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Are We Ready For 5G Phones?

Posted by BeauHD on from the ready-or-not-here-it-comes dept.

Next-generation 5G networks are very much in their infancy right now, but that's not stopping smartphone manufacturers from teasing new 5G phones. At Samsung's Galaxy S10 launch event today, Samsung teased the Galaxy S10 5G, a top-tier model of the Galaxy S10 that offers 5G mobile data connectivity. "The device, which has a larger screen and battery than the S10 Plus, will temporarily be a Verizon Wireless exclusive before expanding to other carriers in the weeks after launch," reports The Verge. "It will go on sale sometime 'in the first half of 2019."

Late last year, LG confirmed that its first U.S. 5G phone would debut on Sprint "in the first half of 2019," just as Sprint launches its 5G network. At around the same time, Lenovo unveiled the Moto Z3, a phone that only connects to 5G with a MotoMod modular accessory. It too is expected to arrive early this year -- but there's no mention of how much it'll cost. OnePlus, Nokia, and Huawei are also working on 5G phones expected to arrive sometime this year. The question is: are we ready for 5G phones? Three of the four largest carriers in the U.S. have only just started offering 5G service in select cities. Sprint, the fourth largest U.S. telecommunications company, hasn't even reached this step. Just like the first 4G phones to hit the market, these first-of-their-kind 5G devices look to merely symbolize what the next decade of mobile computing has in store.

51 of 85 comments (clear)

  1. AT&T is ready! by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 2

    I hear their 5Ge phones work great -- just as well as their 4G / LTE phones!

    [ Personally, I don't think AT&T can get dumped on enough for this crap... ]

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
    1. Re:AT&T is ready! by zlives · · Score: 1

      3 out of 4 carriers, not just ATT
      i am sure in a couple years when "only" 5g is supported the 4G will all have to be traded in for new phones.

  2. Ready or not, here they come.. by bobbied · · Score: 2

    The chip sets are shipping, phones are being engineered and built, carriers are buying spectrum space, vendors are starting to ship the equipment and the marketing blitz is already on.

    It doesn't matter if you are ready or not, it's going to happen unless there is some huge unforeseen world/national event that makes it financially impossible. It's happening, like it or not.

    --
    "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    1. Re:Ready or not, here they come.. by zlives · · Score: 1

      so who is asking for this?

    2. Re:Ready or not, here they come.. by bobbied · · Score: 1

      so who is asking for this?

      Haven't a clue.. But I'm the kind that used his Note 4 for 10 years before buying a new phone, so I'm not one to care about being at the cusp of the leading edge.

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    3. Re: Ready or not, here they come.. by sonamchauhan · · Score: 1

      No buddy, not me - count me out of the 5G charm offensive as well.

      FYI: "John Dvorak: 5G Got Me Fired"
      http://scientists4wiredtech.co...

    4. Re:Ready or not, here they come.. by Drethon · · Score: 2

      The chip sets are shipping, phones are being engineered and built, carriers are buying spectrum space, vendors are starting to ship the equipment and the marketing blitz is already on.

      It doesn't matter if you are ready or not, it's going to happen unless there is some huge unforeseen world/national event that makes it financially impossible. It's happening, like it or not.

      Where is it happening? 4g networks only partially qualify for the 4g defintion right now. 4g networks are supposed to be 10Mb minimum (OK we hit that), 100Mb typical with speeds up to 1Gb. The best downloads per tomshardware are 85Mb which is not enough to meet the average 4g defintion. Verizon's average is 53.3, which is half the 4g definition.

      https://pdfs.semanticscholar.o...
      https://www.tomsguide.com/us/b...

    5. Re:Ready or not, here they come.. by Oswald+McWeany · · Score: 2

      The best downloads per tomshardware are 85Mb which is not enough to meet the average 4g defintion. Verizon's average is 53.3, which is half the 4g definition.

      And despite that, I can't think the last time I thought "this is taking too long to download" or "I wish I had faster download speeds" - on my phone at least. Faster is obviously better- and IF 5G is faster that will be great... but I'm not willing to fork out a lot of extra money for it. If costs are comparable I'm on board, if not... I'm not concerned.

