Why is the term “Real 5G” bandied about so often? Zahid Ghadialy looks at how confusion over standards has led to marketing exploitation, which has led to even more confusion. From UK5G Innovation Briefing, Dec 2020 - https://flickread.com/edition/html/5fd39f218fd31#63 *** SHARED WITH PERMISSION ***

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PEED IS A SHORTH A N D
way of defining 5G. As an active
Twitter user, I see end-users,
operators, enterprises and even
vendors announce 5G with the
help of speed tests. Anything in excess of 500
Mbps is considered ‘real’ while if one can show
speeds above 1Gbps, then it’s definitely the
best of the bunch. Tests that do not reach very
high hundreds of Mbps are often dismissed as
‘fake’. Nowhere is this more obvious than in
the US, where T-Mobile and Verizon are busy
putting each other down. Verizon is using
mmWave 5G, which means it has the fastest
real-world speeds available, but can cover only
limited geography. T-Mobile on
the other hand is relying on low
band, 600 MHz. This allows it to
show the 5G icon everywhere,
but the speeds are just slightly
better than 4G. T-Mobile has
created spoof sites and taken out
full page adverts in national
broadsheets to highlight the lack
of Verizon coverage.
The UK operator Three used
the definition of 100 MHz of
contiguous bandwidth to define
“real 5G”, but this was disallowed
by the Advertising Standards
Authority. Even so, the claim was
that these would result in higher speeds
eventually.
Can we use speed tests to justify ‘real’ 5G?
One thing that is noticeable is that
whenever anyone does a speed test, they
either stop the test or the video before the
upload part starts or just ignore the upload.
This is understandable considering that the
upload is the same as 4G, and even though in
theory 4G uploads can exceed gigabit speeds,
in practice there is hardly any network that
provides more than 100 Mbps.
This creates a sense of false expectations.
While the majority of conventional
applications rely on more download than
upload data, things are changing. One of the
things that we have learnt while many people
have been working from home recently is that
having a high-speed and reliable uplink
connection is a must for a presenter. How
often do speakers have to drop their video to
use voice reliably and how many times do we
see speakers drop from the call? While
indoors, people are usually using their wired
internet with Wi-Fi rather than mobile, we
often see the same experience
on either technology.
When 3G was about to be
launched, the devices, adverts
and all other visions hyped up
making video calls. As there
were no smartphones, one had
big bulky feature phones with
dual cameras and poor battery
life. It wasn’t just the technology
that killed the 3G dream of video
calls, it was also the cost of
these calls. Even today, video
calls that use the network
directly have limited support, are
unreliable and quite expensive.
So, while people use all kinds of over-the-top
apps to do video calls, very few people really
use their networks directly.
Video calls, whether using OTT apps, video
conferencing or Zoom meetings, are quite
common. While most of them are conducted
indoors where they rely on Wi-Fi, 4G can
usually support them outdoors as well.
If you look at 5G adverts today, operators
are showing the vision of virtual and extended
reality (VR, XR respectively). While they look
fantastic, many of the use cases rely on
availability of the latest high-end devices and
Wi-Fi connectivity.
THE MIRACLE
In addition to some of these simple use cases
that will eventually be adopted by many users,
there is no shortage of visionary use cases
such as tactile internet, holographic calls,
virtual sports, disaster relief, etc. In addition,
there are gimmicky use cases such as remote
surgery that may not come to pass in the way
they are currently portrayed. Having said that,
telehealth and telemedicine are both
5G: Now
I’m here
R E A L 5G
promising areas of development for 5G.
Speed remains a defining feature of 5G
while the hunt for the killer app is still on. But
there are other ways of defining what
constitutes 5G.
With 3GPP Release-16 just finalised, the
focus has now shifted to providing standalone
(SA) 5G as opposed to the existing 5G
networks today that are all non-standalone
(NSA). At the moment nobody is thinking of 5G
SA for general consumers, so we may not see
many end-user speed tests. The focus will be
on new innovative services such as vehicle to
everything (V2X), XR and private networks.
One of the reasons for keeping this new 5G
network reserved for verticals is to guarantee
a ‘real’ 5G experience that may not be possible
with the 5G today. There are many industries
that can benefit from a high-speed, high-
capacity, ultra-reliable and low-latency
connectivity. Industries that are just waking up
to the benefits of 5G in theory are realising
that the 5G that’s available in practice does not
meet their requirements. While the operators
are looking for a premium for this kind of
connection, mobile broadband prices have
eroded over time, even with the larger data
bundles that are on offer.
Live stream gamers on the other hand may
argue that they would pay a premium for really
low latency if mobile connectivity was the only
option. Gaming companies are expecting a
general availability of low latency to help them
design new outdoor games. Pokémon GO has
already demonstrated that users are willing to
consume multi-player outdoor games, and
faster speeds with low latency could
be a catalyst for some new games.
Why is the term “Real 5G” bandied about so often?
Parallel Wireless’ Zahid Ghadialy looks at how
confusion over standards has led to marketing
exploitation, which has led to even more confusion.
Speeds
of over
500mps
are
seen as
real 5G
Swisscomshows
that gigabit
throughputs
are possible
ınrural
enviroments
Ben Wood (left) and Klaus Liechti,
Release Train Engineer at Swisscom,
found that even in the rural setting
of Emmental, Swisscom could
provide high speed connectivity
(www.bit.ly/2RNaO69).

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I WANT IT ALL
While we have talked about the technology
and enablers, we should remember that 5G
networks are only as good as the available
bandwidth. Although in some countries the
networks may have a reasonable coverage
layer spectrum (generally 2x 10 MHz of sub-1
GHz spectrum) and a good amount of
capacity layer spectrum (generally 100 MHz of
C-band spectrum), not every operator will have
that much spectrum available.
