Verizon: C-Band Will Be Ubiquitous

[VVivian]

Asked if Verizon will ultimately put C-band on all of its towers, Ellis said, “You should expect us to have C-band pretty much everywhere we have the 4G network today. And so obviously, a lot of the initial deployment is on existing towers. And if we need to add in between, we can. We have a large number of sites that we can just go to put C-band radios up but already have backhaul and power in place.”

https://www.fiercewireless.com/wirel...updates-c-band

Thrilled to be proven right in my assertion that midband is the new lowband and mmWave is the new midband! (Lowband used to be expected to be everywhere, but now that’s becoming the case with midband. And midband used to just be for congested places, but now that’s becoming the case with mmWave.)

[blkballoon925]

Sounds like a solid commitment to more densification. Given that among the Big Three, Verizon is still the only operator in my region putting up small cells outside of major city central business districts, I believe they’ll make it happen.

I’d still like to see them throwing the whole “UWB” spectrum portfolio of CBRS, C-band, and mmWave on all of their upgraded macros and small cells, but even with their current legacy LTE small cells, they’re still 3+ years ahead of AT&T on densification around here.

[mwdewey]

Well, if this is the case, then one would think that Verizon would be rapidly deploying and installing C-Band onto every tower they can in the 46 markets where it can be installed right now. Except around the affected airports of course. The fact that they have not done this to any great degree at all is a bit concerning, There are 5 full counties in the one market area in this state where they can use C-Band, but they have only installed a few sites in 2 of those counties, the rest are completely blank.

I would ask the Verizon person to get back to us when he can report that they have upgraded every single site in the areas where they can use it right now, because if this is the rate at which the rest of the country will roll out, we are in for another VERY long installation period for C-Band. The rest of the countr is going to have to wait another year or two before it can be turned on, so using it where they can right now would seem to be a great thing to do.

[Jack Hagar]

Well, if this is the case, then one would think that Verizon would be rapidly deploying and installing C-Band onto every tower they can in the 46 markets where it can be installed right now. Except around the affected airports of course. The fact that they have not done this to any great degree at all is a bit concerning, There are 5 full counties in the one market area in this state where they can use C-Band, but they have only installed a few sites in 2 of those counties, the rest are completely blank.

I would ask the Verizon person to get back to us when he can report that they have upgraded every single site in the areas where they can use it right now, because if this is the rate at which the rest of the country will roll out, we are in for another VERY long installation period for C-Band. The rest of the countr is going to have to wait another year or two before it can be turned on, so using it where they can right now would seem to be a great thing to do.

first off all it's over 76 markets now. Second they are going as fast as you can. You need to chill on unrealistic expectations. Deployment is not made by using pixie dust and unicorn farts. There is only so much equipment available and so many tower workers. att and t-mobile and even Dish are doing deployment not to mention TV stations upgrading to ATSC 3.0. It's not like there is a long lien of people wanting to be tower workers. Be patient this marathon not a sprint. They have nearly half the population covered and will be at 200 mil( 60 % ) within 2-4 months

[bobdevnul]

...I would ask the Verizon person to get back to us when he can report that they have upgraded every single site in the areas where they can use it right now, because if this is the rate at which the rest of the country will roll out, we are in for another VERY long installation period for C-Band. The rest of the countr is going to have to wait another year or two before it can be turned on, so using it where they can right now would seem to be a great thing to do.

Verizon has told us their plan for C-Band deployment:

https://www.fiercewireless.com/5g/ve...est-5g-network

That is: [completing] "its C-band 5G deployment in late 2024." That is the high level overview schedule.

Your five counties may not be representative of the whole country. I would expect them to deploy it first or early where it makes most sense to them - customers to pay for it, need for bandwidth, etc. I doubt they are going to prioritize a few low population density counties.

They do not have unlimited resources of money, equipment, and tower crews to deploy it as quickly as you wish for. That is an unreasonable expectation.

I don't have a 5G phone. I have no idea how well Vz 5G works in the mid-Atlantic. LTE, in the mean time, is working just fine. 5G just for the sake of 5G has very little to do with how we use our personal handsets. With just LTE, I touch an icon and get my email, weather, etc. 5G is not going to make waiting on hold less tedious. 5G and more bandwidth is coming as the demand for data increases. Vz congestion in some places is so bad that people are leaving Vz. That's where they need more bandwidth first. Is Vz congested where you are? It's not where I am.

[VVivian]

Aside from the thrill of speed tests, I’ve only noticed three real-world usage improvements thanks to 5G UW:

1. Congestion relief
2. Being able to stream lossless 4K Blu-Ray rips from my home Plex server (which requires a consistent 80 Mbps without stuttering — LTE could theoretically do it, but it usually can’t)
3. Truly unlimited data on my 12.9” iPad Pro, which is fabulously useful for streaming 4K as mentioned as well as doing software updates and iCloud backups when not at home

I never see anybody mention that Verizon’s Unlimited Plus tablet plan is the ONLY way to get truly unlimited on-device premium data on a tablet, albeit only when in 5G UW coverage. All other tablet plans have capped or nonexistent premium data allotments.

