Tag: ultra wideband

GE Partners Uses Verizon 5G to Power Cross-Industry Testbed

GE Research and Verizon have partnered to power a cross-industry GE testbed with Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband.

Verizon’s Ultra Wideband, also known as mmWave, is the fastest flavor of 5G. It offers revolutionary speed, measured in gigabits. This makes it ideal for data-intensive applications that require high speeds and low latency.

GE’s testbed will tackle a range of industries, including wireless, remote patient monitoring, predictive maintenance of aircraft engines and real-time control of wind farms.

“Together with Verizon, we are leading the way in innovating on 5G,” said Vic Abate, GE’s Chief Technology Officer. “It marks a pivotal moment for the industrial world, as we finally have a wireless network platform that delivers the speed, scale, reliability and flexibility to connect industrial devices in a truly transformative way.”

“Verizon’s 5G platform capabilities provide the perfect testbed for GE’s research team to build the next-generation, real-time solutions that will transform every industry,” said Tami Erwin, CEO of Verizon Business. “There’s never been a more critical time to build the 21st century infrastructure built on mobility, broadband and cloud and our 5G sits right at the epicenter.”

May 3, 2021
T-Mobile Has Best Year Ever on Strong Q4 Results

T-Mobile has beat estimates in its Q4 results, topping off the company’s best year ever.

T-Mobile reported earnings of $750 million on $20.3 billion in revenue. That comes out to 60¢ a share, up from the $19.9 billion and 51¢ a share analyst were expecting. The company brought in $68.4 billion for all of 2020, with $3.1 billion of net income for the year.

Similarly, T-Mobile added a total of 1.7 million net additions in Q4, the best among US carriers. Overall, the company added 5.6 million for the entire year.

T-Mobile also took the opportunity to tout their 5G network, an area where it has a significant advantage over its competitors. The company’s nationwide 5G network now covers 280 million people, nearly 4x more than Verizon and nearly 2.5x more than AT&T. T-Mobile’s faster Ultra Capacity 5G “covers 106 million people, over 50x more than Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband,” and is expected t cover 200 million by the end of the year.

“These results show that we’re pulling way ahead of the pack on what matters – overall 5G network performance – and executing to stay ahead,” said Mike Sievert, CEO of T-Mobile. “And customers are noticing. 2020 was quite simply our best year yet, with our highest EVER total postpaid net additions of 5.5 million. Our team delivered – leading the industry on customer growth, while being the ONLY major player to grow profitability as well, with our synergy-backed business model. The best team, the best assets, the best 5G network. We’re positioned to create enormous value. I like the hand we’re holding!”

February 4, 2021
Verizon Now Offers Unlimited 5G On Prepaid Plans

Verizon has announced that unlimited 5G, both Ultra Wideband and nationwide, is now available for its prepaid customers.

Prepaid plans make up an important part of each carrier’s subscriber base and Verizon is improving its service for its customers. The company has made unlimited 5G available, in both Ultra Wideband and nationwide flavors.

Verizon’s Ultra Wideband is its high-band, mmWave 5G. The fastest flavor of 5G, mmWave offers speeds measured in gigabits. In contrast, the company’s nationwide 5G uses the same spectrum as its 4G LTE, but offers far better coverage than its mmWave counterpart.

With 4G LTE and 5G Nationwide included in all Verizon Prepaid plans, the new Verizon Prepaid Unlimited option with 5G Ultra Wideband delivers more value for customers. The plan offers 5G Ultra Wideband connectivity starting at $75 per month with the potential to lower those costs to $60 per month. Customers who stay with Verizon can enjoy savings of $5 per month with Auto Pay, $5/mo after three months of service and an additional $5/mo after nine months of service3. Existing Verizon Prepaid customers who switch to the new Unlimited plan (or other prepaid plan with loyalty discounts) are also eligible for monthly savings on Verizon Prepaid lines that have already been in service 3 to 9 months.

The announcement is good news for Verizon’s prepaid subscribers.