      I AM concerned though, if as some reports state, that 5G stops working when it rains. I'll stick with 4G if 5G is unreliable. I won't be a first adopter.

      --
      "That's the way to do it" - Punch
    6. Re:Ready or not, here they come.. by mjwx · · Score: 2

      The chip sets are shipping, phones are being engineered and built, carriers are buying spectrum space, vendors are starting to ship the equipment and the marketing blitz is already on.

      It doesn't matter if you are ready or not, it's going to happen unless there is some huge unforeseen world/national event that makes it financially impossible. It's happening, like it or not.

      That isn't the question.

      Sure it's being shipped, but will it be bought. The problem you've got is that 5G offers no advantages over 4G LTE and that hasn't even finished rolling out yet. 4G is already fast enough that data caps can't keep up with it. Besides all the speed in the world will not help you in the middle of London or New York where towers are horribly congested (even in Basingstoke town centre it's terrible).

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    7. Re:Ready or not, here they come.. by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      I'm constantly finding 4G networks to be too slow, even for basic browsing. Maybe you live in a sparsely populated area or something, but around here it's a toxic mix of over-subscription and poor signal.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    8. Re:Ready or not, here they come.. by bobbied · · Score: 1

      Well, my point really was, it doesn't matter if we are ready, it's going to happen. Asking the question is pointless as is discussing why we should or shouldn't do it as if we could stop the speeding train.

      The ship has sailed, the train has left the station, you cannot stop it now, there's no going back.... No need to worry about stuff you cannot control or stop.

      --
      "File to fit, pound to insert, paint to match" - Aircraft Maintenance 101
    9. Re:Ready or not, here they come.. by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      Assuming by slow you mean bandwidth, not latency (the comment about "basic browsing" suggests the former): I have no problems with it, my daughter often watches YouTube shows on the way home using 4G data without any apparent problems (albeit this is T-Mo's video throttling to around 1.5Mbps, so it ends up being 480p, but on a 5" phone who cares?)

      At a guess I'd say that there aren't enough towers in your area, OR they haven't upgraded the links between the towers to the core network (which is surprisingly common), neither of which are issues related to 4G itself. I wouldn't assume 5G is going to improve anything in the slightest for you, as it'll still need those extra towers and connectivity, without those upgrades your network will still be terrible.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    10. Re:Ready or not, here they come.. by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      Whatever the issue is, when here is a lot of traffic on the motorway I can't even stream low bitrate talk radio. Often the phone just loses connection to the tower entirely. I think it's over-subscription, because everything is fine when traffic is light.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    11. Re:Ready or not, here they come.. by squiggleslash · · Score: 1

      I'd go with bandwidth between towers and network then. I commute to work on relatively busy roads every day and usually pass the time streaming music, without any problems. (On the odd occasion I've played a video - no not watched it! Just to bring up music that isn't on Amazon Prime or in my library) the music has been fine (can't comment on the video quality because I can't see it.)

      Having six lanes of traffic within a mile of six more lanes of traffic at rush hour doesn't seem to phase TMoUS's 4G network, but I'd half expect them, being a US operation, to be more even with high bandwidth links between towers than a European operation, where I'd assume towers next to a motorway wouldn't be considered prime upgrade territory as long as they can support a lot of voice calls, just because it's not where people would expect a lot of data usage... maybe? I don't know! Either way, the technology and density in both these cases should be similar, so I don't think it's the radio interface.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    12. Re:Ready or not, here they come.. by sarren1901 · · Score: 1

      Funny, I live in San Diego and as long as I'm not out of 4g data for the month, download speeds (aka website load times) are never a problem. The one exception is a particular blog I read, but it's slow on my desktop so that's probably them going with a cheaper hosting option and not my ISP.

      Maybe you live somewhere ultra-populated that there just isn't enough spectrum to properly serve all the customers.

      I'm on Verizon for what its worth. They cost to much but I pretty much always have a signal, even on vacation out of state, so it is worth it. It's not worth it for an unlimited data plan though.

