Inside Verizon's vision of smokin' 5G speeds - CNET

Test-driving 5G

At first glance, the sleepy Basking Ridge community makes for an unlikely test location for tomorrow's wireless network. But it's host to Verizon's sprawling headquarters and where CNET got an exclusive early look at the field trial.

Resting on one of the building's balconies is a base station and antenna hooked up to a fiber line. The station, which is a steel cabinet slightly taller than me, broadcasts a 5G signal with a limited range of about 1,000 feet.

Down below in the parking lot, the van drives around as the antenna mounted on its roof picks up the signal in a demonstration of the 5G mobile capabilities.

About 300 feet across from the base station, inside an adjacent section of the Verizon building, is another metal cabinet, which houses a second receiver. Its purpose is to pick up the signal and demonstrate that obstructions like trees, glass and walls don't interfere with the connection.

As this is one of the first trials, the deployment is kept limited to a small area.

Tackling the challenges

There are reasons for the baby steps.

Like any other wireless tech, 5G is reliant on spectrum, the radio airwaves necessary to ferry that cat video to your phone. In particular, it requires high-frequency spectrum, which offers a fat pipe for high speeds but has very limited range. Today's network runs on lower frequency spectrum, which can travel long distances and penetrate walls.

Here's what Verizon's 5G field test looks...

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Higher frequency spectrum requires a lot more cellular sites on rooftops or street lamps. In addition, even simple obstructions can disrupt the signal.

"Going through windows is fine, but a second or third wall is a problem," said Woojune Kim, vice president of Samsung's next-generation network business.

The receiver in the building is angled so it has a line of sight to the base station, though a brick wall partly blocks the path, demonstrating that some obstructions are fine. The screen flashes consistently high speeds until I wave my hand in front of the receiver, causing the numbers to drop.

To compensate, vendor partners such as Samsung have to employ tricks like "beam forming," where the base station constantly fires off multiple signals in different directions, giving the receiver an opportunity to catch the optimal one and switch to it for better reception. The companies have also looked at how to bounce signals off walls to improve the coverage.

Verizon has already invested in building a network with a dense mix of cell sites closer to its customers, according to Adam Koeppe, vice president of technology planning.

As for making sure you get a 5G signal indoors? "We have to solve for that with our design," Koeppe said.

Translation: We haven't figured it out yet.

The long game

Another complication is getting the necessary spectrum to power 5G. Verizon is operating on experimental licenses but will eventually need to buy a large swath to cover the nation. (AT&T has applied to the Federal Communications Commission for its own licenses.)

Guani would say only that he was encouraged by the FCC's aggressive stance on freeing up spectrum for 5G.

FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler and other officials from the agency were scheduled to check out the field test a day after my visit.

It'll likely take awhile before any carrier gets its hands on enough spectrum to power a nationwide network. That's why many industry players don't believe 5G will be a reality for the average Joe until 2020. Some criticize Verizon for unnecessarily building hype for something that's so far away.

"Let's not mislead people into thinking that there will be 5G smartphones in the next couple of years," T-Mobile Chief Technology Officer Neville Ray said in an interview.