Bandwidth matters, it goes without saying. That is as true for 5G as it is for 4G. Simply put, the more bandwidth available, the faster Internet access speeds can be provided. In tests of proposed 5G networks, channels as big as 200 MHz to 200 MHz have been used.
Ericsson is testing 5G in Plano, Texas and Stockholm, Sweden, aiming to replicate the performance of the network with any device from a tablet to smartphone to PC at 5G speeds.
Keith Shank, director of Ericsson’s Advanced Technology Lab, says the tests use 200 megahertz channels at 13 gigahertz.
So far, download speeds of 5.7 Gbps in the downlink have been possible over a TDD channel using OFDM modulation and a MIMO 4×4 radio system.
As tests of 400-MHz channels are conducted, Ericsson expects to see downlink speeds up to 10 Gbps.
“The latency is going to drop from the 100 millisecond range to the sub-ten millisecond range,” says Shank. That has implications for near-real-time and real-time operations.”
