Broadband Bytes
  • News
  • About

5G: No Indoor Coverage Solution Anytime Soon

8/22/2019

2 Comments

 
They hype about 5G continues to build. Big wireless companies are touting their 5G plans as if they are actually a reality. Yes, some of the biggest cities in the US are getting 5G now or soon (including, it turns out, Des Moines - one of Verizon's first 20 test cities). But what the marketing hype is not telling the consumer is a cold, hard fact: today's 5G is an OUTDOOR wireless solution.
This article at Light Reading makes one very clear point: 5G Isn't Going Indoors Anytime Soon.
It turns out that physics is getting in the way of bringing the "promised land" of 5G into your home or business, where most data is consumed. The high frequencies used to deliver 5G are not capable of penetrating walls, so a 5G customer's experience outdoors will end when they walk inside. 

Bringing 5G indoors is another monumental challenge that has not been addressed. Will 5G radios be built into home gateways and WiFi routers? Or will consumers "get by" as they have for years with using WiFi indoors and cellular where signal is available? It's not clear. But these are all important facts to keep in mind when you're seeing the marketing hype.
2 Comments
Bob Geers
8/27/2019 08:16:14 am

That is so true for Verizon and AT&T. The new T-Mobile (with Sprint) have a different strategy. They are using 5G frequencies that do reach indoors. While it will be faster than 4G, it will not reach the speeds that Verizon and AT&T are touting.

Reply
Charles Dostale link
8/28/2019 08:12:40 am

5G is marketed as having higher bandwidth ( consumer broadband ), lower latency ( autonomous vehicles ) and the ability for massive numbers of IoT devices. What is not in the marketing info is that each of those features uses different frequencies, so most likely only one of the three will be available to a given device at one time. So a gamer expecting both high bandwidth and low latency won't get both. The other part is the massive number of cells required. Those frequencies used for high bandwidth don't just have a problem with penetrating structures, there are distance issues as well.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    Picture
    CBAN YouTube

    Broadband Bytes News

    Presented by the Community Broadband Action Network and curated by Curtis Dean.

    Archives

    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    ALLO
    Broadband
    CenturyLink
    Conduit
    Construction
    Dubuque
    Education
    FCC
    Feasibility Study
    Feedback
    Fiber
    Fiberhood
    Fort Morgan
    FTTP
    Grassroots
    IAMU
    Indianola
    Lawsuit
    Mediacom
    Meeting
    Municipal Broadband
    NCTC
    NMPP
    OTT
    Petition
    Provider
    SCTE
    Skinny Bundle
    Training
    Vinton
    VMVPD
    West Des Moines

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.
  • News
  • About