Testing Verizon's new 5G network has almost made me cry real tears

How was it to use Verizon's new 5G network with the Moto Z3 hanging on 5G Moto Mod attachment for six hours around downtown Chicago? Confusing. Frustrating. Absolutely crazy. (Check-out The full map of Verizon's 5G coverage.)

Verizon's one-day network – launched Wednesday only in parts of downtown Chicago and Minneapolis – also looks a lot like the use of 4G. I had a download and download trial battalion that I was going to try. I had to throw my plans out the window.

This is not a good thing, as it also means that the Moto Z3 and its Mod 5G have taken the same time to do things in 4G as with the illuminated 5G logo, or that the 5G Ultra Wideband Verizon just did not work. Neither one nor the other do look good for a network boasting of being the world's first 5G live network.

Verizon jumped the rifle while lighting 5G earlier than its April 11 target, a decision that highlights the carrier's belief that acting quickly and aggressively in 5G will give its network, already the largest in the US, a competitive advantage. Next-generation wireless technology, 5G, is widely recognized as the cure for slow data connections and slow download speeds for phones.

The 5G is positioned to revolutionize the industry, increase data connections from 10 to 100 times the current 4G speeds and allow a host of new usessuch as remote surgery and intelligent traffic lights that talk to each other so that traffic flows smoothly.

This is not what I saw. By a long shot. But to be fair, I did not expect either at a breathtaking speed. The 5G is a brand new technology, prone to traps, stumbling blocks and asperities. Verizon was very clear on the limited coverage areas and promised to cover some of the 30 5G cities with a 5G speed by the end of 2019. While the 5G is coming online for the first time in a city, the engineers network will also expand coverage. in Chicago for example.

5G speeds should also easily exceed 4G, gaining momentum as operators develop their 5G networks over time. I spent the day in the city center testing real 5G speeds, away from carefully constructed demonstrations. Here is what happened: the good ones, the bad ones and the aggravating ones.

A word about 5G before you start

5G is not just one thing. There are several approaches. Sub-6. Millimeter wave (mmWave). AT & T has even been charged with (and sued) "fake 5G"With this new world of 5G is created a cosmos of new jargon.

For example, Verizon's 5G network uses the 28 GHz and 39 GHz mmWave bands to provide an average bandwidth of 1 GHz nationally. If that does not mean a lot to you, it could help you get up to date with our 5G primer.

A word about the Moto Z3 with the Moto 5G Mod

We must also talk about this Moto Z3 for a minute. It is a mid-range device capable of channeling Verizon's 5G network through a sturdy antenna and the internal modem inside the 5G Moto Mod, sold separately.

The Mod has four antennas and infrared sensors to signal the right antenna to accept the signal, if you block one of the others with your hands.

The Moto Z3 is on sale now at $ 240 (usually $ 480); The Moto Mod is also on sale for $ 200 (usually $ 350), and you must have a Z3 on your account to buy it. The Verizon 5G service is a $ 10 premium over the regular plan, but your first three months are free.

Motorola and Verizon have a special (contractual) relationship, but in a decade, when we look at the first series of 5G phones, the Moto Z3 with 5G Moto Mod will not go down in history as Motorola's success first cellular call 46 years ago.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions

The day began with a good mood, with a visit to Verizon's department store on Michigan Avenue. Just after it opened at 10:00, workers on ladders were just starting to take off the giant "5G" stickers from the windows. Three digital screens explain "It's here! It's here! It's here!"

Verizon's friendly public relations representatives handed test phones and pointed to the flashing black box affixed to a wall near the entrance: it was the "node" 5G, part of the network that provides 5G speeds to the store. If your 5G device is line-of-sight, it should receive Verizon's fastest data speeds. Verizon says it expects "typical speeds of 450 Mbps, with maximum speeds of nearly 1 Gbps and a latency of less than 30 milliseconds".

It was immediately clear that this would not be the case. Even carefully positioned a few meters from the 5G node, the large on-screen icon exclaiming Verizon's 5G network was switching from 4G to 5G. It seemed to me that all I had to do was move the phone or look at it awkwardly and the 5G UWB (Ultra Wideband) badge would disappear. After two hours, we may have run a single Speedtest.net app next to the Galaxy S10 Plus.

At the same time, we were trying our luck on the upper floor. A "S.W.A.T. Team" consisting of troubleshooting engineers from Verizon, Motorola, Qualcomm (the chip maker) and Ericsson (which makes the network infrastructure) has invaded the store. Apparently, the knot was acting. It was not much better from there.

Quick benchmarking, but only real failures

The second and third stops were better, at least as far as the Speedtest.net benchmarking application was concerned. The second was in front of Merchant Mart, where Motorola's headquarters are. It was in front of a lot of valet parking in the rain that we could see these flamboyant 5G download speeds, at least from time to time.

A few times, I have seen theoretical download speeds of 600 megabits per second. At other times, the download would start loud, the phone would flash to display the 4G logo and the speed would be in free fall. And on other occasions, the 5G logo was on, but the speeds were in between.

Real World Test 1: Uploading a Large File

It is here, outside the headquarters of Motorola, that I finally could try my first practical test: the download of the game PUBG. This is a big 1.81 GB file, which took about 5 minutes and 45 seconds to download with the 5G icon. Then I uninstalled the application, removed the Mod to ensure only 4G LTE speeds, reinstalled on data and … it took exactly the same time.

The uplink is the same on 5G and 4G, says Verizon, at least for now.

