AT&T has conducted fixed wireless 5G trial in Austin, using millimeter wave (mmWave) spectrum, delivering up to 1 Gbps speed and under 10 milliseconds latency rates.
AT&T’s extensive 5G trials in Waco, Texas – on the new 28GHz radios, virtualized RAN and a full 5G virtualized core from Ericsson — were with local enterprises, including a car wash, church and other small businesses.
Ericsson is providing an end to end solution that includes new 28GHz radios, virtualized RAN and a full 5G virtualized Core.
Samsung will deliver its 5G network solution including 5G router for businesses and homes in South Bend, Indiana for the trial. The foundation is built on Samsung’s 5G RFIC chipset and virtualized core and vRAN.
Nokia is also a technology partner for 5G trials.
“By testing the technologies in a live commercial-like environment and trialing new 5G use cases together, we are able to gain valuable experience in preparation for commercial deployments based on 3GPP New Radio (NR) technology,” said Joakim Sorelius, head of Product Area Network Systems at Ericsson.
AT&T will also conduct 5G trials in Kalamazoo, Michigan; and South Bend, Indiana.
AT&T is expanding its fixed wireless 5G trials to business and residential customers in Waco, Texas; Kalamazoo, Michigan; and South Bend, Indiana by the end of the year.
In June, AT&T launched its second fixed wireless 5G trial in Austin with local businesses including a car wash, a church and other small businesses. AT&T also launched a test site at an apartment unit.
AT&T has gained new insights into mmWave performance and propagation assisting the wireless operator to better design its telecom network for the future.
“We’ve learned more about how things like foliage, building materials, device placement, surrounding environment and weather impact the signal and system in a real-world environment,” said Marachel Knight, senior vice president, Wireless Network Architecture and Design, AT&T.
At the apartment unit, AT&T set up a fixed wireless 5G home with multiple applications running simultaneously over the fixed wireless 5G connection. AT&T streamed DIRECTV NOW, 360 video, and international videoconferencing – demonstrating how people can live, work, and play in a connected home of the future.
AT&T will test fixed and mobile wireless solutions operating in mmWave spectrum in the field and our testbeds. AT&T is expecting that the learnings from new fixed wireless 5G trials will help speed up standards based deployment as early as late 2018.