      5g literally offers me nothing as I don't even "need" 4g. Even on "safety mode" (verizon's out of data mode) you can browse the Internet. It's obviously slower but still very doable. Especially if it's just news sites or Slashdot.

      Of course, I don't need to video chat or live stream music either.

    13. Re:Ready or not, here they come.. by Stan42 · · Score: 1

      Is the "The Fugees" ? ^ ^

  3. Re:5g is pointless by RobXiii · · Score: 1

    Yup. Data caps are still kept super low. Zero point in 5G speeds until that's fixed.

  4. So should we or should we not? by mschuyler · · Score: 1

    Serious question. I have an S4 and it's time to upgrade after 6 years and some flakiness lately. So the S10 will likely be my phone for another six years. Is 5G really close enough to get the capability, or will it be six years before it is worthwhile? I do not live in a heavily urban area, so there is that. TIA

    --
    How about a moderation of -1 pedantic.
    1. Re:So should we or should we not? by olsmeister · · Score: 5, Insightful

      first gen 5g phones are gonna suck through battery like crazy. I wouldn't get one until the 5g modem can be integrated and doesn't need to be separate. Probably best to hold off for a year or so to technology mature.

    2. Re:So should we or should we not? by apoc.famine · · Score: 1

      I went from 4 to 7 two years ago, and I've been really, really happy with the S7. At this point I'm considering jumping to the S9 in 6 months or so, once the price drops. I'm not considering jumping to the 10. Too expensive, and it doesn't offer enough over the 9 to make the price worthwhile.

      --
      Velociraptor = Distiraptor / Timeraptor
  5. 5G will expose carriers as the liars they are by nwaack · · Score: 2

    So at the current mobile data rates and caps, mobile carriers will either have to charge 100's of dollars for a single 5G plan (maybe 1000+), or admit that they've been price gouging for mobile data for many years.

  6. Ditch the voice plan. Go data only. by bluelip · · Score: 1

    Get a MiFi for whatever the current name is.
    This will allow your phone, tablet, laptop, gaming console, etc, to be online for less than a typical voice plan.
    Want a sleek phone for a night out and a rugged one for a day on the construction site? They'll both work with the MiFi.
    Getting a SIP/VoIP number, if you don't want Google Voice, is easier than ever.

    --

    Yep, I never spell check.
    More incorrect spellings can be found he
  7. 3G to 4G didn't bring significant news by ffkom · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Given the scarce data volumes sold at outrageous prices, 3G was already fast enough to exploit one's "included volume" quickly. When 4G became active, I hardly noticed any difference - the phone was usable for the same kinds of use cases as before, and unusable because of price per volume for everything else. I do not see how 5G is going to change that. Does it matter if it takes a few minutes or a few seconds to burn through your traffic-per-month?

    1. Re:3G to 4G didn't bring significant news by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      But 5G is fast for everyone on the same tower. Really fast all the time.
      One tower, many users.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    2. Re:3G to 4G didn't bring significant news by ffkom · · Score: 1

      But 5G is fast for everyone on the same tower. Really fast all the time. One tower, many users.

      Ok, then sell me a contract where I get an uncapped bandwidth all the time of 0.001 times the bandwidth that one tower can transfer - should be fair enough, right?

      In reality, you will find that no provider will sell you such a contract. They still want back to the days were every 140 byte short message earned them 29 cents.

    3. Re:3G to 4G didn't bring significant news by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      The really great idea with 5G was to have many towers and EXTRA BIG tubes connecting the towers to the telco and wider internet.
      This time the EXTRA BIG tubes would actually be in place and not just be all marketing after the real-world tests.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    4. Re:3G to 4G didn't bring significant news by ffkom · · Score: 3, Insightful

      You mean like GPRS really bringing the success for WAP, like Edge satisfying all our bandwidth needs, like UMTS bringing blazingly fast data plus ultra high quality voice connections to everyone, and like 4G "LTE" bringing a "Long Term Evolution"?

      Sorry, but there is no reason to believe in the next of those hypes. There is no obstacle to connect LTE towers with "extra big tubes", if that is what carriers wanted. What they really want is people spending more money on data transfers, while limiting their investments as much as possible.

