Author: Maureen

Motorola has announced that the 5G-capable Motorola One, which will be available “soon” for both AT&T and Verizon, will sell for just $500. This puts it in direct competition with the iPhone SE, which is expected to go for $399.

The Verizon Motorola One 5G will work on the carrier’s mmWave 5G, and the AT&T version will have sub-6 5G connectivity. The One has a 6.7-inch full HD display and is powered by a Snapdragon 765 processor, which is the same one found in the Motorola Edge, LG Velvet and Galaxy A71. It also features a 5,000-mAh battery with support for TurboPower charging, a headphone jack, a 90Hz refresh rate display and six cameras. Unlike Motorola’s higher-end phones, though, the screen is LCD instead of OLED, and it has only 4GB of RAM.

Earlier this summer, Verizon was advised by the National Advertising Division (NAD) to be more realistic about their 5G coverage in their advertising, and now T-Mobile has received recommendations about their 5G ads too. After hearing complaints from Verizon, The NAD, which runs the ad industry’s self-regulatory system and is part of BBB National Programs, has asked T-Mobile to stop putting forth claims that its 5G network is more reliable than competitors’ 4G or 5G networks.

The NAD told T-Mobile that they can continue telling consumers that its 5G service is faster than 4G and offers more coverage than rivals’ 5G, as there is data confirming those claims. While they agreed with T-Mobile’s argument about their coverage, they disagreed with their assertion that their coverage also indicated superior reliability, so that part of their advertising strategy will need to be altered.

Sierra Wireless, a leader in IoT solutions for cellular connectivity, has announced the commercial availability of its first 5G module. The EM919x 5G NR Sub-6 GHz and mmWave embedded modules, which will be utilized in routers, gateways, and other networking and IoT devices, are based on the industry-standard M.2 form factor and will enable 5G connectivity compatible with a variety of networks.

Larry Zibrik, Vice President of 5G & Embedded Broadband at Sierra Wireless, said: “5G is the most technically challenging evolution in the history of wireless, particularly because of the introduction of mmWave. Sierra Wireless has delivered industry-leading embedded modules, beginning with the first generation of cellular data technologies, and we’re the only partner with the experience to help our customers navigate the complexities of 5G. Industry leaders trust Sierra Wireless to help them get to market on time with secure 5G connectivity, and to invest in the expertise required to enable future key features, such as dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) and 5G NR standalone mode for even higher performance.”

Sierra’s EM9190 5G NR Sub-6 GHz and mmWave embedded module is capable of delivering the fastest possible 5G speeds and also features automatic 4G and 3G fallback and an integrated GNSS receiver. The module has FCC certification for CBRS networks and is ready for hardware manufacturers to integrate into a myriad of devices for which 5G capability could be revolutionary.

Thanks to their merger with Sprint, T-Mobile now owns 2.5 GHz spectrum, and they are planning to put it to use as soon as possible by utilizing it for 5G in underserved areas.

At the Oppenheimer Technology Conference today, T-Mobile’s President of Technology Neville Ray said that in addition to deploying low-band 5G on its 600MHz spectrum network, T-Mobile plans to aggressively use the 2.45Hz “mid-band” frequency to upgrade up to 800 sites a week to 5G.

T-Mobile’s goal for the 2.5GHz rollout is to be able to offer home broadband service in rural areas of the country where options are limited. Matt Staneff, T-Mobile’s CMO, noted that with many people now working and studying from home due to the COVID pandemic, the home internet market is critical.

Verizon has announced that developers in Boston and the Bay Area can now access their 5G mobile edge compute service. The program utilizes Amazon’s AWS Wavelength and Verizon’s 5G Edge to enable applications with ultra-low latencies, and support developers working projects for which 5G may be a gamechanger like autonomous industrial equipment, connected cars, smart cities and smart factories, and more.

In addition to the initial launch in Boston and the Bay Area, Verizon has committed to launching 5G Edge in more cities by the end of the year.

Read Verizon’s announcement

U.S. Cellular started their 5G service in just two markets in Iowa and Wisconsin, but they are now ready to launch in 11 more states. They will soon be activating 5G in select areas in 11 states including California, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.

