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When is 5G coming to you? The definitive guide to the 5G network rollout

When is 5G coming to y'all? The definitive guide to the 5G network rollout

when is 5g coming
(Image credit: Omar Marques/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

Even though publicly available 5G networks merely celebrated their 2-year anniversary, you may still wonder when is 5G coming with faster service. 5G devices like the iPhone 12 may exist widely available every bit wireless carriers tout their new networks. Just for most of u.s.a., things don't feel much dissimilar than when LTE was the ultimate in cellular networks.

The truth is, 5G may accept already launched where you live, only y'all haven't really noticed. First of all, y'all'd need a 5G-ready telephone to pick upwardly the signal. And though 5G promises improved speeds over LTE, we're non seeing blazing fast speeds from the nationwide networks launched by each of the three major wireless carriers. At to the lowest degree, not notwithstanding.

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If you can get a 5G signal where you're at and y'all have a phone with a 5G modem, you'll likely see improved performance over LTE (aka 4G) networks. But even with an uptick in speed, the 5G experience isn't all that different from LTE at this betoken. All the same, Roland Moore-Colyer has constitute one compelling reason to adopt 5G.

The 5G mural is constantly shifting and will continue to do so for the residual of this year and beyond. Here's a status report on where we are at present, how we got here and what's ahead for 5G every bit the new networking standard blankets more of the land with faster speeds and lower latency.

5G explained

5G is the fifth generation of wireless communication standards, following previous iteration of wireless networking. Information technology was the inflow of 3G nearly xx years agone that made it possible to surf the internet on a smartphone, while 4G delivered speeds that enabled video streaming and an entire economy of apps that demand sustained, reliable connectivity.

5G capable smartphone

(Image credit: Tom'south Guide)

In 2017, the tertiary Generation Partnership Project—the group that creates the rules for wireless connectivity—issued the non-stand-alone standard for 5G, which allows 5G to coexist alongside 4G. The standard for stand-alone 5G got finalized a yr afterwards. In the ii years since, infrastructure developers such as Ericsson and Nokia accept worked with the 4 major wireless carriers in the U.S. to build out 5G networks and test them with devices equipped with 5G radios that comply with the new standard.

That means your existing smartphone won't exist able to receive a 5G indicate (unless, of grade, you've already upgraded to a 5G device in the past year-and-a-half). The new standard requires a new device that may hit download speeds of 1 Gbps (but only on a high-band 5G network) and theoretically hitting a peak of x Gbps.

In theory, that would let you download full-length movies in seconds. More significantly, it opens up a earth of possibilities nosotros can't fifty-fifty imagine yet.

When is 5G coming: U.S. network cheat sail

AT&T Verizon T-Mobile
Electric current 5G coverage fourteen,000 cities low-band 5G service with faster 5G Plus in 38 cities 230 million people covered with low-speed 5G along with high-speed service in 71 cities 287 million people covered by Extended Range 5G
Initial 5G technology Millimeter wave in 5G Plus cities; low-ring spectrum elsewhere Millimeter moving ridge in Ultra Wideband cities; DSS elsewhere Millimeter moving ridge in half-a-dozen cities, 600 MHz for nationwide network
Required programme Unlimited Prepaid ($sixty/calendar month); Unlimited Starter ($65/month); Unlimited Extra ($75/month); Unlimited Aristocracy ($85/month) Do More or Play More ($80/calendar month) or Get More ($ninety/month); Unlimited prepaid ($75/month) Essentials ($60/month); Magenta ($70/month); Magenta Max ($85/month); T-Mobile Connect ($15/month)
Major supported devices Galaxy S21; Milky way Note xx; iPhone 12; LG Velvet; Milky way A71 5G; LG V60 ThinQ; Milky way Z Fold two; Galaxy Z Flip 5G; LG Wing; Pixel 4a 5G and five; Motorola One 5G; Motorola Razr 5G Pixel v; Galaxy S21; Milky way Note 20; Galaxy A715G; Motorola Border Plus; OnePlus 8; LG V60 ThinQ; LG Velvet; Galaxy Z Fold 2; LG Wing; TCL 10 5G; iPhone 12 Milky way S21; Galaxy Annotation 20; OnePlus nine and 9 Pro; Galaxy A71 5G; Milky way A51 5G; Milky way Z Flip 5G; LG V60 ThinQ; LG Velvet; Motorola Razr 5G; Revvl 5G; iPhone 12

5G technologies affecting when 5G is coming

The courage of the 5G standard is comprised of low-, mid- and high-ring spectrum. 5G networks operate on unlike frequencies with sub-half dozen GHz and millimeter-wave (20-60 GHz) at the low and loftier ends of the spectrum.

