Evaluation Engineering - 4

@TWITTER.COM/EEEDITORMIKE
MHOCKETT@EVALUATIONENGINEERING.COM

The current state of
5G wireless service
On April 3, Verizon announced that it
has turned on its 5G wireless networks
in Chicago and Minneapolis-the first two
cities to receive the network that will work
with the next generation of connected devices. Verizon achieved that milestone a
week ahead of schedule, and the news follows the company rolling out its "5G Home"
service this past fall to parts of Houston,
Indianapolis, Los Angeles, and Sacramento.
Verizon has been battling AT&T for 5G
wireless service since at least the start of
2017. AT&T made 5G headlines of its own
the same week of Verizon's announcement,
declaring itself the first 5G carrier in the
U.S. to reach gigabit speeds via NetGear's
5G hotspot. Two days later, AT&T released
a statement claiming it has the fastest wireless network in the nation, citing third-party
network-testing company Ookla's findings
that AT&T's top average download speed
of 40.7Mbps was best among carriers in
the first quarter of 2019, and that AT&T's
speeds improved by more than 15% between
January and March of this year.
Overall, most laypersons would say the
5G rollout has been underwhelming so far,
in large part because the gigabit-class speed
that's been teased appears to still be a long
way away. The hardware must catch up first.
AT&T's announcement is good news, but
only a stepping stone. Before you, me, and
everyone else can really start to experience
the potential of 5G wireless service, we need
5G smartphones and WiFi 6-equipped
hotspots-along with more cities where
5G service is available. Only a select number of smartphones will support 5G at first.
As of right now, Motorola's Moto Z3 is the
only compatible device, requiring an accessory to connect to a 5G network. Samsung
will launch a Galaxy S10 5G model later
this spring that will initially be exclusive
to Verizon. Meanwhile, rumor has it that
Apple might not be able to ship a 5G iPhone
until 2021.

EVALUATION ENGINEERING MAY 2019

Obviously, having 5G service available to
more of the country would be another big
help, and there appears to be headway on
that. Also on April 3, CNBC reported that
Verizon's CEO said the company will activate an additional 30 markets during 2019.
AT&T's 5G+ network is currently available
in 12 markets, and the company plans to
combine its 5G and LTE services into a single connection later this year, which should
boost speeds further. T-Mobile and Sprint
haven't activated 5G yet, but plan to roll it
out later this year as they move forward
with their merger.
With all the talk from these wireless providers about rolling out their 5G service, it's
hard to be patient. But I'd rather those carriers take their time to get it right. My only
concern in this 'race to 5G' is that in the
essence of time, these cellular providers may
be overlooking some of the due diligence
required to ensure that their 5G service
will perform as expected for the long haul.
I hope they're not rolling out beta versions
of their service en masse that will soon need
costly upgrades. Here's hoping these providers have had vetted test and measurement
engineers integrated from the start.
While I'm on this topic, I'll promote that
our June print issue will include a special report on the topic of RF/microwave testing,
covering trends in the market and technology, challenges that vendors are facing, and
what new solutions those vendors have rolled
out. That report will certainly address the key
issues facing 5G testing as the infrastructure
for widespread 5G continues to progress.
As always, feel free to shoot me an email
if you have an idea for an article, or let me
know if there's a test & measurement topic
you'd like us to cover here at Evaluation
Engineering.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

51.9 BILLION
2018 global semiconductor
materials sales

10.6%
Global semiconductor materials
market growth over 2017
Source: SEMI

13.9%
Year-over-year increase in
February PCB shipments

14.7%
Year-over-year February
PCB sales growth
Source: IPC

34.7 BILLION
2017 automotive electronic
control unit market

6.5%
Estimated CAGR for electronic
control unit market 2018-2024
Source: MarketResearch.Biz

http://www.TWITTER.COM/EEEDITORMIKE http://www.MarketResearch.Biz

Evaluation Engineering

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