Previously, the domestic industry caused a dispute over real and fake 5G, but now the dispute over real and fake 5G may be debated again. This time, the dispute over real and fake 5G is not a dispute between NSA and SA, but a dispute over who is more important to speed and coverage, representing the time when 5G centimeter wave technology and low-frequency 5G decide the outcome.
1. The battle between true and false 5G
The previous round of true and false 5G dispute was between 5G SA and 5G NSA. Supporters believe that 5G SA can realize many technical features of 5G, such as ultra-high speed, ultra-low latency, etc. In the end, 5G SA won, and the three major operators abandoned 5G NSA and built a network with 5G SA.
However, the result is that the 5G SA networking costs are higher and the operating costs are higher. As of now, two 5G networks have a total of 2 million 5G base stations, operators have been unable to bear it and choose to slow down 5G network investment; the super high operating costs of built 5G networks are also difficult for operators to accept. Industry insiders pointed out that if a 5G network covering the whole country is built, the electricity bill alone will be enough to eat the operator's profits, so operators chose to intelligently manage 5G networks - closing 5G base stations during idle periods to save costs.
It can be said that the battle between 5G SA and NSA is hard to say who is the winner. If the network is built with 5G NSA, it will effectively reduce the construction and operation costs of operators, then will operators speed up the construction of 5G networks and obtain a much better 5G network than the current coverage?
This time the battle between true and false 5G is a battle between low-frequency 5G and 5G centimeter wave technology. The speed of low-frequency 5G may be as low as only one-sixth of 5G centimeter wave and only about 40% of 5G centimeter wave. As for the delay, it is definitely higher than that of 5G centimeter wave. According to the definition of the dispute between 5G SA and NSA, low-frequency 5G may also be called fake 5G.
However, the advantages of low-frequency 5G are very obvious, that is, low-frequency 5G has super coverage capabilities. It is estimated that the 480,000 700MHz 5G network built by China Mobile will be enough to cover the whole country. This will greatly reduce the investment scale of 5G networks and reduce the cloud cost of 5G networks.
2. The US low-frequency 5G defeated 5G cm wave technology
The dispute over authenticity and falsehood of 5G was actually first launched among American operators. At that time, the US operator AT&T did not obtain the mid-frequency band used for 5G cm wave technology, while the US promoted 5G millimeter wave technology. AT&T believed that 5G millimeter wave had no commercial value in the mobile communications industry. Therefore, AT&T built a 5G network with its 450MHz, while 5G millimeter wave technology was only used for wireless access to fixed network broadband - as a supplement to fixed network to solve the last mile entry problem.
At that time, AT&T's 450MHz 5G speed was as low as 133Mbps, even slower than 4G's LTE-FDD, so the industry called AT&T's 5G a fake 5G. Later, another US operator, T-MOBILE, also followed AT&T to build a 5G network at a low-frequency 600MHz. Its 5G network speed is faster than AT&T, reaching 350Mbps, which is more than twice as fast as LTE-FDD, but it is still only one-third of the mainstream 5G.
Another American operator, Verizon, is the first in the United States to use 5G centimeter wave technology to build a 5G network. In a few years, Verizon has also had hundreds of thousands of mid-frequency 5G base stations. However, the United States has a vast territory and its territory is similar to China. Each 5G network in China has 1 million mid-frequency 5G base stations, and the coverage is still very unsatisfactory. Verizon's 5G base stations are only one-some of that of Chinese operators, and network coverage is naturally worse.
The result is that AT&T and T-MOBILE have obtained most 5G users, among which AT&T's 5G users have reached 70 million, which shows that consumers value coverage more than speed. In fact, AT&T and T-MOBILE's 5G networks rely on the coverage advantage of low-frequency bands, and the coverage of 5G networks is better than 4G, which is also the reason why more users actively choose 5G and abandon 4G.
This is not the first time that the coverage of mobile communication networks has priority over speed. As early as the 3G era, China Mobile obtained the most immature TD-SCDMA, so it greatly strengthened the construction of GSM networks, using only 256Kbps EDGE networks to fight against China Unicom and China Telecom , which reached 3Mbps. In the end, China Mobile obtained 300 million users, while China Unicom and China Telecom only gained nearly 300 million users in total.
3. China Mobile's low-frequency 5G may defeat the mainstream 5G technology
Now in the Chinese market, it has also triggered a dispute between low-frequency 5G and mid-frequency 5G. China Mobile is building a 700MHz 5G network and is expected to complete the construction of 480,000 700MHz 5G base stations within this year. This will form a large 5G network covering the whole country, with the 5G network coverage effect better than 4G, especially in supporting high-speed rail scenarios.
The previous mid-frequency 5G network was criticized. The three major operators built 2 million mid-frequency 5G base stations. However, due to the poor coverage effect of 2.6GHz and 3.5GHz, the coverage effect of these two 5G networks is not ideal. Even for existing mid-frequency 5G base stations, the three major operators can no longer bear its continued investment in network construction, and the current super high 5G electricity bills, forcing operators to announce the slowdown of 5G investment and shut down 5G base stations during idle periods.
China Mobile's 700MHz 5G can solve the above problems, with a significant reduction in investment, and the number of in low-frequency 5G base stations is also smaller, so the electricity bill is naturally greatly reduced, within the affordable range of operators.
In comparison, the 700MHz 5G can reach 440Mbps, which is more than three times faster than the 4G-TD-LTE operated by China Mobile, nearly twice faster than the LTE-FDD of China Unicom and China Telecom, and faster, with better network coverage. It can be expected that China Mobile's 700MHz 5G will be expected to defeat China Unicom and China Telecom's LTE-FDD networks. The latter two do not have low-frequency 5G, and are expected to be at a disadvantage in the competition of 5G.
Such as China Mobile's 700MHz 5G is expected to end the 4G era and will also be in a leading position in the 5G era. 5G may finally enter the popularization stage, but low-frequency 5G is far from reaching the ultra-high speed and ultra-low latency of mainstream 5G technology. If it is defined by some people, this should be fake 5G, right?