Carriers were already using sub-half-dozen spectrum for existing LTE networks, and now they demand more than of it to build out 5G. Millimeter-moving ridge frequency was previously unused, and the advent of 5G has given carriers access to the spectrum that volition enable the faster speeds we await with the new standard.

Simply mmWave has a few drawbacks: Because it'south so loftier-frequency, the waves don't travel long distances. In fact, they can't even travel through windows or buildings. That means a device operating on an mmWave-based network — primarily Verizon'due south at this point, though T-Mobile and AT&T also use mmWaver to some extent — will demand to exist extremely shut to a 5G node to catch a point.

Speed tests on Verizon's 5G network, which is built using mmWave.

Speed tests on Verizon's 5G network, which is built using mmWave. (Image credit: Future)

That'southward fine in a dumbo metropolitan area, where you can stick a 5G node every few hundred feet. Just in rural areas where there are few buildings or cell towers, mmWave won't work.

That's why both sub-6 bands are necessary to make 5G signals more widespread. Indeed, Qualcomm CEO Christian Amon has long insisted that existent 5G will be a combination of the low, mid, and loftier-band frequencies.

T-Mobile provides a proficient example of this. It launched nationwide 5G coverage at the cease of 2019 using sub-6Hz spectrum. That meant lots of coverage — at launch, T-Mobile's Extended Range 5G reached 5,000 cities — but at speeds that were only twenty% faster than 4G on boilerplate. T-Mobile has subsequently begun to incorporate the midband 2.5GHz spectrum it acquired during its merger with Dart to heave performance for what the carrier has dubbed Ultra Capacity 5G. In some cities, T-Mobile uses all elements of 5G — mmWave, mid-band and sub-6Hz spectrum — for what information technology calls a layer block arroyo.

When is 5G coming to your expanse?

5G is already here, but unless the stars of your location, the wireless carrier you subscribe to and the smartphone you own are perfectly aligned, you probably can't utilise it however.

AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile each offer 5G coverage, but there are caveats to their 5G. First, you'll need a 5G-set device — that's easier than ever, as many of the meridian phone models come in 5G versions and we're even starting to see cheaper 5G devices that don't toll much more than $500.

You also take to be in an area where there'due south coverage from your item carrier — some other factor that's more likely than it was a yr ago, at present that Verizon joined AT&T and T-Mobile in extending coverage across the country, though non at speeds anywhere close to the 1 Gbps download speeds yous've been hearing about.

5g speedtest

(Image credit: Tom's Guide)

What's more, it'south evident many smartphone users aren't sure what 5G is. In fact, one in three Americans already thought they had 5G, co-ordinate to one 2019 report. The results showed that 47% of AT&T subscribers who own iPhones think their device is 5G-capable. AT&T's misleading 5G Evolution logo (5GE) to describe service that's actually just advanced LTE, probably aided that confusion.

When is 5G coming to more than areas and how will it perform?

The current state of 5G looks similar this: Verizon has high-speed 5G in parts of 71 cities, forth with mmWave towers in many stadiums, arenas and airports. To mark the arrival of the iPhone 12 concluding fall, Verizon launched nationwide coverage, which at present reaches 230 million people. That service isn't equally fast as Ultra Wideband and uses lower-band spectrum coupled with dynamic spectrum sharing (DSS) technology that repurposes LTE for 5G coverage.

Verizon just snapped upward a bunch of C-band spectrum, which information technology'due south hoping to use to bolster the range of its faster 5G coverage. That would assist Verizon make upwards for the head outset the other carriers had in providing nationwide coverage.

T-Mobile was the get-go to striking that milestone, and its 5G service now reaches 8,300 cities and towns, with mid-band coverage giving a speed heave to customers in more than than ane,000 cities. A quarter of the style into 2021, T-Mobile now says its nationwide 5G network reaches 287 million people; of that full, 125 1000000 people tin enjoy faster Ultra Capacity 5G.

AT&T has launched its own nationwide network, too, reaching xiv,000 cities and towns with low-ring coverage and high-speed mmWave service in 38 of those cities. This faster 5G Plus offer is also bachelor in 17 arenas, stadiums and convention centers dotted around the U.South..

