Tag: Verizon

Testing Verizon C-Band in New York City

Verizon’s new 5G network is live and PCMag just tested it out in New York City. In summary, C-Band made their connections about 50% faster, once they were able to find the signal. They also noted less congestion on the network, which is likely due to it still being so new. 

Starting this past Wednesday, Verizon launched its new form of 5G in 46 cities. AT&T did also, but only in eight cities. 

While PCMag reports the Verizon service being noticeably improved, it didn’t measure up to T-Mobile’s citywide “5G Ultra Capacity”— at least, not yet. T-Mobile currently has the most coverage in New York City and the best performance also in comparison to its competitors. 

Looking at reports from other cities, it seems that may not be the same as in New York City. Per PCMag’s report, “Redditors are busy posting spectacular C-Band speeds, including 859Mbps down in Los Angeles, 586Mbps outside Pittsburgh, and 413Mbps in Indianapolis.”

In order to test the C-Band, the PCMag team used the new Ookla WIND software. This is a carrier-grade package that runs on altered Samsung Galaxy S21+ phones. WIND’s Pro version, which the company supplied for testing, shows all the details of frequency band use you could ever need. It also lets testers build complex setups with voice, data, text, and video tests.

Verizon’s C-Band was a little hard to find during the New York tests. They ended up being able to use C-Band only on sites in two cities – Forest Hills and Kew Gardens. In other locations like East Harlem, their phone had refused to connect to C-Band, despite Ookla having identified the location as having C-Band available. It’s possible that some connections are being blocked by the carrier, or perhaps something to do with technical interference.

PCMag also addressed the “exclusion zones” that carriers agreed to with the FAA. Some of the exclusion zones are around JFK and LaGuardia airports. These are some of the busiest airports among a part of the city that is populated by about 2.3 million people. This is the same case for areas like Chicago, Dallas, and San Diego. Folks here unfortunately don’t have the benefits of the new 5G because of interference risks with aircraft altimeters. 

Per Verizon, the exclusion zones are a rectangle 2 miles long extending from the end of each airport runway. In one case during the tests, they were unable to find C-Band in an arc spanning from 4 miles southeast to 3 miles southwest of the end of the LaGuardia runway. That area covers many of Queens’ densest neighborhoods. Unexpectedly, though, they found more millimeter-wave in the exclusion zone than they expected to. 

“While the super-fast, short-range technology didn’t blanket the area, it kept popping up here and there throughout Long Island City, Astoria, Sunnyside, and Elmhurst, giving a huge boost when I could find it,” the article reads. 

They continued, “I can’t tell if Verizon’s avoidance of neighborhoods closer to LaGuardia is about the exclusion zone, or just the vagaries of early network buildouts. But we can confirm that while there’s no C-Band coverage within 2 miles of the airport, there is definitely coverage between 3-4 miles away.”

So just how fast is 5G? 

PCMag’s tests shows the in most cases, the C-Band service was double the speeds of LTE. This is because 5G was made more efficient and spread across multiple airwaves, making it able to provide more speed with less congestion on the networks. 

The article explained this more technically. “C-Band roughly doubles the airwaves Verizon had available for use in our tests. In most of our tests, Verizon used 40-50MHz of 4G LTE spectrum. When its “nationwide” 5G was active, it added 10MHz of low-band 5G to that. C-Band trades out that 10Hz of low-band 5G for 60MHz of mid-band, resulting in 100-110MHz being used.”

In comparison to tests run with T-Mobile, Verizon was just a little less. T-Mobile generally used 40MHz of 4G LTE along with 80MHz of mid-band 5G, for a total of 120MHz.

Tests were split between the carriers’ 4G and 5G components. PCMag found that in T-Mobile’s tests, 75% of the speed came from 5G, while in Verizon’s tests, 45-55% came from 5G. They also noticed that for some unknown reason, “each megahertz of Verizon’s was slower than a megahertz of T-Mobile’s—something the bigger carrier is surely working on optimizing.”

