T-Mobile has completed what it claims is the first standalone end-to-end 5G data session in North America.
The company also claims it is the first in the world on a multi-vendor 5G next-generation radio and core network. T-Mobile said the over-the-air transmission of data is a huge leap for the potential of 5G with new services, low latency and greater coverage and capacity than existing cellular generations.
Current 5G networks are on non-standalone networking technology, which means it transmits both 5G and 4G LTE simultaneously. This is good for the current generation of smartphones because 5G coverage is lacking and as 5G-enabled smartphones go beyond 5G coverage, they switch to LTE. However, in the future 5G coverage will be greater and simultaneous coverage won’t be necessary.
Standalone 5G networks have the potential to provide real-time responses and massive connectivity such as mobile augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR), cloud gaming, smart factories and connected vehicles.
The data session was completed in a Bellevue, Washington, lab using equipment from Ericsson, Cisco, Nokia and MediaTek.