There's mobile 5G... and then there's fixed wireless.
One feature of our industry that has given me countless hours of enjoyment over the years has been the way companies can turn important technology developments into meaningless marketing slop. On the mobile front, 5G cellular technology has provided plenty of temptation for them. How could they resist, with 5G's promise of improving the broadband service we have on smartphones with increased capacity and improved reliability while opening the door to denser device deployments we'll need for Internet of Things (IoT) applications and low-latency services for new applications that might include things like autonomous vehicles (though I, for one, am not interested in a system that relies on radio to activate my car's brakes)?
Take Verizon, for example, which in an announcement coming out of Mobile World Congress Americas today narrowly avoids "fake news" to create a new category we can call "non-news. Verizon announced it is launching "the world's first commercial 5G broadband internet service" in a few select markets on Oct. 1.
Mobile... or Not?
The mobile industry has been abuzz about the advent of 5G and its impact on mobile services for the reasons I list above. The problem with Verizon's announcement is that it's not about a mobile service! Verizon is talking about fixed wireless! Remember WiMAX?
Fixed wireless has long been fifth on my list of potential technologies for residential Internet access. The top three are cable, fiber, and DSL. I'm betting powerline communications -- i.e., sending data transmissions over electric wires -- takes the fourth spot over fixed wireless.
https://www.nojitter.com/post/240173834/verizon-makes-nonnews-in-5g