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It seems everyone here is confused. Here's the official FAQ, and it has 0 marketing garbage. https://aws.amazon.com/private5g/faqs/ https://aws.amazon.com/priv

It seems everyone here is confused. Here's the official FAQ, and it has 0 marketing garbage. https://aws.amazon.com/private5g/faqs/ https://aws.amazon.com/private5g/faqs/ There's no "telecom as a service", and there's no "5g can be split into multiple networks" nonsense. Amazon is just selling 5g access points and hardware (just like you would install wifi), and rents you a private connection for that hardware to AWS, and management of that network from AWS. Basically.

stjohnswarts 5y ago
So it's kind of like a VLAN except it's strapped onto the 5G network of the various providers of 5G service via hotspots. Kind of like my 4G security system piggybacks on the network but isn't really callable by a regular old cell phone.
- FateOfNations 5y ago
  No it's not. It's more like a wifi access point, a hardware device that sets up a private network. The public providers aren't involved in your 5G network at all (unless you are using them for internet uplink at the facility, but that is independent of the private network. AWS handles all the complicated 5G software stack in the cloud though.
taf2 5y ago
I'm still kinda of confused... does that mean we could say get a simcard and make voice calls via this network? insert sim card into mobile phone android/iphone and make phone calls?
- laserbeam 5y ago
  Unsure. But private LTE is already a thing where you can install your own towers onprem and configure your devices to connect to those towers instead of the ones of your standard AT&T provider (or whatever). I don't think there's any magic voodoo involved. I assume there's a way to configure 5G capable devices to connect to some local physical network you set up at a factory. I don't expect this is for telephony, but rather a faster (I guess it's faster...) wifi. But who knows. Maybe if you install your own telephony servers or whatever you could call people on that network. Unsure anyone would care about that unrealistic usecase.
  - fastball 5y ago
    Faster and more robust for the use case than wifi, I imagine. The wifi spec isn't really optimized for large-scale mesh networks, while this is precisely the use-case 5g was developed for.
    - zimmerfrei 5y ago
      Can you share a reference showing the support for mesh in 5G (large scale or not)? As in, the equivalent of IEEE 802.11s for WiFi? I can't find anything about that. Or did you actually mean "cellular"? Mesh indicates a deployment where not all access points have a backbone connection. Cellular indicates a deployment where all access points have a backbone connection.
      - ahaseeb 5y ago
        It can be either. You can have multiple antennas pointing to a single Base station or each antennas having their own base station. It all depends on the use case. Challenge is when you go from Home to Roaming and vice versa as the handsoff isn't ideal but this'll improve
  - ahaseeb 5y ago
    Benefit is the cost for enterprises. You're paying for bandwidth which'll be much lower than the regular usage to telcos. You're however limited to data usage on this network and this focuses mostly on data
- teeray 5y ago
  They are giving you a core and a RAN (Radio Access Network). The RAN uses “lightly licensed spectrum,” (CBRS in the US), which I believe is supported in newer iPhones. That’s enough to make bars appear on your phone. What’s missing is the IMS, which adds traditional calling, voicemail, SMS, etc. However, FaceTime, iMessage, etc. will all work.
- numpad0 5y ago
  Basically they give you a few Wi-Fi access points and a central server PC, but instead of those being Wi-Fi and standalone, it’s 5G and cloud controlled as should be in late 2021. And unlocked phone should work provided it supports required frequency(tricky) and voice calls should be possible, but it probably can’t readily connect to PSTN and given actual “1-555-1234567” numbers, or make 911 calls for that matter. If you’re going to have Asterisk SIP VoIP server running on-prem, that is probably supported.
- uncomputation 5y ago
  No, this is for private networks with lots of wirelessly connected devices where using Wi-Fi is not ideal (say, a building with a lot of 24/7 cameras). I cannot say for certain, but it’s unlikely Amazon would be interfacing with major telephone carriers given that 1) they are using low power radio units and 2) they are using unlicensed spectrum.
  - ahaseeb 5y ago
    You're right and the biggest benefit is to companies with strictly using iOT
- ahaseeb 5y ago
  They wouldn't allow voice call but yes you can do OTT apps like Signal , Whatsapp etc.
- Maakuth 5y ago
