AT&T Shape Event Highlights 5G Promise and Perils | Tech.pinions

Bottom line: "There’s no question that 5G can and will make a large impact on many markets over time. But as these real-world experiences demonstrate, it’s a complicated story that’s going to take several years to really show off its full potential."

"The catch is, however, that the “right conditions” are rarely going to be available. At AT&T’s recent Shape Expo event on the Warner Bros. studio lot in Burbank CA, I did actually see just over 1.8 Gbps on a speed test using Samsung’s brand new S10 5G phone when I stood 75 feet away from a tiny cell tower installed as part of a new 5G network on the lot and pointed the phone directly at it. Impressive, to be sure.

However, when I turned away and walked another 50 feet from the tower and held the phone in my hand as you normally would (and not in direct sight of the special 5G antenna that was part of the network), the speed dropped to just under 150 Mbps because the connection switched over to LTE. Now, that’s still nothing to shake a stick at, but it’s more than 10x slower than the fastest connection. This succinctly highlights some of the challenges that 5G early adopters will likely face."

AT&T Shape Event Highlights 5G Promise and Perils | Tech.pinions