They also discovered something rather odd. “A bunch of our C-Band results in Kew Gardens all congregated around 140Mbps down in a way that makes me think it was a configuration issue or cap, not the capability of the network.”

What about the reach of the C-Band service?

The tests performed by the PCMag team have already shown T-Mobile is faster than Verizon on their mid-band spectrums – T-Mobile at its 2.5GHz frequency and Verizon at the higher C-Band spectrum.   The real question now is, which carrier delivers more range? PCMag says, “But the fact is, urban networks in places like New York, Chicago, and Dallas are dense enough that the difference may not matter.”

The case in Queens, for example, Verizon’s network is so dense that sites don’t have to broadcast very high to be received. It’s the same for T-Mobile here, whose extremely dense network in Queens has sites that are often a quarter-mile from each other or less.

From their findings, PCMag believes the jury is still out in the battle of mid-band distance. Though it is clear that C-Band has enough reach so that carriers won’t need to put a site every few blocks. 

Do I need C-Band now?While C-Band is available now, it can only get better as Verizon continues to roll out service. “In many other cities, it appears to already be better; my experience in Queens looks like the low end of the C-Band experience,” said the author of the article. They added, “The C-Band boost will come primarily to places within half a mile to a mile of a Verizon cell site, so look up your location on cellmapper.net if you’re curious. It’ll also require a recent phone.”

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T-Mobile Wins Big in New Ookla Performance Study

T-Mobile is boasting about its 5G service again, with an announcement that it came out on top in a new Ookla study. This measured things like 5G speed, performance and availability. In the announcement, they added that it would be moving forward with turning on its 5G carrier aggregation (CA), both with 2.5 GHz and 2.5 Ghz combined with 600 MHz. 

Ookla’s nationwide network performance analysis had T-Mobile at the top of all 6 categories. These include: fastest provider, latency, consistency, 5G performance, 5G availability and 5G consistency. Considering the 5G coverage T-Mobile has had in place compared to its competitors, it’s not much surprise they ruled here. This is in part thanks to their ability to rollout coverage on mid-band spectrum that isn’t causing interference risks like the C-Band is for AT&T and Verizon. 

According to an article from FierceWireless, the mid-band spectrum they are using (2.5 GHz), which was acquired from Sprint, provides about 40% faster speeds. Currently, download speeds are running at a top average speed of 187 Mbps nationwide. According to T-Mobile, this is faster than most home WiFi connections, two times faster than Verizon 5G and over 2.5 times faster than AT&T 5G. More importantly, customers were more likely to connect to 5G than Verizon or AT&T customers. Again, this could simply be due to the delays both carriers have experienced with their 5G rollouts. 

With regards to the 5G carrier aggregation, this combines two channels of 2.5 GHz mid-band spectrum for greater speed and capacity. It’s much like bonding in this case, but happens within the one carrier’s network. This should allow for less congestion as there will be more service to go around. 

5G standards set the maximum bandwidth for a sub-6 GHz 5G channel at 100 MHz of spectrum. That is a lot of capacity, but with 5G CA, the operator is able to provide customers with more than 100 MHz of 2.5 GHz Ultra Capacity 5G spectrum, starting with 120 MHz in many places. So, customers in those areas will see a significant boost in speed and performance.

According to T-Mobile, tests have been completed that show 2.5 GHz 5G CA can improve speeds by about 20%. Also, devices reach speeds greater than 100 Mbps twice as often as those without 5G carrier aggregation. In addition, T-Mobile noted that it’s expanded NR CA with 2.5 GHz and 600 MHz to cities across the country.

“These capabilities are live across much of T-Mobile’s network today for customers with the Samsung Galaxy S21 and another popular flagship device, becoming more broadly available – with additional devices – in the coming months,” said a T-Mobile representative.

T-Mobile also highlighted results of record-breaking 5G upload speeds with 5G Dual Connectivity. The test was done by Ericsson and Qualcomm. They found T-Mobile exceeded 1 Gbps on upload – 1005 Mbps, to be precise – by combining 2.5 GHz spectrum with millimeter wave.

