Spark New Zealand outlines 5G network intentions

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#2070716 9-Aug-2018 14:24

tripper1000:

Most of the ideal frequencies for mobile devices are already spoken for, so with 5G they are looking at using less ideal microwave frequencies. There is a lot of bandwidth available in these bands, but the trade-off is that the range is shorter or building penetration worse. This likely means cells will be smaller and cell sites will be denser, meaning they can reuse the larger bandwidth more times over than with present bands.

Spark demonstrated hitting 20Gbps over 5G a few months ago on their test equipment. To do this requires 800MHz of spectrum - to compare this to existing 3G and 4G networks it's significantly more spectrum than VF, Spark and 2degrees own at present for all of their 2G, 3G and 4G networks.

Battery life on 5G will also be poor compared to existing 3G and 4G, the first real 5G device got announced last week (but won't ship until 2019) - it's a clip on module for the Moto Z3 that launches next week. The module will have the 5G radio and a huge battery pack to power it!

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#2070727 9-Aug-2018 14:48

Yeap, can you imagine the RF such a 20Gbps device would be pumping out? You're probably not going to father any son's if you put that in your trouser pocket. Pop it in your lunch box and it will warm you pies though. Can't see it happening in a world where people are becoming health conscious.

Put 20 subscribers on such an extravigant future cell site and todays 1gig fibre will out perform it. Compare it to future fibre, and.......

Edit: spelling

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#2072218 12-Aug-2018 18:07

Consumer mobiles are not priority no. 1 for 5G due to it's range coverage at those high frequencies. 5G at the time is primarily dedicated to IoT and industrial control applications in given areas.

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#2073474 14-Aug-2018 18:57

Is there any word on what will be happening for the 600MHz band? I see that it was auctioned off in the United States which can be used for 5G so is there any plans in New Zealand for auctioning off the lower frequencies to delivery 5G?

"When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called 'the People's Stick'"

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#2073478 14-Aug-2018 19:16

matisyahu:

Is there any word on what will be happening for the 600MHz band? I see that it was auctioned off in the United States which can be used for 5G so is there any plans in New Zealand for auctioning off the lower frequencies to delivery 5G?

Yes it will probably happen (discussion paper went out earlier this year) but it means very little for 5G and is pretty must wasted money if carriers do buy it for 5G services.

5G benefits are in the mmWave band because hundreds of MHz of contiguous spectrum is available in those bands vs running 5G in a 20MHz carrier or if they're really lucky a bonded 40MHz channel in the 600MHz band which is the real world reality. This will deliver very few benefits over existing LTE networks.

I'm simply not sucked in by the 5G hype.

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#2073479 14-Aug-2018 19:22

Well I'll add to that. 5G doesn't excite me but the Massive Mimo antennas do.

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#2073484 14-Aug-2018 19:29

sbiddle:

matisyahu:

Is there any word on what will be happening for the 600MHz band? I see that it was auctioned off in the United States which can be used for 5G so is there any plans in New Zealand for auctioning off the lower frequencies to delivery 5G?

Yes it will probably happen (discussion paper went out earlier this year) but it means very little for 5G and is pretty must wasted money if carriers do buy it for 5G services.

5G benefits are in the mmWave band because hundreds of MHz of contiguous spectrum is available in those bands vs running 5G in a 20MHz carrier or if they're really lucky a bonded 40MHz channel in the 600MHz band which is the real world reality. This will deliver very few benefits over existing LTE networks.

I'm simply not sucked in by the 5G hype.

I've heard that 5G is more efficient when compared to 4G (and 3G) regarding the use of spectrum so one could argue that there are benefits for deploying 5G over those low frequencies when compared to just using 4G. That being said, I'm sure we'll see the carriers hype 5G even though you'll have to be more or less in an empty field with a line of sight to the tower to get a 5G connection in much the same way that 3G was hyped by Vodafone but it was on a ridiculously high frequency like 2100MHz resulting in the only people ever getting a solid connection is if you're outside in direct line of sight to the tower.

"When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called 'the People's Stick'"

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#2073499 14-Aug-2018 20:46

2100Mhz is not a ridiculously high frequency and suited for many locations around New Zealand especially CBD locations

John

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#2073534 14-Aug-2018 21:15

3.5GHz will be the primary global frequency for 5G, and with Massive MIMO antennas and beamforming will deliver a coverage footprint similar to 1800/2100MHz so a network like Vodafone that has cellsites built around a 2100MHz coverage footprint will see similar coverage to what you do at present with 1800 4G.