  Starting from LTE, there's no distinction in the network level between data and voice or SMS, it's all just IP traffic. The voice call protocol is called VoLTE. As long as your handset can reach the VoLTE infrastructure via IP, you can make and receive calls. This actually works already over WiFi too and that's called VoWiFi. That does not support handovers between networks though, so it is not that convenient. Specifically it means that if you walk outside the WiFI network, your call will drop. I suppose the different branding is due to this quality aspect, as there's no difference in the protocol.
  - ocean_id 5y ago
    To have VoLTE or VoNR (the 5G version) the SIP based software handling your calls needs to interact directly with the software stack managed by the operator via a bunch of other telco protocols. I don't think you will be able to support "regular" calls/SMS without if it is not supported by amazon.
    - taf2 5y ago
      looks like it might be possible? https://open5gs.org/open5gs/docs/tutorial/02-VoLTE-setup/ https://open5gs.org/open5gs/docs/tutorial/02-VoLTE-setup/
fbourque 5y ago
to be a Telco at scale you need dedicated spectrum allocation which is seldom auctioned by the government at super high price so this is definitively what this is. it uses CBRS Spectrum which is dynamically allocated per site and the government can yank the CBRS spectrum you were temporary allocated at their discretion.
- laserbeam 5y ago
  There are other comments here claiming Telco nonsense. What you say sounds reasonable though :)
  - ahaseeb 5y ago
    This is the biggest threat to Telco since they've paid billions in Spectrum. The sites that earn the most will be converted to 5G however CBRS has limitations but it's not bad.
  - ahaseeb 5y ago
    CBRS has it's limitation and isn't permanent. Gov can take it back anytime and then there is also a priority. CBRS is good for smaller installation but not able to take commercial traffic. Caveat here is that 5G is difficult to deploy. You need a lot of antennas which cost $$. So in areas with higher density, there'll be smaller telcos that'll start operating.
beyondzero 5y ago
Spot on. This could be a game changer for us ($xB 100+ year old manufacturing company), where we are on a long, slow journey to digitize every piece of manufacturing (long and slow because manufacturing runs almost 24x7x365). Wifi, even the top enterprise systems, is not as resilient, cheap and quickly installed as we'd like. So now I can use 5G instead, and template and deploy it via the cloud? Yes, yes! We'll put this through some cost models, but it will likely jump NPV of IoT and automation projects by pushing down the initial capital costs (fiber runs pulled by union electricians to wifi gear installed by a vendor vs. 5G base stations and servers installed and configured by plant electricians and corporate IT).
- vvanders 5y ago
  If you have problems with wifi resiliency I've got bad news for you about the wavelengths 5G uses.
  - fastball 5y ago
    I think GC might be talking about how the reliability of a large-scale mesh network using wifi isn't great (mostly because that's not what wifi was designed for), while this is literally what 5G was designed for.
    - ahaseeb 5y ago
      I think 5G will replace wifi within next 10 years. We don't need WiFi anymore
      - Naracion 5y ago
        As somebody not very well-versed in this, a sincere question. Would something like 5g be able to replace a home intranet / network? Eg I have a personal media server that I stream to devices on my wifi--would this be able to work with 5g? From my perspective 5g can only replace internet access, yes? Devices that want to communicate with each other securely would still prefer to be connected over wifi or other personal network like Ethernet?
ghouse 5y ago
From the FAQ: > At a minimum, you need to provide 110-volt AC power outlets, public internet access.... In the US, 120 or 240 volts are used. Per ANSI C84.1-2020
- aldonius 5y ago
  Voltage supply levels vary a little bit from country to country and modern PSUs are built to accommodate that. My laptop PSU for example will take anything from 100V to 240V, at either 50Hz or 60Hz.
  - xxpor 5y ago
    Japan uses 100V, FWIW.
    - aldonius 5y ago
      Well there you go.
      - ahaseeb 5y ago
        CBRS however is only available in US so that's why they specified 110V
        ghouse 5y ago
        But the US is 120V, not 110V.
- matt123456789 5y ago
  I don’t have insider info but you can almost certainly use this on a 120v outlet. 120 has been the standard for 50 years and you would only need special consideration if the power requirement was something weird like 3-phase 208v or 480v or something. I could be wrong but I don’t see AWS requiring specialty low-voltage electrical supply here.

stjohnswarts 5y ago

So it's kind of like a VLAN except it's strapped onto the 5G network of the various providers of 5G service via hotspots. Kind of like my 4G security system piggybacks on the network but isn't really callable by a regular old cell phone.