“Today’s wins confirm what over a dozen other studies have found in the last year: T-Mobile 5G is #1 in performance and/or coverage,” said T-Mobile President of Technology Neville Ray in a statement. “Our competitors bet on the wrong spectrum for 5G. Now, they’re years behind and scrambling to catch up. We’ll keep blazing ahead, reaching more and more people with Ultra Capacity 5G and spearheading new technologies. This is what you get when you combine the best damn 5G network with the hardest working team in the industry.”

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5G rollout continues today, despite FAA concerns

Today is finally the day that Verizon is rolling out their 5G Ultra Wideband (5G UWB) network. Buffer zones around 50 airports have been enabled in preparation. This comes after much back and forth consulting, and arguing, between the FAA, the FCC, AT&T, and Verizon. 

While things seem to have settled down between the companies, tensions at airports are quite high as some flights are being delayed or canceled with fear of potential risks. This is because of the closeness between the frequencies 5G is running on – what’s called the C-Band spectrum – and the frequencies used in aircrafts. There have been concerns of interference risks with aircraft landing tools – specifically the airplane’s altimeter, which helps the pilot verify distance between the plane and the ground. This is mainly beneficial in situations where the weather is poor and tools are needed to help the pilots land safely. 

AT&T, who also agreed to delay and limit their 5G rollout, on the same C-Band spectrum, commented recently. 

“At our sole discretion we have voluntarily agreed to temporarily defer turning on a limited number of towers around certain airport runways as we continue to work with the aviation industry and the FAA to provide further information about our 5G deployment,” AT&T said in a statement Tuesday.

Verizon followed AT&T saying, “We have voluntarily decided to limit our 5G network around airports. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and our nation’s airlines have not been able to fully resolve navigating 5G around airports, despite it being safe and fully operational in more than 40 other countries.”

CEOs from American, United, Delta and seven other major carriers also warned of “significant” disruptions in the country’s aviation system if the 5G rollout continued as planned.

In a letter, U.S. airline leaders wrote to government officials Monday asking that the wireless carriers not deploy 5G within two miles of runways at certain airports.

“This will allow 5G to be deployed while avoiding harmful impacts on the aviation industry, traveling public, supply chain, vaccine distribution, our workforce and broader economy,” the CEOs wrote.

The FAA warned pilots won’t be able to use radio altimeters to land at 88 airports closest to Verizon and AT&T’s 5G towers. Earlier this month, the FAA and wireless carriers agreed to implement “buffer zones” around 50 airports across the country to try to mitigate the issue.

Airline officials, however, said this is not enough. United Airlines said the current plan will have “devastating” impacts on its operation, impacting an estimated 1.25 million of the carrier’s passengers and at least 15,000 flights.

“We won’t compromise on safety – full stop,” United said in a statement.

Captain Dennis Tajer, an American Airlines 737 pilot and a spokesperson for the Allied Pilots Association, also called the rollout “unsafe.”

“We’re not going to fly the airplane unless it’s safe,” Tajer told ABC News. “But putting that added distraction of other systems going wrong close to the ground is not the way you run a safety culture.”

AT&T and Verizon have been touting that the 5G C-Band spectrum has been proven safe in about 40 other countries. However, what is generally missed, is the fact that the power of the 5G signals in these other countries is much lower than what we have planned here in the United States. With this increased power and unknowns surrounding how aircrafts will be affected, it’s clear why the FAA is so concerned. 

In a statement, AT&T made clear its frustration with the federal government, writing in part: “We are frustrated by the FAA’s inability to do what nearly 40 countries have done, which is to safely deploy 5G technology without disrupting aviation services, and we urge it do so in a timely manner. We are launching our advanced 5G services everywhere else as planned with the temporary exception of this limited number of towers.”

When asked why the FAA did not act over the past two years, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said, “There will be lots of time to look back and see how we got here. And I know many of you will do that. And, of course, that is understandable. But right now, over the next 24, or less than 24 hours, what we’re focused on is trying to come to a solution that will minimize travel — you know disruptions to passenger travel, cargo operations — on our economic recovery.”