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#2073607 15-Aug-2018 01:10

Linux: 2100Mhz is not a ridiculously high frequency and suited for many locations around New Zealand especially CBD locations

John

But in the Hutt Valley plus other places 2100MHz (and to a lesser extent 1800MHz) was not suitable - I happen to be unfortunately located in the 'doughnut between three towers and it wasn't until Spark upgraded their towers to 700MHz when I finally got a stable 4G connection without the constant fall back to 3G. Back in the 3G days of Vodafone where the cell site was located in Silverstream but I was living in Heretaunga the 3G coverage was unsuitable. It wasn't until Vodafone finally rolled out 900MHz 3G coverage when I actually maintained a consistent 3G connection without constant fall back to GPRS.

sbiddle:

3.5GHz will be the primary global frequency for 5G, and with Massive MIMO antennas and beamforming will deliver a coverage footprint similar to 1800/2100MHz so a network like Vodafone that has cellsites built around a 2100MHz coverage footprint will see similar coverage to what you do at present with 1800 4G.

It'll be interesting to see what it is like with Spark but personally I'd sooner see a more consist coverage with what they have and a move to VoLTE along with adopting "“Universal Profile for Rich Communication Services".

"When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called 'the People's Stick'"

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#2073610 15-Aug-2018 01:24

matisyahu:
It'll be interesting to see what it is like with Spark but personally I'd sooner see a more consist coverage with what they have and a move to VoLTE along with adopting "“Universal Profile for Rich Communication Services".

Alot of infill for 4g coverage is being done now, capacity and consistant coverage i expect to rise.

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#2073656 15-Aug-2018 07:11

matisyahu:

It'll be interesting to see what it is like with Spark but personally I'd sooner see a more consist coverage with what they have and a move to VoLTE along with adopting "“Universal Profile for Rich Communication Services".

RCS is dead and has been dead for many years. It doesn't matter how many times you try and bring it back to life with a defibrillator, it's still dead.

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#2074067 15-Aug-2018 17:22

sbiddle:

matisyahu:

It'll be interesting to see what it is like with Spark but personally I'd sooner see a more consist coverage with what they have and a move to VoLTE along with adopting "“Universal Profile for Rich Communication Services".

RCS is dead and has been dead for many years. It doesn't matter how many times you try and bring it back to life with a defibrillator, it's still dead.

It appears that Google hasn't gotten that message yet.

"When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called 'the People's Stick'"

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#2074121 15-Aug-2018 18:07

matisyahu:

sbiddle:

matisyahu:

It'll be interesting to see what it is like with Spark but personally I'd sooner see a more consist coverage with what they have and a move to VoLTE along with adopting "“Universal Profile for Rich Communication Services".

RCS is dead and has been dead for many years. It doesn't matter how many times you try and bring it back to life with a defibrillator, it's still dead.

It appears that Google hasn't gotten that message yet.

Nope. After multiple failures already with RCS they once again they show they have more money than brains.

matisyahu

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#2075105 18-Aug-2018 03:24

sbiddle:
matisyahu:
sbiddle:
matisyahu:

It'll be interesting to see what it is like with Spark but personally I'd sooner see a more consist coverage with what they have and a move to VoLTE along with adopting "“Universal Profile for Rich Communication Services".

RCS is dead and has been dead for many years. It doesn't matter how many times you try and bring it back to life with a defibrillator, it's still dead.

It appears that Google hasn't gotten that message yet.

Nope. After multiple failures already with RCS they once again they show they have more money than brains.

The stupid part is that they're trying to set up an alternative to iMessage - which is fairly easy, merge Allo with Android Messages, put as a requirement for PlayStore support that they must include Messages by default - during setup of the mobile phone it is automatically registered for Allo. Within a few months end users would be using Allo transparently and Google would have millions of users. It appears that Google try to always come up with a solution more complex and convoluted than it needs to be. Maybe the Messenger team at Google are the same team who thought that Spark selling a Bebo phone and using Yahoo were good ideas.

"When the people are being beaten with a stick, they are not much happier if it is called 'the People's Stick'"

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