    5. Re:3G to 4G didn't bring significant news by SlaveToTheGrind · · Score: 1

      You're focused on throughput to the exclusion of latency. The latter makes a big difference, particularly for things like web browsing where it can take dozens of transactions before a page can be fully displayed.

    6. Re:3G to 4G didn't bring significant news by _merlin · · Score: 1

      Most noticeable thing for me with the WCDMA HSPA (3G) to LTE (4G) transition was better battery life and the phone not running so hot when using mobile data. The latency is better, but it was already acceptable with 3G.

    7. Re:3G to 4G didn't bring significant news by mjwx · · Score: 1

      You mean like GPRS really bringing the success for WAP, like Edge satisfying all our bandwidth needs, like UMTS bringing blazingly fast data plus ultra high quality voice connections to everyone, and like 4G "LTE" bringing a "Long Term Evolution"?

      Sorry, but there is no reason to believe in the next of those hypes. There is no obstacle to connect LTE towers with "extra big tubes", if that is what carriers wanted. What they really want is people spending more money on data transfers, while limiting their investments as much as possible.

      The problem isn't the backbone, its congestion. With a mobile connection you've only got so much bandwidth to play with. Usually bandwidth is about 50-80 MHz for Frequency Division Duplexing to be shared amongst every single device connected to that cell. This means that you're going to be queuing a lot when you get a lot of devices. It doesn't matter how fast LTE is (and lets face it, even at 50mbps, its pretty fast) it's going to feel slow because you're in a queue waiting for bandwidth.

      This is why I connect to the Wifi at work, I rarely get near my monthly data cap even if I didn't but on the LTE signal I'd be queuing up with 500 other people for the same 80 MHz of bandwidth compared to the couple of dozen connecting to the same wireless AP.

      --
      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
    8. Re:3G to 4G didn't bring significant news by satsuke · · Score: 1

      50-80mhz is not common .. at least in the US, the FDD allocations are more like 5x5, 10x10, 15x15 and rarely 20x20.

      Carrier aggregation is a thing, but different frequency bands have different characteristics, and a mobile antenna is only _so_ versatile.

    9. Re:3G to 4G didn't bring significant news by tlhIngan · · Score: 1

      But 5G is fast for everyone on the same tower. Really fast all the time.
      One tower, many users.

      Or tons of towers, not so many users. One of the 5G improvements means there literally is a tower at every streetlight. This is because the band used is so high that there isn't much propagation, so you need a ton of base stations.

      You're literally going to be surrounded by 5G transmitters as you walk down the street.

      Sure, there are lower bands for more "traditional" cell tower usage, but inside an urban jungle, carriers will want to use the high bands and stick cell repeaters on every streetlight. It's the only way to get high speed gigabit data throughput in the city.

  8. Data cap by enigma32 · · Score: 1

    So, what... we'll then be able to burn through our data caps in only a few minutes?

    1. Re:Data cap by ffkom · · Score: 1

      Not in minutes, in a few seconds. Current 5G chips have been measured to deliver up to 7 GBit/s.

  9. Re:Every new thing is never enough. by bob4u2c · · Score: 1

    6G!

    Don't count me in until we reach double digits. I want to be able to download all of wikipedia in under 1 second, and the data cap would kick in around 1.3ms.

  10. WHY DO WE NEED 5G by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    Clearly the push for 5G is driven by potential profit.
    That is the nature of our world.
    But how does 5G provide this new cash?

    Will it just force consumers to buy more expensive services and equipment?
    Or will it offer such a wonderful future that consumers will demand it?

    The Comms business seems like the IRS - everytime they make a change, we end up paying more.

  11. Tower and phone and networking by AHuxley · · Score: 1

    Hardware is ready for consumer. With real "5" and "G" GUI letters to show working 5G.
    Tower is in place for telco.
    People know of the "internet" so the content is not new.
    Faster networks is the only thing to consider.
    Got the super fast new networks from the 5G tower needed to keep up with all the users doing fast internet all day at the same time?
    Did your telco make the extra large network investment?
    Well did it?
    5G, 5G, save me with the smartphone and the lag, lag, lag.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  12. Re:Every new thing is never enough. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    I use a very conveniently sized, seven year old flip phone that lasts about a week on a charge and is still running fine with the original battery. It actually cost less than $10 at Radio Shack. I have a pay-as-you-go "plan" which is so low that you would cry if I told you.