January 25, 2021
Verizon’s Nationwide 5G Slower Than Its 4G LTE

Verizon has touted its nationwide 5G network, but recent tests show most customers are better off with the company’s 4G.

Verizon made headlines when it debuted its nationwide 5G network, coinciding with the iPhone 12 launch. Verizon had previously focused almost entirely on its high-band, mmWave 5G network, which the company calls “Ultra Wideband.” While offering the fastest speeds, mmWave is notoriously short-ranged and provides poor building penetration. As a result, it is only suitable for the most densely populated city environments, where repeaters and base stations can be placed every couple of hundred meters.

Verizon was the last of the three US carriers to roll out a nationwide 5G network, using low-band spectrum to provide the long-range coverage needed. The reason Verizon was late to the nationwide 5G party was because its low-band spectrum is tied up by its 4G LTE network. Unfortunately, because 5G has not yet achieved widespread adoption, Verizon cannot simply repurpose the spectrum for 5G.

To solve this issue, the company is using Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS). In essence, the technology shares the spectrum, switching back and forth between 4G and 5G, depending on what type of device is connected to the tower.

The use of DSS appears to be the problem, however, according PC Magazine’s Sascha Segan:

If you don’t have any dedicated channels, DSS lets you use the odds and ends of your unused 4G channels for 5G. The 4G and 5G phones compete for the same 4G channel. The only difference is that the 5G ones are running the 5G encoding system on that channel. There are non-speed advantages to DSS—or there will be in the future, once carriers go to standalone 5G systems—but right now, you’re just getting slower performance.

In our most recent tests, we found that DSS 5G is seriously holding back both iPhones and Android phones. We compared a OnePlus 8 using DSS 5G with a Samsung Galaxy S20 FE on 4G, and we then ran tests on an iPhone 12 Pro toggling between 5G and 4G at the same locations. In both cases, DSS 5G turned in worse results than 4G LTE.

In fact, the results were so bad that Segan recommends turning off 5G altogether, unless a person lives in an area covered by Verizon’s “Ultra Wideband.”

December 23, 2020
Verizon Activates 5G Uploads

Verizon has announced it has activated uploads on its Ultra Wideband 5G network.

San Diego is the 35th city where Verizon has rolled out Ultra Wideband 5G. Ultra Wideband uses mmWave spectrum, the fastest flavor of 5G. mmWave provides speeds measured in gigabits, rather than megabits. Until now, however, Verizon has only offered its Ultra Wideband for downloads.

“Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband network is synonymous with fast download speeds, but one of the biggest requests we’ve had since launching our 5G network is when uplink for 5G uploads will be available on Verizon,” writes Kevin King, on the company site. “Starting today, customers can upload content using Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband network. This makes it easier to upload high-def videos to social networks, back-up work and school projects to the cloud and play massive multiplayer games.

“Initially, customers should see upload speeds on 5G about 30 percent faster than 4G LTE. 5G upload is available in all 35 Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband cities, in our Chicago 5G Home market and in any stadium or arena with Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband service.”

This is good news for Verizon’s customers who have access to the company’s fastest 5G network.

May 22, 2020
Verizon Partners With Pacific Northwest National Laboratory On 5G

Verizon Business and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) are teaming up to deliver 5G applications.

The PNNL tackles some of the world’s biggest challenges, including energy efficiency, scientific discovery and national security. To aid in that goal, Verizon will be deploying its 5G Ultra Wideband at the PNNL’s Richmond, Washington facility. Together, the organizations will develop 5G applications for use in everything, ranging from first responders to chemistry to earth sciences research.

Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband promises speeds measured in gigabits rather than megabits, along with sub-millisecond lag. That performance will open a world of new possibilities for PNNL, as it researches artificial intelligence, machine learning, AR/VR and more.

“With Verizon, we plan to explore how cybersecurity will underpin 5G for critical infrastructure and how 5G will drive transformation in the protection of endpoint devices, advancement of artificial intelligence, the science behind autonomous systems and related internet of things applications,” said Scott Godwin, general manager of Corporate Partnerships & Alliances at PNNL. “This partnership fits squarely with PNNL’s commitment to explore the capability of new science and technology to further safety and security worldwide.”

