Verizon has conducted tests of its 5G technology, and early results show the new tech can reach connection speeds up to 30-50 times faster than 4G LTE.
… above the speeds offered by Google Fiber’s gigabit wired broadband. Even better, the company expects to have “some level of commercial deployment” by 2017, some three years earlier than expected, reports CNET.
In real world terms, a 2 hour movie would take around six minutes to download over a good LTE connection, while 5G could download it in around 15 seconds or so.
Although Verizon sees “some level of commercial deployment” by 2017, it will likely be awhile after that before regular Joes can access such huge bandwidth. Carriers will wait until enough devices support 5G before making it widely available, while device manufacturers will be waiting until enough network capacity is available. In 9to5Mac’s words, “the usual chicken-and-egg situation.”
Verizon will be moving the tests out of the lab and into the field within the next 12 months. However, it needs the government to release more radio spectrum before expanding its field tests.
South Korea is expected to launch a trial 5G network in time for the Winter Olympics in 2018, and Japan is aiming to have a next-generation network ready for the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2020.
