n TECHNOLOGY
I
n December, Earl Lum spent the holiday season snooping
“Everyone did a lot of field trials prior to the launch,” Lum
around Sacramento’s eight city council districts, snap- says. “[Verizon wasn’t] going into this whole thing blind. Part
ping pictures of city-owned street lights for evidence. The of this survey was to do a fact check on the reality.”
wireless analyst was on a mission to assess the status of
Verizon’s 5G Home network, which launched in the capital TRUSTING THE PROCESS
in October 2018.
In 2017, the Sacramento City Council approved a $100 mil-
He came bearing questions: How many poles had the lion partnership with Verizon. One of the major selling
shoe-box sized 5G radios mounted on them? Were these fixed points was a reduced rate on 200 poles if Verizon agreed to
wireless sites only in wealthier neighborhoods? Did they tar- make Sacramento one of the first 5G test cities. Last year,
get businesses? It took him three trips to map every pole. Each Maria MacGunigal, the city’s chief information officer,
time, he scouted for two to three days from dawn to dusk. For said it was a gamble to give up full-price lease payments
an official launch of a network like this, Lum believes at least for pole space in the deal. The gamble hasn’t exactly paid
2,000 sites with about 50 percent service coverage would be off yet.
respectable. But what he found was some 200 small cells at-
Verizon’s fixed wireless service in Sacramento doesn’t
tached to street lights with broadband signals reaching less meet the updated international standards for 5G, so the
than 10 percent of Sacramento’s population.
newly mounted radios already need to be replaced. City
“The network was ex-
officials didn’t know the radios
tremely limited,” says Lum,
would need upgrades at the time
founder of EJL Wireless Re-
of deployment; they found out
search in Half Moon Bay, who
during the process as technology
has analyzed wireless and
standards were adopted. Verizon
mobile radio access markets
plans to swap the outdated radi-
for more than 20 years. “There
os with newer ones and upgrade
was clearly not enough sites
customers’ 5G Home equipment
to even do what I would call a
for free, according to Verizon
real launch for a network.”
spokesperson Heidi Flato. This
There are 40,000 city-owned
upgrade will happen “as equip-
poles in Sacramento with about
ment becomes available,” she
9,000 being suitable for wireless
says, but declined to give a spe-
development, according to city
cific timeline.
officials. But Lum argues that
Nearly a year after the launch,
— Earl Lum, founder, EJL Wireless Research
those suitable poles only cover
nobody seems to know how or
the main streets, and the dis-
when 5G coverage will expand.
tance of the signals from each
Per the agreement, Verizon has
site fails to fill the gaps. Another
“satisfied their initial 5G Home
issue he points out is the millimeter wave technology, which rollout,” according to city officials. As of now, no district
is line of sight, meaning trees and rain can disrupt signals.
has full coverage, but each one has representation, says
Two years after the city’s partnership with Verizon was Natasha Greer, who is on MacGunigal’s team, leading this
announced, Lum’s findings — published in the report ”Unit- project.
ed States 5G Fixed Wireless Access Case Study, Verizon Wire-
The city’s agreement with the company is “giving Ver-
less and the City of Sacramento, CA” — paint a sobering izon a chance to test out this technology that’s never been
picture. The city boasted of being one of the first four test used before and really see what modifications need to be
cities for the telecom giant’s 5G network. Officials called the done before it’s rolled out city wide,” Greer says.
move a major step toward a future of lightning-fast speeds,
Verizon hasn’t published a 5G coverage map. Instead,
smart meters and wearable technology, and, down the line, the company provides a website (verizonwireless.com/5g/
industrial automation and self-driving cars. They called it a home/) where potential customers can type in their home
“game-changer.” But if the game has any hope of changing, address to check for availability. Flato says Verizon hasn’t
Lum says the city would need as many as 4,000 sites to pro- had any issues related to rolling out 5G in multiple cities at
vide full coverage, an undertaking that could take up to 10 the same time, nor hurdles specific to Sacramento during
years.
the launch.
“Everyone did a lot of field
trials prior to launch.
[Verizon wasn’t] going into this
whole thing blind. Part of this
survey was to do a fact check
on reality.”
46
comstocksmag.com | June 2019