AT&T has new updates and key findings from its 5G trials in first three cities using millimeter wave spectrum in a blog post by Melissa Arnoldi, president, AT&T Technology & Operations.
Melissa wrote, "A year and a half ago, we launched the industry’s first enterprise 5G trial in Austin, Texas, to start learning about mmWave and testing 5G equipment. Shortly after we began that trial, we were hungry for more data. So we took our 5G show on the road. Late last year, we expanded 5G trials to more people and businesses in Waco, Texas, Kalamazoo, Michigan and South Bend, Indiana."
Summary of AT&T's 5G trials;
i. The trial in Waco showcased 5G peak speeds of 1.2Gbps from 150 meters away over a 400MHz channel, with 9-12 millisecond latency. The trial had supported hundreds of simultaneous connected users using the 5G network. AT&T said latency impacts things like the time between pressing play and seeing a video start to stream or hitting a web link and seeing a webpage begin to load.
ii. The trial in Kalamazoo observed more than 1 Gbps speeds under line of sight conditions up to 900 feet. AT&T notes that it observed no impacts on 5G mmWave signal performance due to rain, snow or other weather events. It also learned mmWave signals can penetrate materials such as significant foliage, glass and even walls better than initially anticipated.
iii. AT&T didn't report specific speeds for the trial in South Bend, Indiana but it observed a full end-to-end 5G network architecture, including the 5G radio system and core, demonstrating extremely low latency. It successfully provided gigabit wireless speeds on mmWave spectrum in both line of sight and some non-line of sight conditions.
