The next-generation wireless technology is expected to change your life. Just not yet.
After years of hype, carriers have spent the last several months turning on their 5G networks. It's supposed to change your life with its revolutionary speed, but for now, the deployments remain limited, so don't be surprised if you're nowhere near the service. For 5G, as with any technology, give it some time.
Between the end of 2018 through the first few months of this year, the carriers were racing to claim some sort of "first." Verizon and AT&T launched their mobile 5G networks, while KT said a robot in South Korea was its first 5G customer. Sprint turned on its network in June, followed shortly thereafter by T-Mobile. UK carrier EE was the first in its country to turn on 5G.
Sounds great, right?
But it's a virtual certainty that you aren't a 5G customer of any of these carriers. AT&T's network is live in 21 cities, including Atlanta, Dallas and New Orleans, but the customers are all small businesses and the carrier has refused to talk about where the coverage is actually located. Verizon, which launched a 5G home service last fall, has targeted 30 cities this year, with 15 cities online, but the coverage looks more like a collection of hotspots.
Back in April, the early tests of its 5G network were a mess, with erratic and inconsistent coverage and only some areas where you could experience 5G's true speeds with the Motorola Z3 and its 5G Moto Mod. But a follow-up test in May with the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, which had the 5G radio integrated into the phone, proved a much better experience, with speeds above 1 gigabit per second, or faster than Google Fiber. A test of Sprint's 5G network showed less impressive speeds (but still faster than 4G LTE), but better coverage.
T-Mobile is poised to launch a version of its 5G service that isn't as fast but boasts broader coverage later this year (we'll explain later). It'll launch the service with the OnePlus 7T Pro 5G MacLaren phone.
All this means 5G is slowly inching from years of promises -- ever since Verizon talked about moving into the area three years ago -- to becoming reality. Beyond a big speed boost, 5G has been referred to as foundational tech that'll supercharge areas like self-driving cars, virtual and augmented reality and telemedicine services such as remote surgery.
But what exactly is 5G? Why are people so excited? The following is a breakdown of why the next generation of wireless technology is more than just a boost in speed, and why you should be excited.
What is 5G?
It's the next (fifth) generation of cellular technology, and it promises to greatly enhance the speed, coverage and responsiveness of wireless networks. How fast are we talking? Verizon's network showed speeds surging past 1 gigabit per second.
That's 10 to 100 times speedier than your typical cellular connection, and even faster than anything you can get with a physical fiber-optic cable going into your house. (In optimal conditions, you'll be able to download a season's worth of Stranger Things in seconds.)
Is it just about speed?
No! One of the key benefits is something called low latency. You'll hear this term a lot. Latency is the response time between when you click on a link or start streaming a video on your phone, which sends the request up to the network, and when the network responds, delivering you the website or playing your video.
That lag time can last around 20 milliseconds with current networks. It doesn't seem like much, but with 5G, that latency gets reduced to as little as 1 millisecond, or about the time it takes for a flash on a normal camera.
That responsiveness is critical for things like playing an intense video game in virtual reality or for a surgeon in New York to control a pair of robotic arms performing a procedure in San Francisco, though latency will still be affected by the ultimate range of the connection. The virtually lag-free connection means self-driving cars have a way to communicate with each other in real time -- assuming there's enough 5G coverage to connect those vehicles.
How does it work?
5G initially used super-high-frequency spectrum, which has shorter range but higher capacity, to deliver a massive pipe for online access. Think of it as a glorified Wi-Fi hotspot.
But given the range and interference issues, the carriers are also using lower-frequency spectrum -- the type used in today's networks -- to help ferry 5G across greater distances and through walls and other obstructions.
Sprint claims it has the biggest 5G network because it's using its 2.5 gigahertz band of spectrum, which offers wider coverage. T-Mobile plans a bigger rollout of its 5G network in the second half thanks to the use of even lower-band spectrum. And AT&T says it plans to offer 5G coverage nationwide over its lower-band Sub-6 spectrum in early 2020.
