dslreports logo
 story category
5G Wireless Broadband is Being Ridiculously Overhyped

While carrier marketing departments have heralded fifth-generation (5G) wireless as something akin to the second coming, others argue it's more of a normal evolutionary step than a massive leap into the future. For example Eric Xu, current Huawei Chairman, recently argued that consumers will ultimately "find no 'material difference between 5G & LTE.'"

Click for full size
And while some might argue this skepticism is due to Huawei recently being blacklisted by Ajit Pai's FCC from the US market due to unproven spying allegations, concerns that 5G is being overhyped is a sentiment that's quietly growing among many in the telecom sector.

"Pessimism about 5G has been growing behind the scenes in the mobile industry but Huawei is the first large infrastructure company to state it explicitly,: Canalys analyst Ben Stanton told the Financial Times this week. "The reality is that 5G will be incredibly expensive for operators to deploy, requiring tens of thousands of new base stations per country. And the industry is yet to uncover a killer-use case for the 5G network."

Stanton argued that it's "becoming clear that oft-cited use cases, like IoT and self-driving cars, are actually more dependent on computing power built into the device itself, rather than the network."

A lot of this hype is coming from companies like Verizon, who have been striking major, taxpayer-subsidized 5G deployment deals with cities like Boston. As part of those deals, Verizon has convinced several cities that "smart city" tech will only be made possible by helping to subsidize Verizon's network upgrades.

Long-time industry watcher Dave Burstein argues that most of the 5G-enabled miracles carriers are promising with 5G are little more than BS, and were already well underway (smart cities, IOT connectivity, VR, medical advancement) before the 5G hype train came to town.

That's not to say 5G won't be an improvement; it's a combination of numerous technologies that should make networks faster, more resilient, and easier to manage with lower latency. But again it's going to be a modest evolution of existing ideas, not some kind of mind-blowing technological revolution. And with AT&T and Verizon still enjoying a monopoly over the business data services (BDS) market (which feeds everything from ATMs to cellular towers), the million dollar question remains just how much consumers will have to pay to enjoy 5G.

Most recommended from 32 comments



pclover
join:2008-08-02
Santa Cruz, CA

17 recommendations

pclover

Member

We don't even know what defines "5G"

The standards for "5G" STILL is yet to be fully ratified.

Everything right now is smoke and mirrors with lots of marketing UNTIL it is ratified and defined what "5G" actually is.

No, Deploying features from LTE Advanced and LTE Advanced Pro is NOT 5G as AT&T tries to claim.
mmay149q
Premium Member
join:2009-03-05
Dallas, TX

6 recommendations

mmay149q

Premium Member

Hmmm

"Verizon, who have been striking major, taxpayer-subsidized 5G deployment deals with cities like Boston."

Isn't this the same thing as those public/private partnership deals that ATT and Verizon are always killing off through legislation? Someone should really call them out on that next time they try to do it.

karpodiem
Hail to The Victors
Premium Member
join:2008-05-20
Troy, MI

1 edit

5 recommendations

karpodiem

Premium Member

5G is a solution to a problem that only exists in very dense cities

The rest of the country has very little need for 5G.
neufuse
join:2006-12-06
James Creek, PA

4 recommendations

neufuse

Member

4G...

about as much as 4G was...... remember when it was hyped up so much and there was tons of articles running saying "4G isn't even a thing"... "4G spec doesnt exist yet"... "verizon is racing to declare they have 4G when there is no standard yet" blah blah blah.... same thing all over

LTE is good, but with all the hype it turned into LT-Eh....
Skippy25
join:2000-09-13
Hazelwood, MO

4 recommendations

Skippy25

Member

Oh that's right....

5G requires more fiber to be deployed closer to the user base and we didn't do that because we wanted to hoard our cash.

6G will need it closer, 7G will need it even closer, 8G means they might as well put the damn fiber at all the homes and buildings anyway.

Anon6c732
@charter.com

2 recommendations

Anon6c732

Anon

Not overhyped

If big cities where lots of spectrum is needed because people want unlimited data not "unlimited" data 5G is going to be useful. In rural areas not so much but carriers don't need as much spectrum in those areas anyway. While a carrier may be able to offer unlimited data with thresholds 10X what they are today in rural areas they can't in big cities and since carries don't charge by area they have nationwide pricing so essentially thresholds are always going to be the lowest common denominator. 5G vastly increase this.

At some point t-mobile's network will in fact be on parity with at&t and Verizon and if in 2-3 years they have 150 GB deprioritzation limits, 1080p streaming even on the base plan, 100 GB of tethering with 5 Mbps throttle afterwards, at&t's and Verizon's 22 GB depri and 480p streaming and 600 Mbps tethering aint going to cut it. Not to mention if you've been saying for years that 5G will give you 50X the capacity and you keep the same or almost the same shitty limits well people will call you out on that.
brianiscool
join:2000-08-16
Tampa, FL

2 recommendations

brianiscool

Member

5G

I heard you can fly to the moon with 5G!