Verizon and the Mayor of Boston announced last Tuesday that the company would start a 5G implementation with the help of the government’s staff. Mayor Martin Welsh said the company would invest $300 million to install 800 miles of fiber cable which would allow Verizon to offer its Fios package in the city. In addition, public personnel will help with the placement of WI-FI “antennas” in lamp posts which would be an important step to provide 5G wireless connection.
The announcement took everyone by surprise. Six months ago, Verizon executives discarded the project, but it seems they finally came to terms. There is a rumor that Patriots owner, Robert Kraft, got Lowell McAdam, Verizon Chief, in touch with Boston deputies. If it’s true, The Hub’s citizens have many reasons to be grateful to him.
Right now, there are only two major internet providers operating in Boston; Comcast and RCN. An official report states that as much as 90% of the citizens only have one option. People have complained many times about the quality of the service and its cost and now they will have another option, a much better one. However, the project is expected to take over six years to be completed, so they kind of have to hang in there for a while.
What will fiber do for Boston?
Well, Google fiber already proved how fast this new technology is. The benefits for both industries and regular people are many because downloads and upload speeds are insane. In that aspect, Verizon brings nothing really new to it. Nonetheless, Boston does not count with this service yet and when it is already available, the other companies will be forced to give competitive prices and improve their customer service in fear of losing its clients.
In order to manage this, Verizon has to replace all the copper cables with fiber ones and they definitely won’t be doing it alone. Mayor Walsh said public personnel will be trained to install the new technology and help with maintenance. In addition, authorities will ease the permits necessary to complete the project.
Testing 5G
Once the fiber cables are in place, they will serve as the platform for true innovation, 5G Wi-Fi. Lamp posts are going to be modified in order to cover more territory and the implications are plainly futuristic. But what is 5G? Well, there are 2 main concepts specialists debate; a combination and improvement of all existing technologies (1G, 2G, 3G, and 4G), and a new history changing technology.
5G is a delicate topic because the possibilities are immense. According to Gsmaintelligence, specialists expect minimum features from the new technology, such as 1-10 Gbps connections, 1-millisecond latency, 100% on both availability and coverage, and even %90 reduction in network energy usage, and that’s just the basics. When it started working in its self-driving car, Google said a 5G structure was necessary for the automobile to work properly.
Not only the people from Boston have reasons to be excited about it, this could mean the beginning of a new era and when everything is in place, all the world will have their eyes on the Hub.
Source: Boston Herald