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I think a big problem with the 5G rollout was the confusing mish-mash of low, medium and high band "versions" of 5G, each of which had different marketing names

I think a big problem with the 5G rollout was the confusing mish-mash of low, medium and high band "versions" of 5G, each of which had different marketing names depending on the carrier (not to mention "4G+" that was marketed as 5G). All the marketing speak just said "5G is superfast and will let you download a movie in 20 seconds!" or whatever, when that reality was that only applied to mmWave 5G, and oh by-the-way mmWave signals are blocked by a window. It was just ridiculously over hyped.

inkyoto 3y ago
I do not think multiple bands are the problem, they vary and are meant to vary across mobile network deployments by design. The biggest promise 5G has failed to deliver on so far is the capacity. We were promised 5G cells of being able to handle "huge" numbers of subscribers in the high density areas, and that has not been the case. In the middle of a typical business day, my 5G MiFi device has pre-4G downlink speeds, and the office is located next to a cell tower. Speed improves in the evening once people leave the CBD and hovers slightly under 1 Gbit/sec as it should. So my understanding is that because telcos have had to pump vasts of money into the core network upgrade, which was effectively a complete core network revamp rather than upgrade, after seeing an eye-watering bill, the telcos have decided to underinvest into the cell tower capacity to break even. So, yes, the low latency and high downlink speeds are there, but only when the cell has the capacity to provide the bandwidth.