Without the Right Spectrum, Is 5G All That?

Over the past few years, news of 5G – fifth generation wireless technologies – has grabbed too many headlines to count. As carriers start to rollout services in cities around the U.S., however, we’re now reading about some of the limitations of a service that policymakers have promised would improve lives. A recent announcement by President Donald Trump commits the United States to build out 5G infrastructure on a high-band spectrum swath -- known as millimeter wave (mmWave), between 24 and 300 gigahertz -- which is “inferior in range and penetration capability to the ‘sub-6’ (below 6 gigahertz) spectrum being used for 5G by most other countries, especially China.” There’s a difference between mmWave spectrum and low and mid-band spectrum. And that difference matters a lot for 5G and the future of wireless broadband in America. We saw so this week.