On Tuesday, Verizon announced that Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles and Sacramento will be the trial locations for what it deems “the first 5G deployment in the World.”
Installation is set to begin October 1, with service beginning soon after. Not everyone in those cities will be able to participate, but residents can check if their area is eligible by going to Firston5G.com.
But, as CNET indicated in a recent article, critics point out that Verizon’s launch uses non-industry standard technology, so even though wireless speeds are faster they are technically not 5G. Verizon has stated that as it expands its program, it plans on upgrading to industry standard technology.
So what is 5G and how is it different from what we are used to? How do the speeds work? What is industry-standard vs. non-industry standard 5G?
We discuss these questions and more.
Guests:
Roger Cheng, executive editor for CNET News, he has been following the story about Verizon’s 5G network; he tweets
Theodore Rappaport, founding director of NYU Wireless, a research center focused on theories and techniques for next-generation wireless devices; he is also a professor of electrical and computer engineering at NYU’s Tandon School of Engineering