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2022 will likely be heralded as the year 5G hits the ground running, but it’s been a long and winding road to get here. The operator began aggressively preparing for this cutting-edge cellular technology in 2015, but it won’t be until the end of 2018 that his first 5G mobile his towers come online. was. And it took until 2020 for 5G to become much more of a curiosity for early adopters.
Previous cellular technologies such as 4G/LTE also spent a long time in the R&D stage, but without the growing pains of 5G. When 4G/LTE service began to roll out widely in his 2011, it was the same underlying technology across all major US carriers.
With 5G things are getting pretty complicated. The new technology promises the kind of performance previously limited to wireline broadband services, so it comes with stricter requirements and operates over a much wider range of frequencies.
This makes 5G rollouts a little more difficult as operators try to find more radio spectrum to carry the best 5G signals. It also needs to keep the 4G/LTE network running at peak performance while sharing the airwaves with his new 5G service.
A humble beginning for 5G
Many people don’t know that when 5G was first introduced in the US, it wasn’t for mobile devices. In 2017, carriers began trialing fixed wireless 5G services as an alternative to wired broadband home internet. His closed trial of 5G home internet lasted until 2018, with commercialization later that year.
The first 5G mobile networks were deployed in early 2019. Verizon led the industry with his relatively small 5G footprint in its core areas of Chicago and Minneapolis in April, possibly beating out his three carriers in South Korea to become the first commercial 5G on the planet. It has become a smartphone service.
Verizon expands service to several other cities throughout 2019, including Denver, Providence, St. Paul, Atlanta, Detroit, Indianapolis, Washington DC, Phoenix, Panama City, New York City, Dallas, Omaha, Houston and Boston Did.
The carrier owned all these cities before rivals T-Mobile and AT&T switched to their own 5G networks, but there was a big catch. As a result of Verizon’s use of ultra-high frequency (EHF) and ultra-short-range millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum, his 5G service in each of these cities was limited to very small, specific areas. Move more than a block away from the 5G zone and you’ll be back to your carrier’s standard 4G/LTE service in no time.
The upside is that if you’re anywhere near these rare mmWave 5G towers, you’ll experience blazing speeds. It was not uncommon to see speeds in the 500-1,000Mbps (1Gbps) range.
Sprint also began its foray into 5G in early 2019 with its mid-band 2.5GHz spectrum that was already carrying 4G/LTE traffic. These deployments were relatively short-lived, but a year later they were integrated into the new T-Mobile, which had other plans for its spectrum.
5G spreading nationwide
While Verizon focused on delivering the fastest possible 5G speeds to small areas, AT&T and T-Mobile instead use lower-band frequencies that can travel much longer distances to We were working on building out a wider 5G network.
Both carriers launched larger 5G networks in December 2019. From the start, T-Mobile claimed its network covered 200 million people, while AT&T only promised coverage to “tens of millions” of customers. This should not be confused with AT&T’s 5G Evolution (5GE) network, which launched in 2018. In fact, it was just a misleading name for his advanced 4G/LTE service.
The two carriers use different parts of the low-band spectrum, with AT&T using a higher-frequency signal paired with its 4G/LTE network in major cities, only about 15 at its initial launch. . It had already covered vast countryside. By mid-2020, T-Mobile was leveraging its spectrum to boast his 5G coverage in all 50 of his states, including Alaska.
Verizon didn’t join the national 5G party until late 2020 when it rebranded its mmWave 5G service as a 5G Ultra Wideband (5G UW) network. This was to make room for his new 5G Nationwide service, bringing his 5G to an additional 200 million people in his 1,800 towns and cities across the country.
First 5G smartphone
Early 5G rollouts were exciting, but a bit premature (especially Verizon’s rollout). When the first mmWave cells went live in Chicago, very few handsets supported 5G.
In fact, the only compatible handset on the market at the time of the first 5G launch was Motorola’s mid-range Moto Z3, sold exclusively on the Verizon network. It also required a separate Moto Mod add-on module to provide 5G compatibility.
The Moto Z3/Moto Mod solution was an odd arrangement, but fortunately, 5G enthusiasts didn’t have to wait for other options.Samsung’s Galaxy S10 5G and LG’s V50 ThinQ arrived in May. , followed by Huawei Mate X, OnePlus Pro 7 5G, Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G and ZTE Axon 10 Pro 5G.
These early 5G smartphones also had another significant problem. In 2019, Verizon and Sprint had 5G services, but on different frequencies. Early 5G smartphones such as LG’s V50 ThinQ and OnePlus Pro 7 5G couldn’t pack all the frequencies needed by both carriers, so he was sold in two different versions on each carrier. This meant that many early Verizon 5G phones didn’t work with Sprint and vice versa.
Meanwhile, Apple released the iPhone 11 lineup in 2019 without any support for 5G. The message from Cupertino was clear. 5G wasn’t a big enough deal to justify including it in Apple’s flagship smartphone lineup.
