AICC Report

AICC REPORT >> The Hype of 5G

Major carriers have security consumers clamoring for more. By Lou T. Fiore, Chairman, AICC

In 2019, the wireless industry began shifting to 5G, a technology that can deliver data at such incredibly fast speeds that people will be able to download entire movies in a few seconds.

In order to attain the high promised speeds, 5G must rely on millimeter wavelength frequency spectrum. These bands have two distinct drawbacks: they do not penetrate buildings well, if at all, and they do not travel as far. So the carriers are left with the challenge of building more, closer cells, which will probably only be cost effective in more populated areas.

SOME ALARM COMPANIES ARE GETTING “PUSHBACK” from their customers when upgrading their systems to 4G LTE, with customers asking “Why must I upgrade from 3G to 4G? Why not go right to 5G?” We are faced with the problem of overcoming the hype of the carriers aggressively advertising their 5G networks.

While T-Mobile seems to be leapfrogging the larger carriers hyping its 5G

coverage, T-Mobile is starting its 5G deployment on its existing 600MHz spectrum. As a result, its peak speeds will be far below the 1 to 2Gbps possible with millimeter wave. Both AT&T and Verizon use millimeter wave spectrum to deliver very fast data with very poor range. T-Mobile experimented with millimeter wave in a few cities, but that is not the backbone of its “real” 5G network. T-Mobile’s 5G will cover much larger areas, but this is not the classic version of 5G, lacking high speed and low latency.

While many industries are expecting big things from 5G, the network is still in its infancy. The rollout of 5G has been disappointing and uneven. Across the United States, carriers have deployed 5G in just a few dozen cities. And only a handful of new smartphones last year worked with the new cellular technology.

In 2020, 5G will gain some momentum. Verizon said it expected half the nation to have access to 5G this year. AT&T, which offers two types of 5G–5G Evolution, which is incrementally faster than 5G will eventually go to work behind the scenes, in ways that will emerge over time. One important benefi t of the technology is its ability to greatly reduce latency, or the time it takes for devices to communicate with one another. That will be important for the compatibility of next-generation devices like robots, self-driving cars and drones.

4G, and 5G Plus, which is the ultrafast version–said it expected 5G Plus to reach parts of 30 cities by early 2020.

For example, if a car has 5G and another car has 5G, the two cars can talk to each other, signaling to each other when they are braking and changing lanes. The elimination of the communications delay is crucial for cars to become autonomous.

My perception is that the carriers are at fault for hyping something that doesn’t fully exist yet, creating a need that cannot be fulfi lled. To them, 5G is as much a marketing term as it is a technical standard. But the marketing of 5G is far ahead of the reality when it comes to 5G service availability, so we’re left with the question of how best to respond to these customers.

Carriers are expecting the LTE network to remain intact until the end of the decade. We have been told as much by the carriers during their presentation at our quarterly AICC meetings.

5G modules are likely to be more expensive that LTE modules with, in the short term, little benefi t to show for the extra cost. But the security industry will eventually fi nd ways to use the extra speed and reduced latency in yet-to-be envisioned applications. Perhaps a move to 5G will be inevitable, but not until the carriers have their networks fully deployed. continued on page 46 [28]