5G speeds for iPhone 12

The darker magenta areas are where T-Mobile's new 5G network reaches. (Paradigm credit: OpenSignal)

A 2020 written report past OpenSignal detailing 5G performance illustrates what impact the different 5G technologies tin have on networks. Verizon, which had relied exclusively on mmWave in its initial 5G launch, boasted the all-time speeds by far at the time — 506.1 Mbps. Other carriers using mid- to depression-ring 5G, saw slower boilerplate download speeds — 114.2 Mbps for Sprint, 62.7 Mbps for AT&T and 47 Mbps for T-Mobile. (This survey was conducted prior to T-Mobile's efforts to fold Sprint'southward network into its 5G service.)

OpenSignal 5G results

(Epitome credit: OpenSignal)

Just have a expect at 5G availability. The same carriers who have slower speeds considering of mid- to low-band-based 5G can boast a wider reach. Verizon and its mmWave-based 5G network has the lowest percentage of availability of all, with users able to get a 5G connectedness less than i% of the time.

Who has the best 5G network right now depends on who'due south doing the counting. And the pendulum has swung pretty decisively toward T-Mobile. Ookla said the Uncarrier had the fastest 5G at the stop of March 2021, knocking AT&T out of the meridian spot. (AT&T is still tops in RootMetrics' latest survey.)

opensignal Q1 2021 results

(Paradigm credit: Opensignal)

Meanwhile, OpenSignal published its results for the first quarter of 2021, where T-Mobile is pretty ascendant, topping the primal rankings for best 5G speed and greatest 5G availability. AT&T fared well in video experience, while information technology shared honors with Verizon for 5G gaming.

When is 5G coming to more phones?

Good news — after 5G phones were few and far between entering 2020, we're at the stage where every major phone release at present includes 5G adequacy. That includes the launches of the iPhone 12 (Apple'southward first 5G phones) and the Galaxy S21, the tertiary 5G capable-release in Samsung'south Galaxy S family.

when is 5g coming

The iPhone 12 Pro Max and Galaxy S21 Plus are both 5G-capable phones. (Image credit: Tom'southward Guide)

In addition to those devices, major flagships from OnePlus, LG, Google and Motorola all offer 5G connectivity. More than chiefly, midrange and upkeep phones are starting to support 5G as well, thanks to less expensive chipsets like Qualcomm's Snapdragon 765G. 5G phones nether $500 include the Pixel 4a 5G, Motorola One 5G Ace and TCL 10 5G UW. The OnePlus Nord N10 5G is but about the cheapest 5G device we've seen at $299, while Samsung hopes to claiming that with the $279 Galaxy A32 5G.

when is 5g coming: Snapdragon 888

Snapdragon 888 (Paradigm credit: Qualcomm)

Wait the 5G devices to proceed coming during the remainder of 2021, particularly at the high cease. Qualcomm has introduced the Snapdragon 888 and Snapdragon 870 5G for flagship phones; both new chipsets include 5G modems, and you'll see them powering nigh frontline Android devices this year.

When is 5G coming to the iPhone?

It'due south already here. Final autumn, Apple went all in on 5G, introducing iv models that support 5G, including Verizon's Ultra Wideband coverage. Ultimately, that could be the boost 5G needs.

With the iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12,  iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max now out and ranging in toll from $699 to $1,099, don't look Apple to look back. iPhone 13 rumors suggest that 5G will be a part of this fall'south telephone updates, too. Now the only question is when will Apple release an iPhone SE with 5G?

When is 5G coming to devices across phones?

People equate the Chiliad's — 2G, 3G, 4G and now 5G — with smartphones, because that's e'er been the place where we've been able to see an indicator of what kind of connectivity nosotros're getting. Merely that's only part of what 5G is — the faster speeds will mean and then much more than just higher-quality streaming and lightning quick downloads.

"5G volition be the post-smartphone era," Robert J. Topol, Intel'southward general manager for 5G business and technology, said during an interview at the 2019 Mobile World Congress. "Phones are the first place to launch considering [they're] such an anchor in our lives from a connectivity standpoint."

That's in the process of irresolute.

Lower latency will make augmented reality and virtual reality more useful — and eliminate nausea — because at that place won't be any lag. AR spectacles and VR headsets oasis't yet cracked the mainstream, but tech companies are betting that these devices will eventually supercede our smartphones. With 5G, that could really happen.