Given that Apple makes products for the masses and less than 5% of US consumers will have access to 5G in September 2019, this is a fair assessment. By the time the iPhone 12 was released a year later, things had changed a lot and 5G had become the norm. All US models support all his 5G bands, from T-Mobile’s 600MHz low band to AT&T’s 39GHz mmWave, saving you money on the low-cost iPhone SE on all iPhones.
T-Mobile takes the lead
By November 2019, Verizon had 5G coverage in a small area of 16 US cities, and Sprint had nearly 16 million people under its 5G umbrella.
So when T-Mobile switched on its nationwide 5G network on Dec. 2, promising to bring 5G service to 200 million people in more than 5,000 cities and towns across the United States, what a big deal it was. is easy to understand. The operator has just increased his 5G availability by a factor of 10.
Verizon still offered significantly faster speeds, but it didn’t matter to 99% of customers because they were stuck on the carrier’s 4G network. At the time, his 5G network in T-Mobile’s early days wasn’t much faster than his 4G/LTE network, but he wasted no time in making dramatic improvements either.
First, T-Mobile worked on building a “standalone” 5G network. This is a network that doesn’t rely on sharing airwaves with his old 4G/LTE traffic. This allowed him to make the most of the low-band 600MHz 5G spectrum by dedicating the tower to carrying only his 5G traffic.
In April 2020, T-Mobile also completed its merger with Sprint, quickly beginning the retirement of other carriers’ 2.5GHz towers to make room for what will become its 5G Ultra Capacity (5G UC) network. This mid-band 5G spectrum is in the sweet spot that offers the best combination of range and speed, and by the end of 2021, T-Mobile has expanded this coverage to more than his 200 million people nationwide.
radio waves
T-Mobile was busy building out its midrange 2.5GHz network, putting its rivals at a disadvantage. At the time, neither AT&T nor Verizon had his spectrum available in the mid band, forcing him to stay on the low end.
AT&T continued to slowly roll out its low-bandwidth 5G network and its faster 5G Plus (5G+) mmWave network in dense urban areas. Verizon started on the other side with his mmWave deployment in 2019, but in late 2020 turned on a low-band 5G nationwide network to bring his 5G to the majority of customers.
Unfortunately, these expanded 5G networks relied on the same frequencies used by the carriers’ 4G/LTE services, so customers had more than just the privilege of seeing the 5G symbol on their smartphones. I couldn’t get it. Actual download speeds were rarely better than 4G/LTE, and in some cases were slower because 4G/LTE traffic was always prioritized on these airwaves.
C-BAND CHANGES THE GAME
T-Mobile’s 2.5 GHz spectrum gave it a big head start in the rollout of faster 5G networks, but other carriers weren’t left behind. In early 2021, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) auctioned off a portion of the C-band spectrum in the 3.7-3.98 GHz range.
Verizon paid a record $45.4 billion at auction to get as much as it could. AT&T spent $23 billion to secure the part, and T-Mobile dropped $9.3 billion for a smaller part used to boost its existing 2.5GHz ultra-capacity network.
But finally being able to play in mid-band clubs, this new spectrum was much more valuable to Verizon and AT&T. Even better, these higher frequencies may offer even greater capacity than T-Mobile’s 2.5GHz spectrum, but with slightly less range.
After a heated dispute with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the aviation industry over whether these signals interfered with aircraft instruments, AT&T and Verizon gave the go-ahead to turn on C-band spectrum in January 2022. Finally got.
Customers immediately experienced noticeable performance improvements. This was especially true as Verizon quickly rolled out the new C-band spectrum to his 100 million people in his 1,700 cities. By comparison, AT&T has limited its initial C-band rollout to only his eight inner-city areas, with a broader C-band rollout until later this year when the less controversial 3.45-3.55 GHz C-band spectrum becomes available. preferred to postpone later auction.
5G landscape today
T-Mobile still holds a commanding lead, largely due to its big head start in rolling out midrange coverage initially. A study comparing 5G enhanced services on an apples-to-apples basis shows that T-Mobile and Verizon customers get nearly the same performance when using the carrier’s best 5G network (the mid-band network). I’m here.
However, the much higher coverage of T-Mobile’s 5G Ultra Capacity network means more customers will experience the fastest download speeds, boosting the national median price compared to Verizon. . As Verizon expands his 5G Ultra Wideband coverage to more cities, those numbers are likely to become more balanced.
Similarly, AT&T has taken a more cautious approach to 5G rollouts, which has left it at the bottom, but as it begins switching its 5G Plus sites later this year, AT&T will change too, and by 2023 They should be competitors.
Luckily, we have overcome most of the challenges from the early days of 5G this year. All three domestic operators are now leveraging all three frequency ranges (low-band in rural areas, mid-band in most cities and mmWave in dense urban areas) to offer the best possible 5G service. has a mature 5G network that The question is not whether any particular carrier offers better 5G service than its rivals, but whether T-Mobile’s 5G UC, Verizon’s 5G UW, or AT&T’s 5G+ are all on par in terms of performance. It’s not that there is, it’s simply the availability of those fastest 5G networks. where you live and work.
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