[brad15]

I never see anybody mention that Verizon’s Unlimited Plus tablet plan is the ONLY way to get truly unlimited on-device premium data on a tablet, albeit only when in 5G UW coverage. All other tablet plans have capped or nonexistent premium data allotments.

That's because on my grandfathered AT&T SIM that only allows "22GB premium", I still regularly pull 100+Mbps from their LTE.

Verizon is the only carrier where that QCI matters *that much* when traveling around... thus why time and time again it's the posts from the people on verizon's lower QCI plans complaining about poor data performance.

People on T-Mobile essentials and AT&T Unlimited Starter usually still work fine, even in busy areas (this is confirmed from the multiple eSIM's in my device)

I've been impressed with Verizon's speed of deploying C-Band when traveling around for work, and if they can densify to the level they are claiming here.. then great. Unitl then, they need to lower the prices $10-20/mo to stop the bleeding.

[DRC72]

That's because on my grandfathered AT&T SIM that only allows "22GB premium", I still regularly pull 100+Mbps from their LTE.

Verizon is the only carrier where that QCI matters *that much* when traveling around... thus why time and time again it's the posts from the people on verizon's lower QCI plans complaining about poor data performance.

People on T-Mobile essentials and AT&T Unlimited Starter usually still work fine, even in busy areas (this is confirmed from the multiple eSIM's in my device)

I've been impressed with Verizon's speed of deploying C-Band when traveling around for work, and if they can densify to the level they are claiming here.. then great. Unitl then, they need to lower the prices $10-20/mo to stop the bleeding.

I’m on AT&T’s bare-bones ValuePlus unlimited plan and I rarely ever see my speeds being throttled.

[tekfranz]

I’m on AT&T’s bare-bones ValuePlus unlimited plan and I rarely ever see my speeds being throttled.

Yes same around here. They have the capacity needed to make it work with their current technology and frequencies.
AT&T usually has very normal, usable speeds. They tend to migrate to the next technology a lot slower and more planned.
My one issue with AT&T is they are quite a boring company for a cell geek to follow. (and they lost my trade-ins once but that’s a different story).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[jakeuten]

It will be fun to look back at this thread in 10 years and see how far midband truly made it. I do believe it'll cover most of the existing network for every carrier, but there are some seriously remote places out there that even the best lowband can't tackle. Getting power and fiber to those areas will be trivial.

[brad15]

It will be fun to look back at this thread in 10 years and see how far midband truly made it. I do believe it'll cover most of the existing network for every carrier, but there are some seriously remote places out there that even the best lowband can't tackle. Getting power and fiber to those areas will be trivial.

Well i'm even sure by then that LEO to Mobile service will be ironed out, and for those super remote places there will at least be *something*, or at least LEO service may be good enough to provide remote backhaul of at least 1Gbps to those places.

[VVivian]

It will be fun to look back at this thread in 10 years and see how far midband truly made it. I do believe it'll cover most of the existing network for every carrier, but there are some seriously remote places out there that even the best lowband can't tackle. Getting power and fiber to those areas will be trivial.

…won’t be trivial?

[DRC72]

My one issue with AT&T is they are quite a boring company for a cell geek to follow. (and they lost my trade-ins once but that’s a different story).


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yeah, I would have to agree lol. Ma Bell could be a little more exciting, but one thing I’m glad about is they got rid of Randall and replaced him with Stankey. My apologies for going off topic and I’ll let you guys get back on topic.

[mwdewey]

first off all it's over 76 markets now. Second they are going as fast as you can. You need to chill on unrealistic expectations. Deployment is not made by using pixie dust and unicorn farts. There is only so much equipment available and so many tower workers. att and t-mobile and even Dish are doing deployment not to mention TV stations upgrading to ATSC 3.0. It's not like there is a long lien of people wanting to be tower workers. Be patient this marathon not a sprint. They have nearly half the population covered and will be at 200 mil( 60 % ) within 2-4 months

I realize that C-Band will not be magically available everywhere all at once. I am fully aware that it took 12 years for Verizon to get LTE to the point where it can now be called “ubiquitous”, so I expect the same will happen with any form of 5G for both them and
AT&T.

The advantage, and problem both Verizon and AT&T have in the race to 5G ubiquity is the fact that they have FAR more sites than T-Mobile does, which both means that they both will have better coverage in the end, and it also means they will have FAR more sites to upgrade than T-Mobile does, meaning that it will take longer to do it because of the litany of reasons you state: Equipment availability, crews, etc etc etc etc.

The fact they have an almost 2-year window where they can install anywhere they want in those 76 areas, I guess means nothing if some of those market areas will not receive ubiquitous coverage until the last part of the entire roll-out.

[rpz1]

My question is what's the time line for all users/areas that have at least LTE coverage now to have c-band. Unless the time line for that is 5-10 years, since that's going to require a whole lot of transmission (ie tower) infill to qualify as being ubuiquitous (present, appearing, or found everywhere).