FateOfNations 5y ago
No it's not. It's more like a wifi access point, a hardware device that sets up a private network. The public providers aren't involved in your 5G network at all (unless you are using them for internet uplink at the facility, but that is independent of the private network. AWS handles all the complicated 5G software stack in the cloud though.

taf2 5y ago

I'm still kinda of confused... does that mean we could say get a simcard and make voice calls via this network? insert sim card into mobile phone android/iphone and make phone calls?

laserbeam 5y ago
Unsure. But private LTE is already a thing where you can install your own towers onprem and configure your devices to connect to those towers instead of the ones of your standard AT&T provider (or whatever). I don't think there's any magic voodoo involved. I assume there's a way to configure 5G capable devices to connect to some local physical network you set up at a factory. I don't expect this is for telephony, but rather a faster (I guess it's faster...) wifi. But who knows. Maybe if you install your own telephony servers or whatever you could call people on that network. Unsure anyone would care about that unrealistic usecase.
- fastball 5y ago
  Faster and more robust for the use case than wifi, I imagine. The wifi spec isn't really optimized for large-scale mesh networks, while this is precisely the use-case 5g was developed for.
  - zimmerfrei 5y ago
    Can you share a reference showing the support for mesh in 5G (large scale or not)? As in, the equivalent of IEEE 802.11s for WiFi? I can't find anything about that. Or did you actually mean "cellular"? Mesh indicates a deployment where not all access points have a backbone connection. Cellular indicates a deployment where all access points have a backbone connection.
    - ahaseeb 5y ago
      It can be either. You can have multiple antennas pointing to a single Base station or each antennas having their own base station. It all depends on the use case. Challenge is when you go from Home to Roaming and vice versa as the handsoff isn't ideal but this'll improve
- ahaseeb 5y ago
  Benefit is the cost for enterprises. You're paying for bandwidth which'll be much lower than the regular usage to telcos. You're however limited to data usage on this network and this focuses mostly on data
teeray 5y ago
They are giving you a core and a RAN (Radio Access Network). The RAN uses “lightly licensed spectrum,” (CBRS in the US), which I believe is supported in newer iPhones. That’s enough to make bars appear on your phone. What’s missing is the IMS, which adds traditional calling, voicemail, SMS, etc. However, FaceTime, iMessage, etc. will all work.
numpad0 5y ago
Basically they give you a few Wi-Fi access points and a central server PC, but instead of those being Wi-Fi and standalone, it’s 5G and cloud controlled as should be in late 2021. And unlocked phone should work provided it supports required frequency(tricky) and voice calls should be possible, but it probably can’t readily connect to PSTN and given actual “1-555-1234567” numbers, or make 911 calls for that matter. If you’re going to have Asterisk SIP VoIP server running on-prem, that is probably supported.
uncomputation 5y ago
No, this is for private networks with lots of wirelessly connected devices where using Wi-Fi is not ideal (say, a building with a lot of 24/7 cameras). I cannot say for certain, but it’s unlikely Amazon would be interfacing with major telephone carriers given that 1) they are using low power radio units and 2) they are using unlicensed spectrum.
- ahaseeb 5y ago
  You're right and the biggest benefit is to companies with strictly using iOT
ahaseeb 5y ago
They wouldn't allow voice call but yes you can do OTT apps like Signal , Whatsapp etc.
Maakuth 5y ago
Starting from LTE, there's no distinction in the network level between data and voice or SMS, it's all just IP traffic. The voice call protocol is called VoLTE. As long as your handset can reach the VoLTE infrastructure via IP, you can make and receive calls. This actually works already over WiFi too and that's called VoWiFi. That does not support handovers between networks though, so it is not that convenient. Specifically it means that if you walk outside the WiFI network, your call will drop. I suppose the different branding is due to this quality aspect, as there's no difference in the protocol.
- ocean_id 5y ago
  To have VoLTE or VoNR (the 5G version) the SIP based software handling your calls needs to interact directly with the software stack managed by the operator via a bunch of other telco protocols. I don't think you will be able to support "regular" calls/SMS without if it is not supported by amazon.
  - taf2 5y ago
    looks like it might be possible? https://open5gs.org/open5gs/docs/tutorial/02-VoLTE-setup/ https://open5gs.org/open5gs/docs/tutorial/02-VoLTE-setup/