The result is that the insane speeds companies first promised won't always be there, but we'll still see a big boost from what we get today with 4G LTE.
Where do these carriers get the spectrum?
Some of these carriers already control small swaths of high-frequency radio airwaves, but many will have to purchase more from the government. Carriers around the world are working with their respective governments to free up the necessary spectrum. In the US, the Federal Communications Commission is holding more auctions for so-called millimeter wave spectrum, which all the carriers are participating in.
Motorola's 5G Mod, in prototype form
Juan Garzon/CNET
Are there other benefits?
The 5G network is designed to connect a far greater number of devices than a traditional cellular network does. That internet of things trend you keep hearing about? 5G can power multiple devices around you, whether it's a dog collar or a refrigerator.
The 5G network was also specifically built to handle equipment used by businesses, such as farm equipment or ATMs. Beyond speed, it's also designed to work differently on connected products that don't need a constant connection, like a sensor for fertilizer. Those kinds of low-power scanners are intended to work on the same battery for 10 years and still be able to periodically send data.
Sounds great, but when does 5G get here?
Verizon launched the first "5G" service in the world in October, but it's a bit of a technicality. The service, called 5G Home, is a fixed broadband replacement, rather than a mobile service. An installer has to put in special equipment in your house or apartment that can pick up the 5G signals and turn that into a Wi-Fi connection in the home so your other devices can access it.
There was also some debate about whether the service even qualified as 5G: It didn't use the standards the industry has agreed on. The company wanted to jump out ahead, and used its own proprietary technology. Verizon argued that the speeds, which range from 300 megabits per second to 1 gigabit per second, qualify the service for 5G designation. Its rivals and other mobile experts dispute that claim.
The launch was extremely limited in select neighborhoods in Houston, Indianapolis, and Los Angeles and Sacramento, California. (Let us know if you're among the lucky few who get it.) In October, Verizon expanded the service to Chicago, and said it had switched to using industry-standard 5G equipment.
As of the end of December, AT&T turned on its mobile 5G network in a dozen cities, and more specifically in "dense urban and high-traffic areas." Take note, Verizon: AT&T boasted that it's the "first and only company in the US to offer a mobile 5G device over a commercial, standards-based mobile 5G network." But again, consumers are still waiting for AT&T to launch the service publicly, so it just barely counts too.
What about this 5G E thing from AT&T?
Sorry, but that's more marketing fluff. AT&T's 5G E stands for 5G Evolution, or its upgraded 4G LTE network that has a path to real 5G.
But the designation, which showed up on phones early this year, has caused some consumer confusion, with some thinking they already have 5G. To be clear, it's not, with many bashing AT&T for misleading customers. Sprint filed a lawsuit against AT&T, which, according to an AT&T spokesperson, the companies "amicably settled." AT&T has said it's "proud" that it went with the 5G E name.
5G E does bring higher speeds, but not the kind of true benefits real 5G would bring.
What about all the other 5G names?
Yeah, it's super confusing. Beyond the fake 5G E name, there are legit labels like Verizon's UWB (for ultrawide band), which signals the fastest flavor of 5G (using millimeter wave). AT&T is calling its super-fast next-generation network 5G Plus, while using 5G as a label for the service running on lower frequency spectrum. Sprint's True Mobile 5G is just the name for its 5G service.
Expect more marketing names to pop up.
Can't I just pick up 5G with my existing smartphone?
Sorry, no. 5G technology requires a specific set of antennas to tap into specific bands. For instance, Sprint's LG V50 is specifically tuned for its 5G network. Likewise, the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G is tuned for Verizon's network and its millimeter wave spectrum.
Many of the phones will use Qualcomm's X50 modem, which is designed specifically to tap into specific 5G bands. Later phones will use a second-generation chip that picks up more spectrum bands.
You can expect more 5G phones to launch later this year, with phones able to ride on different networks coming out in mass in 2020. More here.