Real World Test 2: Downloading a Netflix Show

The ultimate scenario for the 5G dream is to be able to download whole seasons of Netflix from the moment you walk on the bridge of the plane until you settle in your seat. Same, upload a big presentation or a bunch of photos before you have to log out.

This test would be perfect for our third site, the intersection of Michigan and Monroe, outside the famous Art Institute of Chicago. Again standing just below the knot (on the outside, they are attached to street lights), we did some speed tests for a reference, and then we tried to download a 50-minute episode of Planet Earth II from Netflix.

With the 5G logo in full screen, we activated the stopwatch with the help of another phone and watched the pie chart progress forward one ribbon and then another, then … nothing. After several other attempts, the 5G Moto Mod came out and we tried it again. The same progress, followed by the same blocking for minutes. After 20 minutes of rain, it was time to move on again.

Real world test … oh, forget it

Our fourth and last test site was a total failure. A few blocks from the famous Chicago Theater, I stood under the 5G node and tried every trick of reboot, cycling and put back in place for a good five minutes. Nothing has happened. Still nothing has happened. We reported it to "S.W.A.T. team." from Verizon and called one day.

What happened to all the other tests that I planned?

I started the day with a fresh mine and caffeine with a plan to launch tons of comparison speed tests, lots of downloads and gameplay at the Moto Z3.

The problem was that it took too much time to connect to a 5G network powerful enough to perform a task and that there was not enough time for the rest, especially if we wanted to check four different sites in the city – and we did it. get an idea of ​​Verizon's deployment of 5G coverage in the real world.

If 5G cyclically cuts and leaves airplane mode repeatedly, disconnecting and reconnecting the Moto Mod and even restarting the phone will not reliably bring it back, how can you accurately assess the impact of downloading large files or reading greedy games? You can not. These more in-depth tests will have to wait for a more stable network.

Three big unacceptable problems and how to solve them

Whatever you do, it was a launch disaster. Yes, Verizon has become the first "real" 5G network in the world, but at what cost? Journalists who came to Chicago spent the whole day outside in cold, rainy weather with very little success. Although speed tests worked in some places, actual downloads were not faster even when they were directly under a node.

As far as I know, three things went wrong.

The 5G glittering icon

A few hours after the end of the testing day, Verizon informed us that the 5G logo only turns on when you're actually using 5G. The rapid transition from one logo to another is therefore a sign of the commitment of the 5G network. It returns to the 4G logo at any other time.

I do not buy that. When the 4G collapsed during the speed tests, the downlink speeds on the screen dropped sharply, parallel to those of the 4G. If the 5G came back during the test run, the speed is accelerated. This does not correspond to the explanation of the engineers.

The fix: Assuming this is the case and not a line, Verizon needs a persistent 5G icon – just like the 4G icon now – so that people know that they can access those speeds . What else do they pay $ 10 more per month?

The moment the Moto Mod died and I did not know it

Remember this fourth place near the Chicago Theater where the 5G did not work at all, no matter what I tried? What I understood later was that the Moto Mod was dead. Motorola has equipped the Mod 5G with its own 2000 mAh battery. When it disappears, so does the 5G.

Yes, there is a battery indicator on the screen, but that is for the phone itself. There is no other visual indicator indicating the battery life of the Mod. However, a notification appears, along with all your other notifications.

Motorola also indicates that the display of a temporary notification on the home screen indicates that the battery life of the Mod is dead. Maybe the phone was in my bag while I was on the road. I may have looked away when it blinked. For some reason, I did not see it.

I agree that having a dead Mod out of power from your phone's battery is not the right solution, at least without your permission. If the 5G dies, it does not matter, you can live with the 4G speeds. But if your phone dies because of the 5G's fuel supply, you really have problems.

The fixLike Verizon, Motorola needs a lesson in better communication. A battery indicator for the Mod is essential, and it must be different from that of the phone battery. In addition, any future Mod (and OMG, I hope there will never be any) should offer to share the battery if you have a lot.

Verizon's urgent work

In his race to be the first at 5G, Verizon seems to have raised his hand and hoped for the best. The total blackout and the embarrassment of this day will pass. Verizon is playing a long game. And there is an advantage to deploying the 5G first.

However, on-site troubleshooting does not give Verizon a particularly capable or intelligent appearance, even though a considerable amount of technical and planning expertise was required for deployment. It would have been better to wait a week for better performance.

The fix: Unfortunately, Verizon can not return to us on Tuesday, when he apparently had his launch meeting go / no go. But he can devote resources (tons of money and people) to solving his mistakes before human guinea pigs pay well for irregular and unreliable 5G.

Verizon should be ready to credit early users for uneven service, to reward their perseverance in a period of near guaranteed turbulence.

What we all learned today and what it means to you

I can not speak for people testing Verizon's Verizon 5G launch in Minneapolis, but this experience in Chicago underscores the difficult path ahead for 5G. The new technology is not unique in that it has a difficult start. The same thing happened during the transition from 3G to 4G. It is equal to the course.

But maybe there are new lessons here. Networks and phone brands must be very clear when you receive 5G and when you are not.

I'm still excited about 5G once the carriers get to work. But I can not recommend a 5G phone in the near future based on this experience.

Before you rush to join the 5G revolution, think carefully about your options. Consult a cover map. Do the math to see how much more it will cost. Look what's happening on the road. Qualcomm has a smaller chip for phones 2019 5G who will do the Mod and even the Galaxy S10 5G obsolete. Phones will also become cheaper over time.

Today 's day has marked an unforgettable look on our 5G future. But this is not the future of 5G, none of us deserve it.

Originally released April 4 at 8:20 am Pacific Time.