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Verizon Plans To Roll Out Its 5G Mobile Network In 30 Cities This Year (engadget.com)

Verizon has announced plans to turn on its 5G mobile network in 30 U.S. cities this year. "It revealed the plan during an investor meeting Thursday, though didn't disclose the list of cities," reports Engadget. From the report: Verizon already offers home broadband service via 5G in Los Angeles, Houston, Indianapolis and Sacramento. This month, it hinted at upcoming rollouts in New York City and Atlanta, as well as Medford, Massachusetts, suggesting Verizon will bring 5G to nearby Boston too. The provider plans to flip the switch on its mobile 5G network in the first half of this year, and it will expand its home 5G service to more markets later in 2019. One of the first phones to support Verizon's nascent 5G network will be the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G, which was unveiled yesterday at Samsung's Unpacked event. The device has a larger screen and battery than the S10 Plus, and will temporarily be a Verizon exclusive before expanding to other carriers in the weeks after launch. It's slated to go on sale sometime "in the first half of 2019."

37 comments

  1. Who cares? by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 2

    5G isn't for the customer -- the customer already has fast data in the form of 4G. It's for device makers who want to put a camera and mic in everything, phoning (hah!) home to the mothership, governments that want to roll out surveillance networks on the cheap. You're the product, not the customer.

    Me? I've turned off my data plan and now pay under $20/mo, if and when I choose to bring my cell with me. All hail Ned Ludd!

    1. Re:Who cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No one cares what you do. No one cares what size tin foil cap you wear. No one cares.

    2. Re: Who cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      God damn Internet!

    3. Re:Who cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No one cares what you do. No one cares what size tin foil cap you wear. No one cares.

      You are mistaken, AC. I, for one, do in fact care, and you cannot prove otherwise.

      Rock on, b0s0z0ku.

    4. Re:Who cares? by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      Me? I've turned off my data plan and now pay under $20/mo, if and when I choose to bring my cell with me. All hail Ned Ludd!

      My new phone plan is going to be $20/mo, too! And no 5G, so nobody will ever spy on me! All hail Google Fi! Er, wait...

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    5. Re:Who cares? by AHuxley · · Score: 2

      Communist govs get to track mil/contractors near every mil building in real time.
      Communist spies making new friends in the bar, pub, "gym", library, cafe now have the past movement history of all relevant mil/contractors/workers.
      Daily movements and turn on the 5G?
      Its full digital for the Communist spies now.

      Communist govs are very happy with rapid rollout of the new networks all over the world.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    6. Re: Who cares? by ljw1004 · · Score: 1

      4g isn't fast enough data for me. After a fun day with my family, with a load of photos and videos, it takes hours to sync then to the cloud (iCloud, Google photos, or I use One Drive). And I can't really start sharing, processing, editing then until they're uploaded.

      I'd love much faster data.

    7. Re: Who cares? by b0s0z0ku · · Score: 2

      Why are you stinking your private photos with the clown? Enjoy your time with your family - you don't have to put every second of it on the Intarwebz.

    8. Re:Who cares? by _merlin · · Score: 1

      Fuck me, you're the reincarnation of McCarthy. See kids, this is how an ideology props itself up: by spreading fear about the other ideology. Without constant fear of the other, ideologies fail. Don't play into their game.

    9. Re:Who cares? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not even just about cameras and mics (which will be hidden in urban furniture like advertising panels, streetlights, or the equivalent indoors).

      It probably gives a good location upgrade, if you're in a high density area. Even if you're carrying no phone and no electronics at all we'll end up with detection or tracking by analyzing how human bodies perturb/modify/disrupt the propagation of millimeter microwave beams. Computing ability for this is almost guaranteed to be present when you're doing MIMO with beam forming.

  2. 5g rolling out by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Meanwhile I don't have any cell service whatsoever at my home in Maine. And I'm not even far from the center of my town and only 15 minutes from 2 cities...

    1. Re:5g rolling out by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      The series of huge new pipes and tubes is on the way.
      Then up to a new 5G location and its full speed 5G for all.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  3. When 5G gives everyone cancer do they pay the bill by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    When 5G gives everyone cancer does verizon pay the bill?

