave frequencies, which provide very fast speeds but limited coverage, while T-Mobile utilizes sub-6 GHz frequencies for better coverage but less impressive speeds. Mansfield explained that AT&T is utilizing both:

“The reality is until you have a consistent experience across the wider network, it doesn’t matter. We use mmWave in dense areas, venues, campuses and urban areas. We believe in targeted areas that mmWave provides great value and allows you to do amazing things. But you need those interesting capabilities across a wide area.”

He went on to explain that AT&T believes a network with both sub-6 GHz and mmWave capabilities are needed to provide the best experience for consumers.  He also explained how dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS), which allows operators to share LTE and 5G on the same channel, will benefit customers. “That’s an important factor as we transition our traffic between LTE and 5G to maintain our experiences for all of our customers,” said Mansfield. “DSS allowed us to get to nationwide in July.”

Last month, the Federal Communications Commission adopted rules to create the 5G Fund for Rural America, which will distribute up to $9 billion in funding over the next decade to bring 5G to rural areas of the country. The 5G Fund will use multi-round reverse auctions in two phases to target support from the Commission’s Universal Service Fund to eligible areas.

Phase I will target up to $8 billion to areas currently lacking unsubsidized 4G LTE or 5G mobile broadband, including $680 million set aside for bidders offering to serve Tribal lands. Phase II will provide at least an additional $1 billion to target the deployment of technologically innovative 5G networks that facilitate precision agriculture.

As part of their deal to merge with Sprint, T-Mobile committed to cover 90% of rural Americans with its 5G network within six years, and the auction will serve as part of that commitment. The order also requires 5G Fund winning bidders to deploy 5G networks offering minimum speeds of 35/3 Mbps, meet interim deployment milestones beginning at the three-year mark, and meet a final deployment milestone at the end of the sixth year.

These efforts will bring higher-speed internet access to millions of Americans for whom high speed internet is not currently available or affordable.

Apple and Verizon today announced 5G Fleet Swap, a joint venture aimed at encouraging businesses to upgrade their fleet of smartphones to the iPhone 12. The program allows businesses to trade in their fleet of employee phones and move to the iPhone 12 or iPhone 12 Mini with no upfront cost and zero or little monthly cost.

Verizon and Apple are offering 5G Fleet Swap to all businesses regardless of whether they’re currently with Verizon or with another carrier. Verizon wants to get more businesses using their 5G network, and Apple benefits by exposing the iPhone 12 to enterprise users. Apple believes that 5G’s low latency will be a big benefit for business users, even more so than for consumers:

“The iPhone 12 lineup is the best for business, with an all-new design, advanced 5G experience, industry-leading security and A14 Bionic, the fastest chip ever in a smartphone,” said Susan Prescott, Apple’s vice president of Markets, Apps and Services. “Paired with Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband going indoors and 5G Fleet Swap, an all-new device offer for enterprise, it’s now easier than ever for businesses to build transformational mobile apps that take advantage of the powerful iPhone 12 lineup and 5G.”

A security patch rolling out for the Pixel 5 this week provides bug fixes, and, more excitingly, allows the phones to access Verizon’s 5G Nationwide network.

The Pixel 5 already worked on Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband, or mmWave, network, which is extremely fast but has very limited coverage. The 5G Nationwide network runs “simultaneously with 4G LTE on multiple spectrum bands” and is not as fast as Ultra Wideband, but generally faster than LTE (Verizon advertises speeds “as high as 25x faster than 4G LTE”). As its name suggests, Nationwide 5G is available far more broadly than the Ultra Wideband network.

The release notes explain:

With DSS [Dynamic Spectrum Sharing], if you move outside Verizon’s high-band Ultra Wideband coverage area, your 5G-enabled devices stay on 5G technology using the lower bands. By deploying both technologies together, Verizon can use its full portfolio of current spectrum resources to serve both 4G and 5G customers, maximizing your 5G experiences on the Verizon network.

The current software update brings 5G Nationwide access to your device! 5G Nationwide is available in 1,800+ cities. You’ll see a 5G icon when you’re in a 5G Nationwide coverage area. For more information about 5G Nationwide, see our 5G Mobile FAQs

Peplink, a leader in wireless networking and SD-WAN, is preparing for 5G and plans to have 5G modems for their modular routers available in 2021.

There are currently no 5G modems or routers available besides what is offered by the carriers directly, but Peplink does offer equipment that is upgradeable to work with 5G – meaning you can purchase a router now, and add in a 5G modem later when they’re available. Peplink’s modular routers, like the HD2 and HD4 MBX, EPX, and SDX, feature removable modems and/or slots for additional modems, so when their 5G modem is certified and ready for use, owners of those routers can simply add one to their setup without having to overhaul their entire networks.

As 5G continues to launch in more areas around the country and manufacturers work with the carriers to gain certification for their hardware, a more clear timeline for release will emerge. At this time, Peplink’s aim is to make 5G modems available as early as possible in 2021.