President Biden thanked Verizon and AT&T for the delay, saying in a statement, “This agreement will avoid potentially devastating disruptions to passenger travel, cargo operations, and our economic recovery, while allowing more than 90 percent of wireless tower deployment to occur as scheduled.”

The president said the agreement “protects flight safety and allows aviation operations to continue without significant disruption and will bring more high-speed internet options to millions of Americans.”

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Adding 5G to Glass Wearables

Imagine a work environment, such as a large office or warehouse, where your workers can go mainly hands-free. That’s the future using 5G connected glass wearables. Whether they be for technicians and engineers, or warehouse workers and other remote employees, they can provide the benefit of fast speeds and low latency for real time, high definition video calls. This also allows developers to add more robust augmented reality features. The up front cost could be quite high for this technology (especially at this stage), but this could save companies thousands of dollars by not having to send someone on site to troubleshoot an issue. 

“5G Edge is what really allows us to drive a lot more power and capability to these glasses, because we have orders of magnitude greater processing power up in the cloud,” T.J. Vitolo, who leads the XR (augmented and virtual reality) organization at Verizon, told PYMNTS in a recent interview. “Through 5G, we have extremely low latency which allows for the rapid delivery of assets that allow for a very seamless experience of the glass that’s much more capable of what they can do today as a standalone device.” 

Verizon Wireless, who also offers 5G business class Internet options, announced that it will soon offer BlueJeans Meetings preloaded on the Google’s Glass Enterprise Edition 2 glass wearables, which the carrier sells. Users can pair that with a Google Pixel 6 phone for added benefits. The phone will serve as a 5G mobile hotspot, enabling the glass wearables to utilize 5G’s low latency, and users to work hands-free while using high-definition video. 

“From a customer perspective, the idea of not having to find some sort of connectivity to those glasses via WiFi, especially when in a remote scenario, is great with Google,” Vitolo said. “It quickly pairs to the phone and goes right to the 5G network.” 

The BlueJeans Meetings video conferencing app allows a user to broadcast what they see directly to the viewer. Vitolo said the primary use case for this experience is a remote support scenario. This is exactly what we use it here for at the 5Gstore. It allows us to communicate with technicians and customers alike, making the remote experience more personable. 

“Field workers, factory workers, whatever might be the case, that have limited experience in things outside their domain are now able to troubleshoot, diagnose and fix things through remote support — remote support that’s guided by a bit more than audiovisual feedback, but with some additional tools that help for a better collaborative experience versus just a communication experience,” Vitolo said. 

BlueJeans Meetings also gives the remote viewer some control using a PC. This includes turning on a flashlight on the glasses as well as using the digital zoom within the camera to zoom in on items in view of the glasses. 

“This gives the support assistant in the back office that much more flexibility to help understand the scene or the information that’s being broadcasted by the end client,” Vitolo said. 

“With software, hardware and connectivity combined in one product, users of this package available through Verizon won’t have to discover and acquire the components themselves and then try to make them work,” he added. 

“Simplicity is the key,” Vitolo said. “We want to take a little bit of insanity out of that equation and really help our customers buy one product and just get the ball rolling.” 

Looking ahead, Vitolo said that with the capabilities of 5G, developers could add mixed reality use cases to these devices. For example, with augmented reality, if a technician working on a site needed to unplug one of five wires, the support personnel in the back office could highlight the correct wire, and that highlight would be anchored to the object. 

“The idea is that now it feels like someone is pointing over my shoulder, someone is there with me giving me explicit direction,” Vitolo said. “We want to continue to create that bond between the remote worker and the back-office support personnel in order to have the feeling as though you’re there supporting in person — and augmented reality is a big, big part of that.” 

For those not quite needing 5G services at this time, check out Verizon’s Business Internet plans offered for LTE. Let the 5Gstore team work together with the Verizon team on getting your business the service it requires. Whether you have one temporary site, a large-scale deployment or just need backup for critical operations, LTE Business Internet offers a fast, fixed wireless internet connection that you can easily self-install at any location where you have LTE coverage. The device is even portable, so you can take it on the go as needed. There’s no annual contract to sign into and you get 24/7 support – what more can you ask for?