  4. meanwhile.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    here in nowheresville, middle america, we only have 4g in spotty areas in a narrow band along the interstate only... everything else is still edge and 3g, and we're gonna lose those plus significant rural voice coverage in december 2019 (confirmed by local verizon corporate rep), and we all get to 'upgrade' our handsets to get this reduced service. thanks verizon for fucking us over. we really do appreciate the hard work and dedication you've shown in your anal rape of rural markets.

    1. Re:meanwhile.. by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Some type of 5G dish on the building? 5G can do long distances right?
      Use that math to get the 5G connecting into the next state with the correct math?
      Once that 5G data is at the tower its new extra big pipes and tubes all the way.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    2. Re:meanwhile.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      5g is transmitted over very short distances; reportedly only over one averaged sized city block. Very small antenna are used only a few inches long. 5g has very poor transmission through walls so several antennae will be required per cell.

  5. Cities, cities, all the time cities! by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 1

    Verizon has announced plans to turn on its 5G mobile network in 30 U.S. cities this year.

    Cities, cities, all the time cities!

    Wireless isn't (just) about cities, where you have a concentration of devices to connect, short distances between them, and infrastructure for building infrastructure.

    Wireless is about being able to serve customers WHEREVER they are.

    Yes, that includes devices moving around in cities, in a sea of tiny cells to serve the enormous data throughput needs through the limited radio bandwidth. But, more critically, it also includes drive-through / flyover country, with a sparse distribution of devices which can be served by a handful of giant cells, cited on high pointsthe or towers.

    This serves the city customers, when they're on the move through the thin spaces between cities, and (as a bonus) the the rural customers, too far apart to be served cost-effectively by landlines.

    When cell phone service was first deployed, the limited number of carriers understood what they were selling was the ability to be connected to the (then voice only) net, no matter where they were

    But the new generations of administrators of the sea-of-competitive-carriers, deploying the new generations of cell phone/data technology, in their (legitimate) pursuit of profit, have forgotten what it is they're selling. By trying to cherry-pick high density collections of usually-near-home customers to get the most financial bang for the infrastructure investment, they've left even their urban customers down when they're on the move.

    The mistake is trying to treat each cell as a profit center, and not installing cells where the traffic through the cell doesn't pay for it (directly). This misses that a cell in a low-traffic are eliminates a hole where the customers who are USUALLY in a high-traffic area come to occasionally, and are suddenly not receiving the service they have paid for and may truly need. Revenue from a handful of residents in the boonies-cell's service area is a bonus.

    So they're rolling out the new tech in a few cities? Well, you've got to start somewhere. (Yawn!) Wake me when they get enough of a clue to deploy a few rural cells, too, and create a coverage map that looks like a paint splash, rather than a few carefully drawn dots.

    --
    Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
    1. Re: Cities, cities, all the time cities! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I was waiting for the quote to end, but it seems your entire post was italicized.

    2. Re: Cities, cities, all the time cities! by Ungrounded+Lightning · · Score: 1

      missed a slash. Sigh.

      Only the first line was a quote.

      --
      Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
    3. Re:Cities, cities, all the time cities! by kurkosdr · · Score: 1

      Calm your horses. When they mean "roll out to the cities" they mean set up some glorified WiGig hotspots in some central spots, which is what mmWave 5G is. mmWave 5G makes no sense outside dense urban centers. The other 5G, the one which will be an improvement to 4G and operates at lower frequency bands, will take some time to be fully rolled out due to network upgrade costs.

    4. Re: Cities, cities, all the time cities! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      (different AC)

      I swear it felt authoritative when reading :)

      But this is interesting. We could expect short range 5G "access points" to be installed on highway stops, near electric chargers, in some restaurants, near landmarks.
      Seem you want long range low frequency 5G everywhere (which is like a completely different "5G" altogether). I question whether it will have meaningful consumer intake for a while. This reminds me of the H265 codec which is rarely ever used (owners of bluray 4K, a subset of the pirates who still download files instead of streaming, maybe Apple users).

      This might work if new built towers are furnished with both 4G and 5G! or if a tower has only 2G or 3G, then you can install 4G and 5G instead. But I wonder if they'll often deploy 4G-only.