"Connected PCs, connected IoT products, connected AR/VR, connected gaming consoles, things like that — nosotros see all of those on the horizon," said Ryan Sullivan, Sprint's vice president of product engineering when we spoke to him in December 2019 before he became vice president of devices and engineering at the new T-Mobile. "They may not all exist a 2020 thing, simply you commencement to see some of those new use cases and new product categories emerge."

To that finish, Qualcomm concluded 2019 by releasing its XR2 mixed reality processor with 5G connectivity. That chipset powers the Oculus Quest 2, which came out final year. Qualcomm is also pushing 5G to always-continued laptops, with its Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 platform coming to 5G-capable devices from both Acer and HP amongst others.

what is 5g

Qualcomm has developed a 5G-gear up processor for AR- and VR devices. (Epitome credit: Tom's Guide)

Amid the means 5G could change your life, schools could take advantage of virtual- and augmented-reality experiences that will bring concepts out of textbooks and into real life for students. Faster connectivity and no latency could too revolutionize hospitals, enabling holograph-assisted surgeries. On the roads, 5G could make cocky-driving cars safer, because communication between vehicles and infrastructure will go instantaneous.

"It's not just speed and latency, information technology's so many other things," Verizon chief product development officer Nicki Palmer said during the December 2019 Qualcomm tech summit on 5G. "This transition from 4G to 5G is even bigger and frankly much more revolutionary."

This isn't going to happen overnight, just expect major shifts thanks to 5G in the next five years. Qualcomm's Amon predicts in that location volition exist 2.8 billion 5G connections by 2025. (That's not merely phones, but rather connected devices, also.)

What volition happen to 4G now that 5G is here?

Unlike past generations of connectivity, 4G and 5G will coexist. When your device drops a 5G signal, it will fall dorsum on LTE. The hand-off should be imperceptible—aside from the fact that your upload and download speeds volition subtract.

This volition be especially useful in areas of the country where 5G networks will take longer to get off the ground.

Existing 4G networks will too play a role in carriers building out their 5G coverage, as technologies like dynamic spectrum sharing volition let carriers to share their spectrum between 4G and 5G uses.

And the improvements carriers are making to their networks to prepare for a nationwide 5G rollout will make 4G better, likewise. When we tested AT&T's 5G Plus network in Las Vegas in 2019, we saw 900 Mbps over 5G. LTE tin't compare, simply nosotros also clocked more than 200 Mbps on an iPhone running on AT&T's 5G E (advanced LTE) network. That's exponentially ameliorate than AT&T's existing LTE network, which averaged download speeds of 32.91 Mbps earlier this year.

Nosotros've got a closer await at how 4G and 5G speeds compare.

Is 5G dangerous?

There is no prove to suggest that 5G is dangerous to your health, and yet people are even so concerned. Why?

For years, the conventionalities that radio waves tin can cause encephalon cancer in humans has spread, seemingly affirmed past a 2000 scientific study of high-frequency waves and their effect on human cell tissue. A New York Times report examined that study and found it to be based on a misunderstanding of the human body — specifically, the skin's ability to shield the encephalon from radio waves.

Our colleagues at Live Science have likewise looked into the dangers — or lack thereof — that 5G can pose, and found that while there is no reason to exist alarmed about the rollout, more studies volition (and should) be conducted as 5G becomes more widespread to determine its impact.

The latest conspiracy theories surrounding 5G have claimed the network technology somehow triggered the coronavirus pandemic — a dubious assertion that some people have taken seriously plenty to set burn down to 5G towers in the UK last year. The health experts we talked to think 5G coronavirus conspiracy claims are nonsense.

5G outlook

5G is hither, but and then far, it's a picayune underwhelming. Even so, that should change as more cities come online and more 5G devices become available.

When announcing its quarterly earnings this by January, Verizon outlined 5G plans for this twelvemonth that include calculation 20 more Ultra Wideband cities and doubling the amount of UW sites in its network; it also plans to boost depression and midband coverage. Verizon hopes to bring C-ring coverage to 100 one thousand thousand people by year's cease, besides. And its continuing to expand its 5G abode internet service.

For its part, T-Mobile wants to double the area covered by Ultra Capacity 5G network, and the carrier has launched 5G home internet service of its own. AT&T also says information technology'southward planning on expanding its 5G coverage in 2021.

If the networks can deliver on their 5G promises, we'll no longer be asking when 5G is coming, but how we e'er lived without it.

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