atcomsystems.ca/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information 5G Rollout

So, we have all heard the hype about this new-fangled technology and how it's supposed to magically make our lives so much better.

Before now, I never bothered to give it a second thought. I figured it would be eons before technology like that would make it's way to my tiny, hole-in-the-wall state. Not to mention, nobody in my family, or anyone I know has a device capable of utilizing this new technology anyway. I brushed it off as something the major cities like NYC or Los Angeles, Boston or Dallas or something would get long before podunk Manchester...

Then I saw workers installing an electric meter box, disconnect/breaker box, and a bracket on the utility pole outside the bar I do maintenance for...
"Hmmm, I wonder what that's going to be for?" Genuinely having no clue...

Then another identical setup appeared on a pole on my street.
And another.
Now they are appearing around the city.... Something is up.

Today the one on my street was a flurry of activity, bucket trucks, table with prints and manuals and a half dozen men working, some big electronic box hanging on the bracket, and metal poles with cellular looking antennae on it.

I must do research!! A quick google search turned this up:

5G Coming to 16 markets

Well I'll be darned.

Then I go to the company website. Flat rate for 5G home internet, 200Mbps symmetrical. Price is damn good. Cheaper than I'm paying now, claims there's no limits, caps, throttling, etc. So far, I'm sold- hook, line and sinker.

The company name is Starry Inc. Anyone know anything about these guys? I was quite literally jumping for joy when I say they were bringing this to Manchester. Now that my excitement has subsided and rational thinking has returned, I'd like to do my due diligence and see if this is legit. Appreciate any input anyone has. Thanks.

-I wasn't sure where to post this. If it belongs somewhere else let me know.

From PC Mag: "The early 5G rollouts are more like a public beta test than a final product. AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile are all using technologies that only travel about 600 feet from a cell site, which means there isn't much coverage." Source

Quick, relocate to a utility pole near you.

In addition to Verizon Wireless, Verizon Core is looking to 5G as an eventual replacement for FiOS in towns/cities where the service is not currently available...and...for buildings that are located in towns/cities where the service is offered...but...the company has chosen...for whatever reason...not to install fiber.

As Professor noted, Verizon's implementation will yield faster speeds, but, the signal won't travel as far as other providers...and...will be affected by objects such as trees, leaves and walls.

I have learned that this service that is coming to Manchester is intended to be a fixed wireless solution. Not intended for mobile customers, they plan to offer fixed internet to customers for a flat price. Their website says something about needing access to buildings, hinting that there may be a fixed antenna of some sort installed. I would think this would make the service at least consistent. I personally am excited at the potential of there being some competition in town against Comcast and Consolidated. Comcast has decent service, but their prices are very high. I'm hoping that some competition will knock them down a peg. Consolidated refuses to offer anything but bonded DSL. That's fine if you live within a few blocks of the CO or a node. The bar does ok with 40/2m bonded, but it's really a thin margin. Our point of sale system, music system and TV are all internet based. Add guest wifi to the mix and it gets really close to running out of bandwidth. Currently I have the guest wifi throttled to only 5/1 megs, to make sure there is ample bandwidth for the core needs of the bar. I would love to raise or eliminate that cap, but until a more affordable provider comes to town, it's just not an option. We have live shows and people like to post them online and stream them. I couldn't ask for better free advertising but we need better internet to make that happen.

Verizon would need to install an external antenna. At least Consolidated does offer a bonded DSL product. At the Church, we're stuck at 7d/768u.

Verizon doesn't offer a bonded product and refuses to provide FiOS because the existing copper (50 pair) was installed back in the 1940s using direct burial cable as opposed to conduit. Comcast & RCN have no conduit & cables underneath the street along our block.

For the Church, 5G would be the only way to get very high speed Internet access. I'm in no hurry to start looking at satellite providers.

When we got satellite TV, they tried to sell us on satellite internet. I was wholly unimpressed with nearly every aspect of it. The price was higher than the more traditional wired services currently available, the latency was much higher, speed was capped at 25d/3u. They also have data caps and throttling. Considering our current usage of between 700 and 800 gigabytes of data per month, any data cap is just out of the question. Their "best" plan which is -without quoting specific prices- is $35 more than we are paying Comcast now, and has a data cap of 50 gigs, just wouldn't cut it. After you use up your 50 gigs, they throttle you from 25d/3u to 3d/1u. Why is that even a thing anymore?

I can't believe Verizon doesn't offer a bonded product. I mean, I guess I can, but still. Your church is opposed to a drop even in the rear of the building? I wouldn't think that would be all that obtrusive. I know the front is beautiful and I can understand why you wouldn't want anything strung up out there. If memory serves, the problem with running conduit was the driveways on either side, right? Or would it also have to cross the street? I don't remember which side the utility poles were on.

To get back on topic, I called Starry today. I don't want to knock them, but the information I got wasn't what I wanted to hear. To preface, I understand their reasoning for doing things the way they are, unfortunately it doesn't benefit me as yet.
The service is aimed only at apartment buildings and other multi-tenant residential buildings. They currently do not serve single family homes, though as they grow, that could change. They also are only serving residential customers at this time. They did say, that because the bar is in a multi-use building with mostly apartments (the top two floors are all apartments and the first floor is the bar, a laundromat and a hair salon), it may be possible to get an exception and get service there.

The fact that so much of rural America is still on DSL is such bullshit. In 2018/2019 I still had a dry DSL pair in Fletcher, NC, 15 minutes away from Asheville, NC that had direct fiber to homes. I was paying the same price as I am now paying for 900/50 here in Southern Maryland.

My only thing is... what is the jitter and latency like on this system?

I was/am wondering the same thing

A Comcast rep offered to tap into their cable on the side street secure it along the back of the building, drill into the rear wall to get it in and run the cable through the basement rooms to get it to my "office" aka the phone closet.

My response was "Call me when you are ready to service our building correctly".

Still waiting for the .