    Most of the people in my dept. have very expensive iPhones with budget busting "plans" to match. They spend more time worrying about charging their batteries than their children's education.

    But it is true that they are better informed via FB and Twitter than I ever want to be.

    God help us because ATT certainly will not.

  13. Re:5g is pointless by AHuxley · · Score: 2

    But how it will go. So fast with the cat video clips and many different Linux iso downloads.
    Find all the non systemd iso and try them all. Upload a video about each install.
    Think of the games.
    That 100 gig game download.
    Then the 60 gig patch next day.
    5G will make content download and upload so much more fun for a few days of the cap each month.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  14. I have free unlimited voice by Crashmarik · · Score: 1

    Pay as I go data (1st gig free) which I never use because of free wifi.

    No way I am ditching this plan.

  15. Re:Every new thing is never enough. by badboy_tw2002 · · Score: 1

    Let me guess you clip it to your belt, for style and comfort.

  16. Re:5g is pointless by Bugler412 · · Score: 1

    not defending them at all, they suck in their business/marketing practices for the most part. But 5G benefits the carriers for sure, not the customers. More users per given infrastructure means lower cost per customer once installation cost is recovered. Pretty much exactly the same nature of benefit for them moving for 3g to 4g. I mean, one could stream HD video over 3G 12 years ago in many or even most areas that were low user count. Each generation give them more users, but no real change in conditions for the customer except perhaps in fewer clogged mobile networks in dense areas.

  17. All I need is 640KB and 4G speed! by olddoc · · Score: 1

    Once 5G comes out I wonder how much an "unlimited data" plan becomes. 5GB? 10GB? 1TB?

    --
    Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
  18. Re:What bridge? by couchslug · · Score: 1

    Asking for a friend.

    --
    "This post is an artistic work of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."
  19. LTE stood what what again? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    My "4G" enabled Moto G6 has a big "LTE" logo next to the signal bars. Didn't that stand for Long Term Evolution? Wasn't it supposed to mean that they would eventually give us real 4G speeds if we all bought modems and handsets first?

    WTF ever happened to FINISHING the 4G rollout?

    1. Re:LTE stood what what again? by antdude · · Score: 1

      I'm still on 3G with my iPhone 4S. :)

      --
      Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  20. 15GB cap is not going to replace home Internet att by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    15GB cap is not going to replace home Internet att much less an $500 modem

    https://www.anandtech.com/show...

  21. I'm ready by nospam007 · · Score: 1

    I'll be out of my 'unlimited downloads' in minutes instead of hours that month.

  22. Re:Every new thing is never enough. by AHuxley · · Score: 1

    But the series of tubes to all the 5G towers are really big.

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  23. Something to consider... by acoustix · · Score: 2

    ...is that even on 4G in the U.S. we aren't getting close to the speeds that were originally promised for 3G. With 3G we were promised speeds as fast a 100mbps and in reality is was maybe 3-5mbps. Now with 4G most markets won't deliver speeds close to half of that. And now we're told that 5G will be able to replace dedicated circuits with the same speed and reliability? I call BS. I am VERY skeptical.

    --
    "A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
  24. I need a bigger data plan first by Dixie_Flatline · · Score: 1

    I have an 8GB/month plan, and that's actually quite large for a Canadian consumer. There are very few plans larger than that, and they cost an arm and a leg. I'm already really stingy with downloading things just so I can make sure I'm not paying overages. What the hell do I care about a faster network? I don't want to get through this data any faster, and frankly, I don't have a lot more I can download. I spend a lot of time in wifi range (though my mobile data is more reliable than a lot of those wifi networks; I'll switch over sometimes just so I don't have to wait), and most of what I'm downloading is podcast episodes or my instagram feed.

    At least here, this is just going to be an excuse to raise prices again without any meaningful difference in my service. No thanks.