fbourque 5y ago

to be a Telco at scale you need dedicated spectrum allocation which is seldom auctioned by the government at super high price so this is definitively what this is. it uses CBRS Spectrum which is dynamically allocated per site and the government can yank the CBRS spectrum you were temporary allocated at their discretion.

laserbeam 5y ago
There are other comments here claiming Telco nonsense. What you say sounds reasonable though :)
- ahaseeb 5y ago
  This is the biggest threat to Telco since they've paid billions in Spectrum. The sites that earn the most will be converted to 5G however CBRS has limitations but it's not bad.
- ahaseeb 5y ago
  CBRS has it's limitation and isn't permanent. Gov can take it back anytime and then there is also a priority. CBRS is good for smaller installation but not able to take commercial traffic. Caveat here is that 5G is difficult to deploy. You need a lot of antennas which cost $$. So in areas with higher density, there'll be smaller telcos that'll start operating.

beyondzero 5y ago

Spot on. This could be a game changer for us ($xB 100+ year old manufacturing company), where we are on a long, slow journey to digitize every piece of manufacturing (long and slow because manufacturing runs almost 24x7x365). Wifi, even the top enterprise systems, is not as resilient, cheap and quickly installed as we'd like. So now I can use 5G instead, and template and deploy it via the cloud? Yes, yes! We'll put this through some cost models, but it will likely jump NPV of IoT and automation projects by pushing down the initial capital costs (fiber runs pulled by union electricians to wifi gear installed by a vendor vs. 5G base stations and servers installed and configured by plant electricians and corporate IT).

vvanders 5y ago
If you have problems with wifi resiliency I've got bad news for you about the wavelengths 5G uses.
- fastball 5y ago
  I think GC might be talking about how the reliability of a large-scale mesh network using wifi isn't great (mostly because that's not what wifi was designed for), while this is literally what 5G was designed for.
  - ahaseeb 5y ago
    I think 5G will replace wifi within next 10 years. We don't need WiFi anymore
    - Naracion 5y ago
      As somebody not very well-versed in this, a sincere question. Would something like 5g be able to replace a home intranet / network? Eg I have a personal media server that I stream to devices on my wifi--would this be able to work with 5g? From my perspective 5g can only replace internet access, yes? Devices that want to communicate with each other securely would still prefer to be connected over wifi or other personal network like Ethernet?

ghouse 5y ago

From the FAQ: > At a minimum, you need to provide 110-volt AC power outlets, public internet access.... In the US, 120 or 240 volts are used. Per ANSI C84.1-2020

aldonius 5y ago
Voltage supply levels vary a little bit from country to country and modern PSUs are built to accommodate that. My laptop PSU for example will take anything from 100V to 240V, at either 50Hz or 60Hz.
- xxpor 5y ago
  Japan uses 100V, FWIW.
  - aldonius 5y ago
    Well there you go.
    - ahaseeb 5y ago
      CBRS however is only available in US so that's why they specified 110V
      - ghouse 5y ago
        But the US is 120V, not 110V.
matt123456789 5y ago
I don’t have insider info but you can almost certainly use this on a 120v outlet. 120 has been the standard for 50 years and you would only need special consideration if the power requirement was something weird like 3-phase 208v or 480v or something. I could be wrong but I don’t see AWS requiring specialty low-voltage electrical supply here.