Samsung and Verizon have revealed the high possibility of customer trials of 5G technology in five US cities by second quarter of 2017.
The companies have announced the completion of 5G installation systems across several US cities. The customer trials will begin in April which will provide wireless access to customers through 5G connectivity analyze user experiences and assess the performance of 5G technology.
Cities included in the customer trial are New Jersey, Texas, Washington D.C, Michigan and Massachusetts. Verizon stated that the locations were chosen to provide a variety of terrain, population density and neighborhood layouts.
The customer trials will comprise the usage of innovative 5G technologies where 28GHz millimeter wave spectrum and advanced beam forming antenna technology will be utilized. Units will be installed through various areas of the cities which will be linked to network within data centers. This technology is primarily driven by software.
The companies are happy with the commercial and technological progress they have made. Delivery of technology to experimental customers is a crucial step towards assessment of the business model and evaluates the customer experience in detail. Pre-commercial testing already began in December 2016. During those tests, Verizon stated that the system demonstrated multi gigabits throughputs.
Samsung and Verizon is not the only platform planning to conduct 5G trials in 2017. There are indications that AT&T partnering with Qualcomm and Ericsson will also perform the customer 5G trials to evaluate the prospects.
