FYI 5G Coverage (observed)

[Neal]

We all heard about 5G and how this would be urban areas, city centers, etc. So why get 5G as it won't be something we can use? we think....and it's WRONG.

I have an iPhone 12 PRO MAX which is iPhone's first 5G iPhone. In my travels across the US I am seeing far more 5G coverage than I could have imagined. Naturally it started in a suburb of Austin, about 20 minutes away. Then podunk Fredericksburg, TX. Then areas of AZ, Meridian, ID (west of Boise) and I'm in a very small town, Prosser, WA and it has 5G. I am on AT&T by the way.

I'm amazed at the 5G coverage observed so far. I haven't even looked at cellular maps to see where it should be, didn't think it would be anywhere I'd be able to enjoy it. I was wrong. And it's very fast.

With that said, it's probably going to be faster than your RV WiFi no matter what the source. I typically have WiFi OFF on my iPhone so I can enjoy 5G speeds as part of my plan and I'm not burning bandwidth on my RV cellular plans.

 

[TJ&LadyDi]

Wine Country RV Park, perhaps?

TJ

 

[Neal]

Wine Country RV Park, perhaps?

TJ

Undisclosed location, on the run

 

[Neal]

Wine Country RV Park, perhaps?

TJ

Nice little town. Only doing a 1 nighter but I'm impressed.

 

[Neal]

Casa Grande, AZ, outside of town in remote area, iPhone 12 PRO gets 5G with 180 MB down

 

[docj]

We all heard about 5G and how this would be urban areas, city centers, etc. So why get 5G as it won't be something we can use? we think....and it's WRONG.

I have an iPhone 12 PRO MAX which is iPhone's first 5G iPhone. In my travels across the US I am seeing far more 5G coverage than I could have imagined. Naturally it started in a suburb of Austin, about 20 minutes away. Then podunk Fredericksburg, TX. Then areas of AZ, Meridian, ID (west of Boise) and I'm in a very small town, Prosser, WA and it has 5G. I am on AT&T by the way.

I'm amazed at the 5G coverage observed so far. I haven't even looked at cellular maps to see where it should be, didn't think it would be anywhere I'd be able to enjoy it. I was wrong. And it's very fast.

The 5G you are seeing out on the road is NOT the ultra-high speed 5G that we have been reading about for several years. The very high speed 5G is millimeter-wave based and is best suited to urban areas. The much more expansive 5G you are seeing is what is called DSS-5G where DSS stands for Dynamic Spectrum Sharing which is a fancy way of saying that the carriers are now repurposing some of the 4G spectrum and using it for 5G. DSS speeds range from only slightly faster than 4G to several times faster than 4G but nowhere near the ultra-high-speed 5G we were promised.

Why is this happening? Because the build-out of mm-wave 5G is very expensive and time consuming. In order to give the public some form of 5G DSS gives the carriers an affordable option. New phones like my Pixel 5 and the iPhone 12 are capable of both mm-wave and DSS 5G.

Not to toot my own horn, but I have a blog on this topic that you can read here: When is 5G not really 5G?