In the UK, all operators except Three have
just 40-50 MHz of C-band spectrum. In
addition, 700 MHz spectrum has not yet been
auctioned. So, while the speed tests still show
fantastic speeds, they are underpinned by the
4G networks playing an active role in 5G NSA.
In the end, there are only a few really
demanding users who are never satisfied with
whatever speeds and latency you provide. The
IMT-2020 requirement of consistent user-
experienced downlink data rate of 100 Mbps
and uplink data rate of 50 Mbps may be a
good starting point at which a network can be
called a ‘real’ 5G network.
With 3G and again with 4G, the technology
improved significantly after the initial rollout
days. The same will be true for 5G. The end-
user experience is not just dependent on
connectivity technology alone. It also depends
on good coverage, feature-rich and high-
performance devices, great battery life, a
fantastic choice of apps and many other
things.
The first 4G network was launched in
2009. As we have seen over the last decade,
4G has matured significantly. While it may not
deliver the promises of IMT-Advanced, no one
doubts the capability of 4G. 5G has been
hyped up far more than 4G and networks may
find it a challenge to make it deliver on its
promises, but I am very confident that ‘real’ 5G
will arrive, long before 6G.
Zahid Ghadialy
5G Guru
Zahid Ghadialy is a Senior
Director for Technology &
Innovation Strategy at
Parallel Wireless and has
been evangelising the
benefits of Open RAN and
Open Interfaces. Having
been in the mobile
wireless industry for over 20 years, he
thinks now is the right time for mobile
operators to reimagine their networks.
He is also a well-known blogger and his
most popular blog is called The 3G4G blog.
Metric used Is it a good definition?How it relates to 5G
New Radio, or NR, is to 5G what LTE is to 4G or GSM to 2G. NR is very
similar to LTE with the latest revisions to the 4G standard. A key element
that sets NR apart from LTE is is that bandwidths of up to 100 MHz are
supported for sub-6 GHz (now sub-7.125 GHz) and up to 400 MHz above
that. In NR, the subcarrier spacing is set in proportion to the bandwidth
rather than being fixed to 15kHz as it is in LTE. This means greater radio
efficiency, particularly when using small bits of radio spectrum, and so
faster data speeds for a given radio bandwidth.
Support for
New Radio
Yes, probably the best
current definition
300Mbps is the definition of Ultrafast not 5G. Sometimes 4G can
reach these speeds and often 5G cannot.
Speeds over
300 Mbps
No, speed is a
consequence not an
indicator
Contiguous
bandwidth
No, it’s something
that’s very nice to
have for 5G but not
essential to be 5G
When Three claimed to offer the “only real 5G”, it was on the basis of having
100MHz of radio spectrum in one chunk. One of the things 5G has taken
from 4G is the ability to aggregate radio spectrum in lots of different
frequencies. While having as much spectrum as possible is the key to the
greatest data speed, having it all in the same band is very much more
efficient. It’s why the super fast speeds are only available in the less-used,
very-high frequencies; it’s not down to the actual frequency but how much
room there is up there. Being contiguous is not a 5G requirement.
Standalone Oh yes, this is the full-fat
standard and will in time
become the true
definition
The migration to 5G is happening in two stages. Initially, just the radio part
of the network is going 5G. The core remains 4G. This is called non-
standalone as the 5G part requires the support of 4G legacy systems.
When a network is 5G through and through it’s known as standalone.
DEFINITIONS OF “REAL” 5G
Lots of ways have been used to market 5G. There is a danger that they will confuse the
average customer. Here are some of the definitions that are commonly used.
Niantic, the creator of Pokémon GO, already
has a demo of a mobile-edge, mixed-reality,
multiplayer game called ‘Codename Neon’,
which could use this low-latency 5G network if
it was widely available.
A KIND OF MAGIC
One of the features that has become
synonymous with 5G is network slicing. The
main motivator for this is the ability to divide a
single physical network logically to provide
different types of services with different
quality of service (QoS) to different users. In
fact, in certain circles the running joke is that if
you cannot provide a satisfactory answer, just
say that end-to-end slicing will solve it.
While slicing can be provided in current 5G
networks with a lot of difficulty, having a 5G
core would make it much easier. In fact, there
are other supporting technologies such as
containers, cloud, AI, etc., that will be needed
for it to deliver its potential.
While there are no doubt enormous
benefits of this end-to-end slicing, it still
remains to be seen whether it will work as
expected in a multi-vendor environment. In
addition, a slice can only exist if a radio exists
to deliver it. A building with poor outside-in
coverage cannot magically provide coverage
with some kind of slicing. Indoor nodes would
be required to provide coverage as well as
slicing benefits. Many enterprises that do not
understand these basic facts may be in for a
shock when they discover the cost of getting a
slice.
There are so many options in 5G networks
that many people in our industry believe that
no two 5G networks will be the same. There
will be some variation at one or another level in
each of them. Even the way in which they
show the 5G icon is left up to the
implementors. In some networks you may see
a 5G icon even when 5G coverage is not
available in the area.
In addition to terrestrial 5G, there is the
possibility of non-terrestrial 5G, which could be
based either on connectivity from satellites or
from unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) like
HAPS (high altitude platform stations). While
these non-terrestrial networks may bring 5G to
new areas, they would not satisfy the
International Telecommunications Union’s
(ITU’s) IMT-2020 requirement for either
enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-
reliable and low-latency communication
(URLLC) or massive machine-type connectivity
(mMTC). Your device would probably still show
you a 5G icon though.