South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
5G on the way, but slowly
Other areas of country will be first
South Florida, along with the rest of the nation, is on the cusp of what Verizon Communications CEO Hans Vestberg recently called “a fourth industrial revolution.”
That would be 5G as in “fifth generation” of wireless connectivity, and developers say it will change life on the road, at work, in our homes and everywhere in between.
Consumer internet services based on the 5G standard are poised for introduction into numerous metro markets throughout the United States this fall, and projected to expand everywhere else as fast as the infrastructure can be built. Billed as being up to 10 times faster than the fastest currently-available wireless speed, 5G will be the standard upon which the “internet of things” envelops us.
Self-driving cars. Smart home devices. Seamless 360-degree virtual reality programming and virtual reality glasses unencum-
bered by the machinery that turned off potential users of Google Glass a few years ago.
The new standard will reach into “any realm where machines need to talk to each other constantly and without lag,” according to a recent article on the tech site Tomsguide.com.
Plus, it is expected to provide movie and TV download and streaming speeds so fast you won’t need cable or satellite dishes anymore. Anyone who has waited in frustration as a streaming program pauses and buffers can understand why more people haven’t yet ditched their traditional services.
Providers and analysts say coming 5G home service — known as “fixed wireless” — will pose an existential challenge to wired cable TV service by enabling consumers to ditch their home internet and TV service bundles.
That’s the good news. Here’s the not-so-good news: Lists of metro areas announced as among the first to get access to 5G connectivity do not include South Florida.
Verizon, the leading wireless carrier since 2011, is racing its rival AT&T to bring 5G to U.S. markets. Verizon recently announced it will offer “fixed wireless” 5G home broadband internet service to Indianapolis, Houston, Los Angeles and Sacramento before the end of the year.
Underscoring that one of 5G’s first benefits will be to enable TV viewers to cut the cord, Verizon’s home 5G service, which it calls “Ultra Wide Band” or UWB, will be bundled with Apple’s 4K TV service and YouTube TV — offer- ing more than 60 channels including the four major networks, as well as ESPN, AMC, CNN, TBS, TNT and regional sports channels.
Promised download speeds will rival or exceed speeds available to some homes through pricey fiber optic networks offered by AT&T and cable providers such as Comcast, analysts say. And the speeds will far exceed what’s capable via the traditional cable or DSL lines that most of us use.
The tech site endgadget.com quoted 5G chipmaker Qualcomm as saying typical speeds will be 1.4 gigabits per second — 20 times faster than the average in-home broadband connection.
Verizon’s fixed wireless 5G customers will receive the service through an antenna outside their homes that’s wired to an indoor router that will distribute wireless signals throughout the home.
Transitioning to 5G will be expensive and cumbersome, however. That’s because unlike the slower signals delivered to today’s devices, 5G capacity requires installation of “millimeter wave” small cells placed 500 or so feet apart from each other throughout neighborhoods and business districts. Most of the cells will be mounted on existing utility poles, accompanied by bulky containers on the ground.
The infrastructure requirements have generated considerable controversy, as cities including Fort Lauderdale have imposed regulations on small cells, prompting Gov. Rick Scott and the Florida Legislature to pass a law limiting cities’ authority to control where the equipment is installed.
Verizon also sells the first phone — Motorola’s Moto Z3 — that buyers can upgrade to 5G when wireless mobile service be- comes available in 2019. The phone, introduced in August, is $480. Early adopters will need to buy an add-on device to receive 5G signals.
“Verizon is able to provide UWB because we are the only company with the combination of mobile network leadership in 4G, dedicated investments in fiber and small cells that can support 5G deployment, and massive spectrum holdings, including the millimeter wave spectrum needed for 5G latency and bandwidth,” the company said in a statement relayed by Kate Jay, public relations manager for the southeast market.
Meanwhile, South Florida is also absent from the list of metro areas into which AT&T, Verizon’s biggest competitor, plans to introduce its mobile 5G service before the end of the year. These are Dallas; Atlanta; Waco, Texas; Charlotte and Raleigh, N.C.; and Oklahoma City.
However, the company has been upgrading its existing cell tower infrastructure in hundreds of markets, including Miami, with advanced LTE features that will accelerate the company’s abilities to launch 5G as capable devices become available.
Sprint plans to introduce its mobile 5G service in early 2019 in New York City; Phoenix, Ariz.; Kansas City, Mo.; Atlanta; Chicago; Dallas; Houston; Los Angeles; and Washington, D.C. The company has been preparing for the transition by building cell sites capable of delivering up to 10 times the capacity of current LTE systems, “significantly increasing data speeds for more customers in high-traffic locations,” the company said in May. Radios on these cell sites will be able to deliver 4G LTE and 5G simultaneously, enabling the company to more quickly expand its 5G service, it said.
“The nine cities we’ve announced first were chosen because of their significant population, where we have a large customers base, our critical mass of existing 2.5 GHz cell sites and the spectrum needed to execute our plan,” said Roni Singleton, Sprint’s East Area public relations manager.
T-Mobile, the nation’s thirdlargest wireless carrier after Verizon and AT&T, is developing its own 5G network even as it pursues a merger with No. 4 Sprint.
Asked whether T-Mobile would share its plans to expand 5G to South Florida, Kaitlin Craig, the company’s communications manager, said only, “So far, TMobile has announced we’ll have nationwide 5G in 2020.”
The company will provide updates “as we announce more 5G news,” Craig said via email.
T-Mobile is promising that the combined company would deliver serious savings for customers.
“The combined company’s 5G network will deliver mobile broadband speeds in excess of 100 Mbps to roughly two-thirds of the population in just a few years and 90 [percent] of the country by 2024,” T-Mobile CEO John Legere wrote in a blog post in June. “This is a mobile connection so fast, millions will be able to cut the cord with Comcast, Charter and the rest.
“We’ll offer both in-home broadband services and mobile broadband, so customers can pocket the savings from eliminating that pricey wired in-home broadband bill every month if they choose.”
In a 700-page public interest filing with the Federal Communications Commission, which along with other federal regulators would have to approve the proposed merger, the companies said they intend to offer bundled mobile and in-home wireless broadband service for around $60 a month — enabling customers to save $80 a month by canceling their in-home wired service.
Of course, the ability to stream TV channels over broadband wireless networks doesn’t mean consumers won’t have to pay for TV if they want to receive any of the basic or premium pay channels. Monthly fees are required for access to streaming bundles such as Hulu, Apple TV, Sling TV and others, including AT&T’s DirecTV Now and AT&T WatchTV.
Meanwhile, traditional cable provider Comcast, which offers a 1 gigabit-per-second service delivered via fiber optics, has said it believes its in-home offerings are competitive and that it plans to take a wait-and-see approach to wireless 5G.
Mindy Kramer, vice president of public relations for Comcast’s Florida region, said that while Comcast offers mobile wireless service, it uses Verizon’s wireless network to provide it. Neither company has announced plans to partner on any wireless 5G offering.
Tim Fisher, general manager of Lifewire.com, a “how-to” tech site closely following the 5G rollout, said by email that South Florida residents will have to be patient as carriers expand the service within the country.
“Once [carriers] see how much consumers like 5G speeds, it surely won’t take them long to want to broaden their reach,” he said. “I say give it several months and you’ll likely see South Florida on 5G roll-out lists.”