According to executive vice president and CTO Michael Irizarry, the selected areas were targeted because there are large numbers of existing U.S Cellular customers in the area that are likely to use the upgraded technology.

“We look at traffic patterns and where customers frequent on our system,” said Irizarry. “There’s a concentration in urban areas, but we also look at small and medium towns. That’s very important to us to look at.”

U.S. Cellular is utilizing the 600 MHz spectrum for 5G, which is faster but provides less coverage than 5G networks operating on higher frequencies.

Smartphones that work on U.S. Cellular’s 5G network include the Samsung Galaxy S20, the Samsung Galaxy A71 5G and the LG V60 ThinQ 5G.

AT&T announced this week that its 5G network is now available to more than 205 million consumers in 395 coverage areas nationwide. Starting August 7, customers on AT&T’s Unlimited Starter wireless plan and Unlimited Web-Only and Starter business plans will be able to access 5G at no extra cost, as long as they have a 5G-enabled device. AT&T’s Extra and Elite consumer plans and Performance and Elite business plans already included 5G access, and prepaid plan customers can buy a 5G-enabled device on its Unlimited Plus plan.

“Our strategy of deploying 5G in both sub-6 (5G) and mmWave (5G+) spectrum bands will provide the best mix of speeds, latency and coverage that are needed to enable revolutionary new capabilities to fuel 5G experiences for consumers and businesses,” AT&T vice president of technology operations Chris Sambar said in a statement.

The National Advertising Division, which runs the ad industry’s self-regulatory system and is part of BBB National Programs, has asked Verizon to stop making misleading claims about their 5G coverage and speeds. The ads specifically referenced by the NAD imply that Verizon’s 5G serviec is available across the country and that customers will experience speeds up to 2Gbps, which is unrealistic and inaccurate.

Verizon’s mmWave 5G network does offer very fast speeds, but the coverage is extremely limited and doesn’t typically penetrate building. Per the NAD, Verizon’s claim that “people from midtown Manhattan to downtown Denver can experience what your 5G can deliver” is misleading and the carrier should be more clear about the limitations of the network and coverage.

All U.S. carriers deployed their initial 5G networks in non-standalone (NSA) mode, which relies on 4G LTE as its backbone. With 5G standalone, the 5G network is entirely separate from the carriers’ 4G infrastructure, which will offer some major benefits.

Verizon has completed their first test data session on its 5G standalone core network, and they are on track to start shifting traffic over from the current 4G-backed network to the standalone 5G network later this year.

“The 5G standalone core is critical for unleashing the most advanced benefits of 5G technology including remarkable levels of programmability to manage the advanced solutions and exponential traffic that 5G will bring,” said Bill Stone, Vice President of Planning for Verizon.

Verizon’s 5G standalone core is comprised of software applications, compute, networking, and storage, and also combines built-in artificial intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML). These technologies will let Verizon allocate network resources for specific applications (AKA “network slicing”) and automate network configuration changes, meaning they will be able to scale up or down to prioritize certain services and resources as needed.

Verizon anticipates to be ready for full commercialization of its 5G standalone core in 2021.

Sprint and T-Mobile’s big merger went through earlier this year, and they have been making changes as they combine forces on their networks. The latest changes is that T-Mobile is shutting down Sprint’s original 5G network, a process they started in April. T-Mobile is now utilizing Sprint’s 2.5GHz spectrum to augment its own 5G network.

T-Mobile has already re-deployed the 2.5GHz spectrum as part of their 5G network in New York City and in parts of Chicago, Houston, and Los Angeles. New York City is currently the only city that has T-Mobile’s low-band, mid-band, and mmWave 5G.

Some existing Sprint 5G smartphone users are now left without 5G access, unfortunately. Older Sprint 5G smartphones that used the Qualcomm Snapdragon X50 modem will not be able to connect to T-Mobile’s new 5G network. These phones include the Sprint OnePlus 7 Pro 5G, Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, and LG V50 ThinQ 5G. Other models launched more recently will continue to work on T-Mobile’s network and won’t be impacted by this change.