To learn more about Verizon Business Internet (VZBI) and how you could qualify for an exclusive 5Gstore promotion with up to $400 in cash rebates, contact us today!

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AT&T and Dish Network win big in latest 5G spectrum auction

As wireless carriers in the U.S. look to build out their 5G networks, they’ve partly looked to acquire mid-band spectrum through auctions held by the FCC. Most talked about has been the C-Band. This was acquired by AT&T and Verizon and has experienced serious delays due to possible interference with aircraft tools. However, another major auction just took place. This time for licenses of wireless spectrum that sits between the 2.5 gigahertz and 3.5 gigahertz range of radio frequencies. In comparison, it was smaller than the previous C-Band auction. 

This auction, for the 3.45 GHz spectrum, started back in October. It has finally come to an end with AT&T and Dish network as its big winners. AT&T spent $9.1 billion and Dish spent $7.3 billion. T-Mobile was the third-highest bidder in the auction, spending $2.9 billion. Verizon Communications did not participate in the auction, likely because of the millions (together with AT&T) already spent on the C-Band.  

Per the FCC this past Friday, the auction brought in more than $22.5 billion in total proceeds for the 5G wireless spectrum. Congress required a portion of the proceeds, which are going to be used to pay for new equipment. This is meant to ensure that existing military equipment can coexist with cell towers and other gear used by wireless carriers when they deploy 5G service. All other money from the auction will go to the US Treasury. 

Overall, AT&T is still coming in at the bottom when compared to T-Mobile and Verizon in 5G coverage, though that could change with the addition of this mid-band spectrum. These airwaves were once reserved for the military, but will soon be used for 5G wireless service, hopefully without any delays! The mid-band spectrum has the ability to connect more devices and offer real-time feedback, which is helping to advance things like self-driving cars and advanced augmented reality experiences. Mid-band spectrum provides more-balanced coverage and capacity due to its ability to cover a several-mile radius with 5G, despite needing more cell sites than lower-tiered spectrum bands. 

Even after all the mid-band coverage, there is still demand for more mobile services. Wireless carriers have all been asking for more airwaves to be made available. In response, the FCC has been working to repurpose spectrum from other industries, including TV and satellite broadcasters. They’ve also looked to commercial entities for spectrum and are coordinating with certain government agencies like the Defense Department, to provide commercial providers with more access to spectrum. 

In recent years, the wireless industry has dedicated more than $100 billion into acquiring these airwave licenses. The FCC is planning for even more auctions in the future.

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Verizon’s new 5G launches Jan. 19th – Will your phone support it?

Verizon’s 5G network is growing this month. Promises of faster speeds and wider coverage for phones, tablets and other devices on its service have been announced. The 5G upgrade is scheduled for Jan. 19. In efforts to catch up with T-Mobile in coverage, the carrier is going to be reaching 100 million people this month.

Of course, with the changes, you’ll need the right phone to take advantage of the benefits. Per Verizon’s chief technology officer, Kyle Malady, “Upwards of 90%” of Verizon’s 5G users are expected to be able to tap into the new connection,” he said in an interview with CNET.

“A lot of devices already have the right software in them,” Malady said. “We’ve been testing the devices, and we’ve been working with the manufacturers for a long time now so all the software is ready to go.” 

Phone and iPads that will work with Verizon’s new 5G network

  • Apple’s iPhone 12 line (running iOS 15.2) 
  • Apple’s iPhone 13 line (running iOS 15.2)
  • Samsung’s Galaxy S21 line
  • Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 3 
  • Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip 3
  • Apple iPads with 5G (the iPad Pro and iPad Mini, running iPadOS 15.2)

Verizon’s current 5G network relies on a combination of 5G technologies known as millimeter-wave and low-band spectrum. With the addition of this new coverage using C-band spectrum, Verizon will be able to add a 5G network that operates in the middle, bringing much faster performance than low-band 5G while offering significantly better coverage than millimeter-wave. 

