At long last, all three of the major cellular carriers in Houston now offer 5G services. AT&T last week finally opened up to everyone the stealth 5G network that had been invitation-only for selected businesses since late 2018.
With T-Mobile (and its merged Sprint network) and Verizon already selling 5G service here, you can now get the next-generation data service from the telecom behemoth of your choice.
Last year, in both February and November, I wrote that it was too early to buy a smartphone that supports 5G. Picking up a 5G device back then would have cost you more for fewer benefits. It’s still true that 5G devices typically are more expensive, but that’s changing.
In fact, by the end of the year or early into next it may be hard to buy a current-release smartphone that doesn’t support 5G.
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Already, you can find 5G capabilities in less-expensive handsets. For example, Samsung recently launched its Galaxy A71 5G with a list price of $600, much less than the $1,000 it cost to buy the Galaxy S20 with 5G when was introduced. There are discounts and deals that cut the price even more.
Samsung has even begun adding 5G to existing phones that didn’t have it. The Galaxy Flip Z — a dual-screen smartphone that looks like an old-school flip phone — didn’t come with 5G, but Samsung just started selling a version that does.
Sometime in September or October, Apple is expected to introduce its next lineup of iPhones. Current rumors say four new models are coming, including a smaller one with a 5.4-inch display that will make lovers of the original iPhone SE happy, and all of them will be available with 5G. Don’t expect prices on these flagship iPhones to be lower than the iPhone 11 models — we are talking about Apple, after all — but that smaller iPhone could be a pricing wild card. One rumor has the lineup starting at $649.
Apple’s entry into the 5G arena may be late, but at least it’s consistently so. When the first iPhone was introduced in 2007, 3G was ramping up but that initial device didn’t support it. The second model did, and Apple wanted to make sure you knew that, calling it the iPhone 3G. Apple was also late to the 4G party with the iPhone 5 in 2012, while the first 4G smartphone in the U.S. was available two years earlier.
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Why the delay? Apple tends to wait for the market to develop and the technology to mature and become widely available, and that’s exactly what’s starting to happen with 5G.
And its arrival with 5G will likely kick off new competition and service deals as telcos vie for the attention of iPhone users. Regardless of whether you’re an iOS or Android user, you’ll benefit.
But if you buy a smartphone that supports 5G later this year from your preferred carrier, what will the experience be like? For most, it won’t be that different from 4G.
Here’s the scoreboard:
— AT&T’s service combines both higher, millimeter wave radio frequencies that carry data at superfast speeds, but can’t travel far or penetrate objects, with a lower-frequency service that is more practical. But the latter won’t appear to be much faster than its 4G LTE service.
—T-Mobile launched with lower “sub-6” frequencies in Houston, and its 5G speeds are just a little faster than 4G. It’s also integrating the network it acquired with Sprint, which has speeds between millimeter wave and sub-6. Newer T-Mobile phones will be able to access both , as well as a faster layer the carrier is starting to roll out in some markets.
—Verizon for now is sticking with a millimeter wave service that’s not available in most parts of Houston. If you are close enough to a 5G tower, you can get speeds that are faster than most home broadband connections. But the locations are few and far between.
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I have not had a chance to play with AT&T’s new 5G network. I have tested a couple of smartphones on T-Mobile’s service, as well as on Sprint’s, before it was absorbed by T-Mobile. I’ve seen a Verizon phone in action, but haven’t had a chance to review one.
T-Mobile concedes that its current 5G network is only marginally faster than 4G LTE — but I’ve gotten some impressive speeds over 100 megabits per second on that carrier’s LTE service. Sprint’s 5G service ran between 300 and 700 Mbps in a launch-day demonstration downtown, but in in my review of a handset later the best I could do was 200 Mbps.
I was given a demonstration of Verizon’s service, standing in a parking lot across the street from a transmitter, and saw speeds in the 1.9-gigabits-per-second range — but had I been inside a nearby building, I would have gotten bupkis.
Over time, the 5G offerings from all three will morph, and new capabilities will be added. Of particular interest will be devices that will work on the combined Sprint and T-Mobile network. If you tend to keep your phones for a while, you may want to know your carrier’s future plans before buying a new one.
Or, stick with your current 4G phone for now, because the devices you’ll be able to get in 2021 will fill in a lot of the blanks. Better things come to those who wait.
A version of this story originally appeared in Dwight Silverman’s Release Notes newsletter. Sign up at houstonchronicle.com/releasenotes.
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July 29, 2020 at 05:00PM
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Houston’s 5G landscape is complete. Now what? - Houston Chronicle
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