“Our 5G Ultra Wideband network is built to support transformational innovations and solutions across all industries,” said Tami Erwin, CEO of Verizon Business. “There’s no doubt 5G’s increased data bandwidth and super-low lag will help play a critical role in evolving response connectivity and mission operations for first responders. We’ve seen exciting use cases come out of our 5G First Responder Lab and are thrilled to see the new applications that will arise from our work with PNNL.”

March 9, 2020
Verizon Looking At 5G Drones For Growth

According to a post on the company’s website, “Verizon is seeking to be the first carrier to connect one million drone flights to the 5G network.”

Verizon has had its sights set on the market for some time, acquiring drone company Skyward in early 2017, just a few months after offering wireless plans aimed at drone makers. The company sees far more potential, however, especially for companies looking to operate fleets of drones, which cost significantly less than helicopters or planes.

Verizon is counting on the speed of its 5G Ultra Wideband network, along with mobile edge computing (MEC) to provide the missing ingredient necessary for widespread drone deployment. With MEC “more complex functions can be performed nearer to the user and away from centralized servers. By shortening the distance data has to travel, drones will be able to perform more latency-sensitive tasks. As a knock-on benefit, because bulky processors can be offloaded, drones have the potential to get smaller and faster, with extended battery life, so they can stay in the air and on the job longer.”

Verizon sees tremendous opportunity in the field, as a mere “10% of major enterprises have a drone program, and none of them are connected to a wireless network,” says Mariah Scott, president of Skyward. “We knew early on that connectivity would be critical for drones to truly transform our world. And now 5G Ultra Wideband will usher in a new era in aviation, where we connect and integrate drones into the national airspace.”

The two companies are working closely to overcome the remaining hurdles for widespread adoption. Verizon’s network will allow operators to pilot drones from thousands of miles away, while its MEC capabilities will make drones viable for a wider range of industries. In the meantime, “Skyward recently unveiled advanced airspace intelligence for drone pilots, including essential ground intelligence and 3D views of more than one million vertical obstacles.”

The timing is definitely right for Verizon’s ambitions, as the Federal Aviation Administration recently proposed rules that would allow it to identify and track the majority of active drones. This is seen as a major step in integrating drones into the national airspace alongside existing aerial vehicles.

December 30, 2019
Apple Explains iPhone 11 Frequent Location Checking

Apple has finally explained behavior that lead some to believe new iPhones or iOS 13.x had a privacy bug.

Security researcher Brian Krebs discovered that the iPhone 11 Pro “intermittently seeks the user’s location information even when all applications and system services on the phone are individually set to never request this data.” He originally contacted Apple on November 13 to report the problem.

Earlier this week, Apple responded to Krebs by simply saying: “It is expected behavior that the Location Services icon appears in the status bar when Location Services is enabled. The icon appears for system services that do not have a switch in Settings.”

Needless to say, this vague response is not what people want to hear from a company that has planted its flag on respecting user privacy. Fortunately, Apple has since issued a statement to KrebsOnSecurity, along other venues, providing more information.

“Ultra Wideband technology is an industry standard technology and is subject to international regulatory requirements that require it to be turned off in certain locations. iOS uses Location Services to help determine if iPhone is in these prohibited locations in order to disable Ultra Wideband and comply with regulations. The management of Ultrawide Band compliance and its use of location data is done entirely on the device and Apple is not collecting user location data.”

Ultra Wideband is used by AirDrop to enable users to share files from one iPhone to another. The technology gives iPhones “spatial awareness.” This is what makes it possible for users to “share a file with someone using AirDrop simply by pointing at another user’s iPhone.”

While Apple does plan on allowing users to turn the feature off in the future, it is unknown when this will happen, especially since it involves working with government regulation.

In any event it’s reassuring to know there is no breach of privacy in play. However, Apple could have saved itself—and its customers—a lot of headache by being more transparent in its initial response or, better yet, by documenting the feature before it became a concern.

December 6, 2019