Watch a Verizon 5G phone call faster than your home Internet

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Extreme closeup image of smartphone doing smartphone things.
Enlarge / The quick conclusion of the Verizon Speed ​​Test.

It was a little earlier than expected, but Verizon activated part of its 5G network today, debuting in "hot spots" in Minneapolis and Chicago. All mobile operators like to cut definitions to get the "Premier 5G", but when it comes to using a real 5G mmWave signal and a device similar to the 5G smartphone, Verizon made the biggest progress in establishing a 5G ecosystem. and running.

The 5G is still in its infancy, with access in only a few cities and almost no support. So it's hard to know what the 5G really looks like in the real world. Verizon spokesperson, David Weissmann, shared the best look yet at 5G on Twitter, where he showed a real 5G speed test, run on a real smartphone, getting the data of a real 5G ride. In particular, Weissmann was in Minneapolis, took out his Verizon ™ Moto Z3 phone with the connected Moto 5G Mod and loaded the Ookla Speedtest.net app. Here is his speed test:

Weissmann's speed test ended with a rapid drop of 762 Mbps and a ping of 19 ms (the video does not indicate the loading speeds). Unless rocking gigabit internet at home, this connection is probably much faster than your home Internet connection. Ookla's latest global speed reports set the average download speed on mobile in the US at 27 Mbps, while the average fixed broadband download in the US reaches 96 Mbps.

The current 5G modem from Qualcomm theoretically has a maximum speed of 5 Gbps, but of course, nothing will reach the theoretical maximum. Operators are happy to talk about 5G deployments and upcoming devices, but it's rare to see real numbers associated with 5G. The Weissmann test is the closest we've done so far to see what true 5G performance looks like, and the press release issued today by Verizon states that "Chicago's first customers and from Minneapolis should expect typical download speeds of 450 Mbps, with peak speeds near 1Gbps, and latency less than 30 milliseconds. "

The latency is not excellent compared to the previous promises of 5G. Verizon's Home 5G Internet is supposed to have a latency of 4 to 8 ms, while for mobiles, Verizon promises only 30 ms (and displays 19 ms in the speed test). According to OpenSignal tests, 4G LTE latency is typically in the range of 54 to 64 ms. Therefore, although it 's a slight improvement, it' s not as fast as expected.

The ideal circumstances of Verizon

Now for the list of many warnings with this video and with the 5G in general. The Weissmann test – which was probably pre-approved by Verizon – is run under ideal conditions. First, it stands basically next to a 5G tower with a clear line of sight on a sunny day. The Verizon 5G equipment is actually visible as part of the video: these are all those boxes and antennas glued to the lamppost on the left. The real problems of 5G lie in reach and penetration. Therefore, if you were inside – or on the other side of a building, or if there was a tree on the way or if you were farther from the tower – the performance would be significantly lower. 5G even has problems with weatherIn rainy or foggy days, performance will suffer. The 5G basically consists of building a network in the spectrum slice that we have not used yet for other radio signals, and the reason this spectrum is available is because the performance is very difficult.

Second great caveat: There is a good chance that Weissmann is the only person on Earth to use the Verizon 5G network at the time of this speed test. His own tweet qualifies the test as "historical" and we must guess that the base of users with 5G Verizon hardware is active just when the 5G network became operational approaching "a nobody". With more people online, the network will be slower.

Third big caution: 5G material. The 5G smartphones are going to be terrible for the first year, as the first-generation 5G modems and antennas take much more space and power than our refined and well-used 4G technology. This will have a negative impact on the phone's design and battery life.

Weissmann's phone – the Moto Z3 with the MotoMod 5G – is likely to be the "worst 5G smartphone of all time". The MotoMod 5G takes an older smartphone, the Moto Z3, and adds 5G compatibility with Motorola's modular clip-on system. With 5G hardware, the 5G MotoMod is almost a brand new smartphone that you hang on the back of your old smartphone. The MotoMod 5G contains an additional smartphone SoC, the Snapdragon 855. It comes with a 5G modem, its own 2000 mAh battery (because the 5G requires a lot of power) and a lot of 5G antennas. If you could run applications, the MotoMod would be much faster than the Moto Z3 with Snapdragon 835.

Nevertheless, for a smartphone-sized item, the Moto Z3 with 5G backpack is the best we can do for the moment. The first fully integrated 5G smartphone should be the 5G version of the Samsung Galaxy S10, due out this month in South Korea.

Despite all the caveats, this seems like a big step forward in the expectation of 5G. We just need a lot more coverage, more mature 5G hardware and more 5G smartphones. Even then, the unstable performance characteristics of 5G make us wonder if it's all worth it. In perfect condition, it's still pretty fast!

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