A Verizon spokesperson says that other phones, such as Google’s Pixel 6 line, will “receive software updates to enable C-band access in the coming weeks.” The spokesperson adds that “going forward every 5G device Verizon sells to postpaid customers will be C-band compatible and we will have more than 20 C-band-compatible devices by the end of the year.” 

It’s important to note that even with the right device, you must have the proper data plan. Verizon requires that those planning to use C-band or its millimeter-wave network subscribe to its higher-priced unlimited plans. This includes the Play More, Do More and Get More options available today as well as the older Above and Beyond unlimited plans the carrier offered a few years ago.

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Verizon finally offering a truly unlimited mobile plan

Verizon is finally hopping on the bandwagon and competing more evenly with AT&T and T-Mobile’s truly unlimited plans. This is partly in effort to make the upcoming, new 5G service more attractive. The cost will remain the same for basic plans, but customers can pay a little more for the “Get More” plan, which includes unlimited monthly “premium data.” 

The plans previously known as Start, Play More, Do More, and Get More Unlimited are now adding 5G to their name. The Get More plan ($90/ month for one line with autopay) previously included 50GB of premium data each month. Once customers reached that limit, they’d be subject to throttled speeds during times of network congestion. The new 5G Get More plan does away with that monthly cap.

The new 5G Get More plan also includes a boost in premium mobile hotspot data: 50GB, up from 30GB. The Play More and Do More plans now offer 30GB compared to 15GB. The only thing not changing is for customers on the basic Start Unlimited plan – they won’t have access to the faster Ultra Wideband network at all, just slower Nationwide 5G. That shouldn’t be noticeable now, but when C-band is finally in use, it could be a significant difference!

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Verizon and AT&T agree to additional C-Band delay

In early 2021, an FCC auction sold Verizon and AT&T rights to use “C-band” frequencies at a price of almost $70 billion. The carriers are certainly eager to roll out the service, not only to catch up to T-Mobile, but because the new spectrum will provide in-between performance over much wider coverage areas. T-Mobile is unaffected currently since it uses mid-band spectrum that isn’t in the C-band.

Since our update on C-Band delays yesterday, we understand that both carriers have agreed to the additional 2 week delay.

Verizon:

“We’ve agreed to a two-week delay which promises the certainty of bringing this nation our game-changing 5G network in January, delivered over America’s best and most reliable network.”

AT&T:

“At Secretary Buttigieg’s request, we have voluntarily agreed to one additional two-week delay of our deployment of C-Band 5G services. We also remain committed to the six-month protection zone mitigations we outlined in our letter. We know aviation safety and 5G can co-exist and we are confident further collaboration and technical assessment will allay any issues.”

We’ve also learned that FAA Communications deputy assistant administrator Jeannie Shiffer provided a statement to The Verge saying, “Safety is the core of our mission and this guides all of our decisions. The FAA thanks AT&T and Verizon for agreeing to a voluntary delay and for their proposed mitigations. We look forward to using the additional time and space to reduce flight disruptions associated with this 5G deployment.”

Per the agreement, she adds that companies will use mitigations similar to those already in place in European countries. The deal will see those mitigations put in place around 50 airports for six months. The FAA says, “While U.S. standards and operating environments are unique, we believe this could substantially reduce the disruptions to air operations.”

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AT&T and Verizon reject U.S. request to delay 5G deployment

January 5th is fast approaching. This is the date in which carriers, AT&T and Verizon, were instructed to delay 5G rollout on the C-Band spectrum. If you’re not already aware, this is because of possible interference on these frequencies with aircraft safety tools. 

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Federal Aviation Administration chief Steve Dickson sent out a request to delay 5G rollout, again, this time for another 2 weeks. This request was sent to the CEOs from AT&T and Verizon, who have responded in a joint letter as of yesterday. 

“Commercial C-band service would begin as planned in January with certain exceptions around priority airports,” states the request. 

