It's hard for me to understand why anyone is excited about 5G when most carriers aren't running full bandwidth 4G and have significant data caps. Although 5G may be fast in some markets, 5G on the whole just seems so pointless for consumers.
>>when most carriers aren't running full bandwidth 4G and have significant data
Time and Time again I have seen this everywhere in forums. In Reality is not like Telcos, MNO or Carriers what ever you like to call it, tries to limit your Data Cap. MNO are fundamentally limited by their capacity. There is roughly 10 to 20% YoY increase ( Depending on Nations ) in Mobile Data usage. There is a long tail of users just coming in from 3G to LTE and start enjoying the Mobile Internet. Since their Infrastructure don't improve their capacity 10%+ per year, that is why you have Data Caps and why your Mobile Network isn't getting faster. ( And may in fact be getting slower ).
MNO reframing the 3G spectrum to LTE to help lessen the load, users upgrade to latest Smartphone with better features set to improve network efficiency usage, The faster you finish, the less time you are on the network. Another reason why MNO wants you upgrade to the latest and greatest Smartphone
Once 5G reaches the current stage of 4G, you are likely looking at ~10 to 20x Capacity improvement. ( This is accounting for 128 x 128 Massive MIMO, Small Cell etc ) In theory this gives plenty of room for different MNO to compete, and should lower the price. In the long term, 5G should lower the cost per MB for everybody. That is assuming all else being equal, wages, lease, equipment, etc. In realty those prices are rising as well.
But judging at the current climate we are at least 4 - 5 years away that happening. One being Cell Site infrastructure, despite what AT&T or Verizon wants you to believe, they are far from optimal. It will likely take another year of testing and tuning before widely deployed ( Or to be more precise, Switched on. Since most of the current Cell deployed are software upgradable to support 5G ). Second being 5G Smartphone will be expensive. Everything from Silicon to the Antenna are much more complicated. And as we know technology aren't dropping prices like they are used to. Third is Smartphone replacement cycle are now into 4 years. If you buy an Smartphone in the past 18 months, it wont be until 2022 before you might get a new one. And 5G Smartphone might still be expensive then, which causes delay it for another cycle.
I am sure that legions of lobbyists, politicians, and businessmen are working diligently as we speak to make sure that doesn't happen, but I want to believe.
I doubt it. No one is going to build another network of cell towers just because new bandwidth is available
It should be seeing similarly to advances in computer power throughout time, to some it makes little difference depending on the time horizon they are viewing, to others it allowed for machine learning to be used by a wider audience for example.
Whoops, truck drove by, there goes the signal!
They're both needed.
While relevant, I find that predisposition limiting...
Broadband wireless tech has generally helped to address last-mile connection with less infrastructure. But it is very often all or nothing; radio waves don't punch through rocky mountains. Covergage maps are theoretical at best, and won't feel very relevant when you have to go into your kid's bedroom and hold your phone out the window in order to place a call.
Verizon is effectively a monopoly where we live, as its longer-wavelength coverage seems more forgiving of the canyon topography here. They continue to invest in infrastructure upgrades, but I don't know what aspects of 5G will be relevant in actual use in the near term.