when you joined the edge In 2018, it was my first big assignment It looked like an absolute peach – Travel to the wonderful island of Maui in Hawaii, sip cold drinks on the sand (the edge I paid for my flight; we Boats are not accepted), and became one of the first journalists to experience 5G’s blazing speeds at a Qualcomm event. Instead, I found myself telling a lie. The first real-world 5G test Turned out to be uselessspeeds Misleading at bestCovering up the fact that Verizon and AT&T’s (mmWave) 5G millimeter wave wasn’t ready.
Over the next three years, Verizon and AT&T successfully used a dummy strategy until you made it, Recruit politicians to help them “win” 5G as if it were some kind of “race”. Their fastest 5G networks were running on a piece of the spectrum called millimeter wave which is fast but so choppy you can barely get a signal without a cell tower directly overhead. Meanwhile, powerful phone makers like Apple They were accomplices in renaming LTE networks to things like “5Ge,” which helps carriers mislead customers into thinking they’ve already started rolling out the new networks.
But it now appears that the 5G millimeter-wave carriers that have been buzzing from the start were just a fake giant head – a way to stay in the game until their already useful 5G spectrum is ready.
Tuesday, Apple announces iPhone SE for 2022the US’s first 5G iPhone to lack the 5G millimeter wave provided by AT&T and Especially Verizon has insisted on this for years. Instead of rejecting that iPhone or insisting that Apple make a special version of its millimeter wave network, Verizon will simply…carry it. Verizon spokesperson George Coronius confirmed this the edge That the company will stock it in stores.
Why would I make such a big deal about something so natural? You have to understand that things have It wasn’t normal in Verizon Land. Verizon paid Google to create a copy of a file donation Pixel 4A 5G That costs $100 more To meet the ridiculous requirement of a carrier that phones support millimeter wave hardly. Verizon version of Samsung Galaxy S20 It had less RAM and no microSD expansion So they can fit mmWave 5G. All the high-end iPhones from Apple owned them Millimeter wave small picture windows If you bought it in the US, and why? I personally experienced a Verizon mmWave 5G signal with my iPhone mini in total Once.
These are just the big tech companies: As far as I know, every other smartphone manufacturer that sells phones in the US has been involved in Producer except “5G UW” phones For Verizon too, which until now meant mmWave. It was a strict rule that when analyst Anshel Sage discovered the phone’s spec sheet, he immediately raised the possibility Verizon may not carry the new iPhone SE at all.
However, it will—because Verizon doesn’t need to pretend it cares about millimeter wave anymore. In fact, the company has already rebranded away from it.
Originally, Cellular industry managers told me That millimeter wave was essential because 5G needed to wow people with speed. But the joke from day one was It’s a scavenger hunt: Fast when you find a one street corner where you work, but have to walk down the street or enter a building, the signal evaporates.
But on the twenty-second of January this year, On protests from the airline industryVerizon flipped the switch on C-band 5G, is the best part of the radio spectrum in both worlds with a much longer range than millimeter wave and much better speeds than low band 5G. after Years of Industry Promises 5G ImprovementVerizon results Suddenly it looked amazing.
And because Verizon loves to look great, it is Previously It has redefined its “5G Ultra Wideband” brand. Midband 5G is also “5G UW” As of February.
in january, Read the company’s website to define these terms:
5G Ultra Wideband is Verizon’s best 5G. Our 5G Ultra Broadband network uses high bandwidth (mmWave) spectrum to deliver the ultimate 5G experience.
Today, you read:
5G Ultra Wideband is Verizon’s best 5G. Our 5G ultra-wideband network uses high bandwidth (mmWave) and mid-band spectrum (C-band) To provide the best 5G experience.
That’s funny.
But now that Verizon has rerouted its network around the C-band — and invested heavily, $45.4 billion just for the spectrum alone He no longer has a reason to push millimeter wave devices that barely deliver on the promise of 5G. What the first 5G phone needs people to really give them a good 5G experience, and that’s exactly what the new iPhone SE is preparing to do: Those who upgrade from an earlier model have the opportunity to go directly from LTE to the C-band 5G network. It is one of the first flagship phones Support C-band out of the box.
I don’t think we’ve seen the end of 5G marketing bullshit, keep in mind: You might wonder for a long time if you’re actually on the C band or Verizon’s millimeter wave spectrum because of the way the carrier is now putting both under the same umbrella. There is still plenty of room for AT&T-esque Labeling Tricks In areas where coverage isn’t as good as the carrier wants, too. This was AT&T’s version of a fake strategy until you make it From the beginning.
But at least we can stop pretending that millimeter wave is hardly the future. It only took three years, untold billions of dollars, a completely different set of spectrum, and a lot of misdirection to make 5G a consumer reality — at least in densely populated cities and parts of cities across the country.
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