  6. VZ is dumping copper... by RealGene · · Score: 2

    After Superstorm Sandy, Verizon refused to repair a lot of their damaged copper POTS lines, and required customers affected to use (4G) wireless connected via an adapter to their landline phones.

    They're rolling out 5G to kill off copper completely, and to recover from the financial disaster of FiOS as a broadband strategy.

    --
    Mission: To provide products that consume time and energy as entertainingly as permitted by the laws of thermodynamics.
    1. Re:VZ is dumping copper... by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      5G has great distance right? They did think of that for the more rural areas?

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    2. Re: VZ is dumping copper... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      5g has shorter distances.

    3. Re: VZ is dumping copper... by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Any idea of the best distances AC under good conditions? With correct hardware and a well designed dish/antenna. Thanks.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    4. Re:VZ is dumping copper... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      5g has terrible distance. It will only be transmitted over approximately 1 city block.

    5. Re:VZ is dumping copper... by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Someone is going to have to roll out big new tubes and pipes all over the USA so 5G stays fast like the marketing says it will.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  7. Re:When 5G gives everyone cancer do they pay the b by bonedonut · · Score: 2

    how will they differentiate between 3G, 4G, and 5G cancer?

  8. That's nothing by rsilvergun · · Score: 3, Funny

    Donald Trump's gonna roll out 6G!

    I tell you, the best wireless. You're gonna get tired of winning this wireless.

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
    1. Re:That's nothing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have you heard of this one, it's just like the same thing!

      https://www.almasdarnews.com/article/russia-has-s-600-and-s-700-air-defense-systems-mp/

      Vladimir Zhirinovsky, a Russian MP who has lead the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) since the 1990s, has let slip that Russia allegedly had "S-600" and "S-700" air defense systems.

      The earth-shattering "revelation”"came when the flamboyant 72-year-old legislator was commenting on the recent delivery of the S-300 missile defense systems to Syria.

      "S-300 has interested them (the United States)," he said Thursday on a current affairs talk show hosted by journalist Vladimir Soloviev.

      "They had [previously] paid no attention whatsoever to some S-300. But now they're scared, because Israel, the United States' close ally, is scared — S-300s are nearby. Every jet — not just Israeli — every military jet may be destroyed."

      "The Americans are scared in general, they are scared that the world’s best air defense system is Russia’s S-300. And we [also] have S-400, S-500, S-600, and S-700. We can shut down the whole planet, and no plane will [be able to] take off," the MP joked.

      His statement prompted an explosion of laughter from another guest on the show and applause from the audience. The host played along with Zhirinovsky, cautioning him that he shouldn’t give away all secrets so as not to bring up the "dreaded S-1500 system."

      The MP batted back the warning, claiming that the imaginary S-700 will "block everyone at the launch points for good, and this will be the last blow of the Russian counter-air defense system.

      The Russian military rolled out the S-400 Triumph defense system in 2007. The S-400 was created on the basis of the Russian S-300 air defense systems, but has significantly better performance capabilities in terms of effectiveness, coverage area, as well as variety of targets.

      Initially, the S-400 was named the S-300PM3 and it was intentionally designed to look like the S-300, so that the enemy could not recognize which system it was dealing with.

    2. Re:That's nothing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We cannot allow there to be a 6G gap!

  9. Due to the egregious 5G marketing hype.... by QuietLagoon · · Score: 1

    ... I pretty much ignore all the 5G announcements of late. The cell industry definitely blew it, big time, with all the unsubstantiated 5G hype. I just do not believe what they say anymore. The cell ISPs need a new marketing team.

  10. How To Identify The Carrier by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    5G poles have been popping up around the Tampa Bay area in Florida. But I have no idea who is installing them.

    How can I determine who is putting up the towers?

    1. Re:How To Identify The Carrier by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you have that many 5G poles it means a good number of their great-great-grandparents emigrated from Poland to the Southern United States a long time ago.

  11. Great by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So, is this so-called 5G going to live up to the 4G specs in terms of speed?

  12. Say goodbye to insects by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is this trying to intentionally kill insects or is it being done unknowingly?