The hype around 5G and its promise to offer high-speed data for your smartphone has begun with all the latest phones now being 5G enabled; this article explains the technology and what it means, with an emphasis on North America.
5G is a giant leap forward in faster speed and lower latency. While 4G/LTE is good enough for consumers, 5G unlocks new applications to connect "things" to the mobile network previously limited to one location, such as autonomous cars, drones and much more. These applications need wider "data highways" or cellular channels, which are not available in 4G. "Last mile" delivery of broadband is another exciting application of 5G technology.
5G has provided an opportunity for the telecom industry to redesign the cellular network architecture for high-bandwidth data. There are three types of 5G technologies, which are all known as 5G, but have different performance features that you need to be aware of:
High Bandwidth 5G taps into the higher end of the radio spectrum. MmmWaves are short in length (10 mm to 1 mm) but offer wider spectrum channels. Wider channels have more capacity to pack more devices and also aid in significant speed improvements. 5G standards make this happen with technologies such as beam-forming (a method to direct radio waves to a target) and massive MIMO (multiple inputs multiple outputs) antennas.
High bandwidth mmWave 5G is more suitable in densely populated urban areas as well as indoor arenas like stadiums. The abundance of mmWave spectrum brings disruptive performance benefits. According to a study by Ookla, commercial networks using the mmWave range have achieved 3 Gbps peak speeds and 20+ times faster than LTE speeds in many cases. This translates to downloading an HD movie on your mobile device in just seconds; mmWaves have a short-range and quickly weaken when encountering barriers like buildings and trees. As a result, it requires several small cells (approx. 10-metre radius).
mmWave 5G services:
Sub-6 5G can travel longer distances and do more with fewer cell towers. They can cover larger service areas without interference from walls, trees and other obstacles. This solution is suitable for offering 5G services in the suburbs and rural areas.
Mobile network operators (MNOs) can offer Sub-6 5G to provide better speed and more resilient mobile broadband services almost immediately by enhancing their existing 4G/LTE cell towers.
Sub-6 5G services are referred to as:
Low Bandwidth makes it even easier to penetrate walls and obstacles. However, low bandwidth 5G provides only marginally better speeds than 4G, making this the least popular option.
Verizon's 5G deployments are focused on mmWave spectrum reaching blazing fast 4 Gbps peak speeds in some locations. Verizon's 5G Ultra Wideband service is available in 55 cities, 43 stadiums and arenas, and seven airports. You can find city-wide 5G coverage here.
AT&T's nationwide 5G coverage uses the Sub-6 GHz band, offering speeds slightly better than 4G, but they are expanding to several US cities using their 5G+ networks using mmWave spectrum with significantly higher speeds. You can find AT&T's 5G coverage in your location here.
New T-Mobile offers a nationwide 5G network using sub-6 GHz bands, which isn't as fast as the mmWave networks. Following their merger with Sprint, T-Mobile is also deploying its 5G network on Sprint's 5G spectrum. T-Mobile has added mmWave nodes in more than half-a-dozen US cities, as shown in the carrier 5G coverage map.
A study on the three major US carriers' networks showed Verizon's mmWave delivered a maximum download speed of 1.1 Gbps in Chicago. AT&T's 5G+ mmWave network registered a full download speed of 669.2 Mbps in Dallas. The New T-Mobile using a sub-6 GHz spectrum has a maximum download speed of 213.1 Mbps in Atlanta and over 200.0 Mbps in Chicago and Dallas.
5G has already made its way in Canada and carriers are aggressively expanding their 5G services.
In early 2020, Rogers Wireless went live with its first 5G New Radio (NR) network in downtown Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal. Very soon, their 5G network expanded to 130 towns and cities across Canada. Rogers’ 5G networks use the Sub-6 GHz band and the low-band 600 MHz spectrum. On its 600 MHz, Rogers uses Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) technology to push 4G and 5G simultaneously. You can find Rogers 5G coverage map here.
Bell Canada launched commercial 5G service in June 2020 in the metro cities of Montréal, Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver, and subsequently expanded the services to several other markets across Canada. Like Rogers, Bell Canada’s 5G services use the Sub-6 GHz spectrum and leverage existing 4G/LTE cell towers now powered by Ericsson’s 5G Radio Access Network (RAN) technology. You can find Bell’s 5G coverage map here.
Telus Mobility’s 5G network boasts of better speeds. Starting with the metro markets – Greater Toronto area, Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal and Vancouver, Telus is expanding its 5G services to communities in British Columbia, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec, as shown in their coverage map.
Even though Canadian MNOs are mostly using the Sub-6 band to offer 5G, a study in Montreal of Rogers, Bell and Telus 5G services recorded consistent performance in handling traffic and speed. A peak download speed of 855 Mbps was achieved in Bell’s 5G network, while Rogers excelled in offering consistent rather than extravagant speed.
Despite the fact that cellular carriers and chip makers are yet to achieve the theoretical 5G peak speeds (20 Gbps), it still makes sense to switch from 4G to 5G now if your 4G airwaves are crowded and slow, and if your data usage is high. You can get 5G services at no extra cost right with most carriers' postpaid plans with unlimited data.
In 5G networks, cell sites with different bands will have different antenna designs and tradeoffs of download speed, distance, and service areas. Even though your 5G phone connects through the highest speed antenna within range, it needs to seamlessly roam across the various cell sites and bands with almost no noticeable service gap. That requires its chipset to support these technologies.
Since last year, phone makers have been offering 5G capable phones. Some of these 5G phones support Sub-6 bands only and can provide marginally better speeds than 4G.
The iPhone 12 supports all 5G frequencies in the United States. In 5G mmWave, iPhone 12 offers 5x LTE speeds. In March 2020, Samsung Galaxy S20+ and Ultra launched 5G support for both mmWave and Sub-6 GHz bands. For a seamless roaming experience, it's advisable to purchase a 5G smartphone that supports both mmWave and Sub-6 bands.
Speed and roaming efficiencies depend on how and what technologies the MNOs implement in their 5G networks. In North America, 5G network expansion has already picked up momentum.
5G is all about terminating the data as close to the device as possible, compared to LTE where data is routed to the home network. 5G supports control and user plane separation (CUPS) architecture, which essentially splits up the control plane and user plane traffic. CUPS in 5G networks allows operators to separate the evolved packet core (EPC) into a control plane and place it in some central location. This separation means local break-out for data in 5G roaming, which will make a big difference for IoT devices that are roaming. VoLTE will be made widely available as 4G/5G networks replace 3G networks.
5G is of particular interest to IoT service users because of the significant advances it has over incumbent technologies.These advances will play a detrimental role in impacting current IoT verticals. Telna’s core infrastructure is 5G ready and suitable for all IoT capabilities.
Learn more on how Telna’s network is ready to help our customers scale and grow with 5G while minimizing their investment in infrastructure.