The request comes two days after the trade group Airlines for America (A4A) asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to stop the wireless industry from turning on C-band spectrum for commercial deployment on January 5. The airline group has said it may go to court today if the FCC does not act.

Per the FAA, they need the additional two weeks to “identify the priority airports.” The FAA also needs the extra time to approve certain high-performing radio altimeters to operate at those airports.

“This will allow for 5G C-band to deploy around these priority airports on a rolling basis, such that C-Band planned locations will be activated by the end of March 2022, barring unforeseen technical challenges or new safety concerns,” said the request.

The previous delay request was to limit coverage around airports for at least 6 months. The carriers agreed to this, but in their response, denied any broader limitation on using C-Band spectrum. They said the Transportation Department proposal would be “an irresponsible abdication of the operating control required to deploy world-class and globally competitive communications networks.”

AT&T and Verizon also proposed a new exclusion zone in their response. The exclusion zone is currently in use in France, the carriers said, “with slight adaption” reflecting “modest technical differences in how C-band is being deployed.” Per FAA officials, France uses spectrum for 5G that sits further away from spectrum used for radio altimeters and uses lower power levels for 5G than those authorized in the United States.

“The laws of physics are the same in the United States and France,” the CEOs wrote. “If U.S. airlines are permitted to operate flights every day in France, then the same operating conditions should allow them to do so in the United States.” 

Verizon states they will only use spectrum in the same range as used in France, but they plan to use additional spectrum in the coming years. The larger U.S. exclusion zone around U.S. airports is “to make up for the slight difference in power levels between the two nations,” Verizon added. 

Regarding the new exclusion zones, government and industry officials say it is not as large as what the FAA had suggested earlier.

The FAA and Buttigieg on Friday proposed identifying priority airports “where a buffer zone would permit aviation operations to continue safely while the FAA completes its assessments of the interference potential.”

An FCC spokesperson said Sunday the agency is “optimistic that by working together we can both advance the wireless economy and ensure aviation safety.”

Wireless industry group CTIA said 5G is safe and spectrum is being used in about 40 other countries.

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5G C-Band Effects in 2021 & 2022

It’s almost 2022 and the C-Band spectrum for 5G is still a hot topic. Amongst large sums of money AT&T and Verizon have spent on obtaining C-Band, and delays due to FAA concerns, the carriers are pressing on to continue rollout on January 5th. 

Agreements were made to limit the amount of signal broadcasted on these frequencies around airports. These limitations will last for at least six months. The FAA also recently posted newly published documents, which provide further information about steps that will be required in areas potentially affected by 5G C-band interference.

The threat to airline safety remains the subject of debate. Aviation officials have even said that turning on C-band spectrum could lead to delays in air travel for passengers and cargo. A question of why it took this long to issue warnings is also something of debate now. After all, there were folks who voiced concerns over the 3.7GHz C-Band back in 2018. At that time they said radio altimeters operating in the adjacent 4.2-4.4 GHz radio frequency could be compromised.

In the FCC’s written decision about repurposing the C-band for 5G, the commission noted that a 220-megahertz guard band would protect radio altimeters in the 4.2-4.4 GHz band – this is double the minimum guard band requirement initially discussed by Boeing and other aviation officials.  

In response to this, CTIA, the wireless industry trade group, pointed out that nearly 40 countries already are safely using these and similar radio waves for 5G. That is, at similar power levels, and with no evidence of harmful interference with aviation equipment.

Last week, CTIA issued a joint statement with the Aerospace Industries Association and Airlines for America about their “ongoing collaboration to find a data-driven solution” to deploy 5G while ensuring aviation safety. CTIA reiterated the wireless industry’s plan to launch 5G in the C-band on January 5, 2022.

“We are pleased that after productive discussions we will be working together to share the available data from all parties to identify the specific areas of concern for aviation. The best technical experts from across both industries will be working collectively to identify a path forward, in coordination with the FAA and FCC,” the groups stated. “Our belief is that by working collaboratively in good faith on a data-driven solution, we can achieve our shared goal of deploying 5G while preserving aviation safety.”

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