4 ms·

Speeds are highly variable depending on location and network congestion. I think "already have good 4G" is a bit of a weird thing to say given that 5G can mean

by mdasen 5y ago

Speeds are highly variable depending on location and network congestion. I think "already have good 4G" is a bit of a weird thing to say given that 5G can mean increasing the chance that you have a solid connection. But even with a good 4G connection, I think 10ms is better than 35ms and I think 300Mbps is better than 35Mbps. I think our current 4G networks work well, but higher speed and lower latency will improve the experience even for our current use cases and even when a person has a good 4G connection already.

ulfw 5y ago
But that's no better with 5G. In fact the majority of 5G deployments are on higher MHz bands than 4G right now. So if anything range with 5G is less than with 4G, meaning: unless they happen to have build a new tower near you your 5G reception will be < your 4G reception.
- mdasen 5y ago
  There are a lot of things in the picture, but 5G is offering big improvements in many situations and it's going to get better. Yes, lower frequency networks offer better coverage. It's why we see sub-1GHz 5G deployments from the 3 US carriers. These networks are offering marginal improvements (say 30% at present, but probably more in the future). As 5G standalone (rather than anchored to LTE) becomes common, they'll also offer significantly lower latency. A lot of of 5G deployments are likely to be from 2-4GHz which is higher than most 4G deployments. However, in a lot of cities carriers are already splitting cells to get more capacity so the higher frequency doesn't matter as much as you might worry. Carriers are also working on 5G carrier aggregation which will extend 2-4GHz coverage a lot farther by allowing lower frequency signals to handle the uplink. Towers can put out more power to push their signals farther so the limitation is usually the uplink. If that's getting handled by lower frequency signals, it will effectively extend the range of 2-4GHz networks. Yes, 5G is better. It's definitely not fully realized right now with a lot of carriers putting out very basic 5G networks partly for marketing purposes. However, 5G offers better spectral efficiency and it does offer opportunities to extend the range of higher frequency signals via carrier aggregation.

by mdasen 5y ago

ulfw 5y ago

But that's no better with 5G. In fact the majority of 5G deployments are on higher MHz bands than 4G right now. So if anything range with 5G is less than with 4G, meaning: unless they happen to have build a new tower near you your 5G reception will be < your 4G reception.

mdasen 5y ago
There are a lot of things in the picture, but 5G is offering big improvements in many situations and it's going to get better. Yes, lower frequency networks offer better coverage. It's why we see sub-1GHz 5G deployments from the 3 US carriers. These networks are offering marginal improvements (say 30% at present, but probably more in the future). As 5G standalone (rather than anchored to LTE) becomes common, they'll also offer significantly lower latency. A lot of of 5G deployments are likely to be from 2-4GHz which is higher than most 4G deployments. However, in a lot of cities carriers are already splitting cells to get more capacity so the higher frequency doesn't matter as much as you might worry. Carriers are also working on 5G carrier aggregation which will extend 2-4GHz coverage a lot farther by allowing lower frequency signals to handle the uplink. Towers can put out more power to push their signals farther so the limitation is usually the uplink. If that's getting handled by lower frequency signals, it will effectively extend the range of 2-4GHz networks. Yes, 5G is better. It's definitely not fully realized right now with a lot of carriers putting out very basic 5G networks partly for marketing purposes. However, 5G offers better spectral efficiency and it does offer opportunities to extend the range of higher frequency signals via carrier aggregation.