JEFF BAUMGARTNER<\/a>\u00a0FEB 1, 2018<\/span><\/p>\n AT&T is preparing to launch \u201cmobile\u201d 5G service by the end of 2018 in about a dozen markets, but the initial deployment won\u2019t involve direct integration with laptops, smartphones or tablets.<\/span><\/p>\n Rather, AT&T will initially lean on a small router-like device that can connect other devices to the 5G network.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThink of this as a puck,\u201d Randall Stephenson, AT&T\u2019s chairman, president and CEO, explained Wednesday (January 31) on the company\u2019s Q4 earnings call.<\/span><\/p>\n He reasoned that AT&T wants to push mobile 5G forward before handsets that support the next-gen wireless technology become available.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe thing [that\u2019s] going to cause 5G to go slow, more than anything else \u2013 it\u2019s just avaialbity of handsets,\u201d he said, adding later that AT&T will be \u201cpushing the vendors\u201d to ramp up their work with 5G-ready handsets.<\/span><\/p>\n AT&T hasn\u2019t said much else about how these 5G pucks will work or what they will cost, but placing them under the \u201cmobile\u201d label seems a bit of a stretch. I agree with Light Reading\u2019s Dan Jones, who views this more of a \u201cnomadic\u201d approach,<\/a> rather than something that contains all the aspects of what one would expect from a truly integrated mobile offering.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Stephenson also talked up the fixed wireless capabilities of 5G, which has been AT&T’s initial focus on the technology and its stance that 5G can deliver gigabit-level performance.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe use case [for 5G] I get most excited about is the opportunity to have a nearly nationwide broadband footprint,\u201d Stephenson said, adding that 5G \u201ccould be a fixed-line replacement for both business and residential customers.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe capacity is there, the performance is there. There\u2019s going to be full gigabit throughput,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n He also noted that AT&T is also looking forward to deploying millimeter wave spectrum from its FiberTower acquisition, noting that it will provide an average of nearly 360 MHz of nationwide spectrum, even with a settlement with the FCC <\/a>that will return some spectrum to the agency factored in.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cMillimeter wave is critical for our 5G strategy and we’ll be putting this spectrum to work later this year,\u201d he said, hopeful that it will give AT&T a quantum leap in both capacity and performance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.multichannel.com\/blog\/att-and-mobile-5g-puck-starts-here-417867<\/a><\/p>\n by Brandon Hill<\/b><\/a> \u2014 Tuesday, February 27, 2018<\/p>\n If everything goes according to plan, we will begin seeing the first 5G wireless services and devices capable of taking advantage of the bandwidth later this year. According to both AT&T and Verizon Wireless, initial commercial 5G deployments will begin later this year.<\/p>\n However, the first devices that America’s two largest wireless carrier will market will not be smartphone. Instead, they will be mobile 5G hotspots that can connect to your smartphone, tablet, or notebook computer. AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson conceded this point in late January<\/a>, stating that his company would be offering Wi-Fi “pucks” to customers to coincide with lighting up its 5G network.<\/p>\n “It’s not going to be a handset, because handsets just aren’t available, think of this as a puck,” said Stephenson during the company’s earnings call.<\/p>\n Both AT&T<\/a> and Verizon<\/a> acknowledge that 5G smartphones won’t be available by the end of this year, so mobile hotspots are the next best thing. \u201cI would expect that there are a range of handsets available in 2019 and some of those will be in the first half of 2019,\u201d said Ronan Dunne, Verizon’s mobile chief at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.<\/p>\n \u201cIf there\u2019s anything available in 2018, it\u2019s more likely to be a hotspot.\u201d<\/p>\n Going the mobile hotspot route isn’t exactly ideal, as it is yet another device that you have to carry around to stay connected. However, for early adopters that just must<\/i> have the latest and the greatest, it’s a palatable in-between solution until the first 5G<\/a>-capable smartphones start hitting the market with their own built-in hotspot capabilities.<\/p>\n Over the past few months, we’ve seen the 5G drumbeat quicken in pace with both Intel<\/a> and Qualcomm<\/a> announcing more mature hardware to leverage the wireless standard. And even today, T-Mobile announced that it will build out its 5G network across 30 cities beginning this year, including New York, Los Angeles, Dallas and Las Vegas. The network will become operational when the first 5G smartphones for the company’s network launch in early 2019.<\/p>\n Not surprisingly, T-Mobile<\/a>‘s enthusiastic CEO heard of the news of AT&T and Verizon’s race to offer a compromised 5G hardware solution and couldn’t help but comment. \u201cDumb and Dumber are in a meaningless race to be first. Their so-called 5G isn\u2019t mobile, and it\u2019s not even on a smartphone. It\u2019s a puck?! You gotta be pucking kidding me!\u201d said T-Mobile’s\u00a0John Legere<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile the Duopoly focus on bragging rights, we focus on customers. T-Mobile has massively bigger plans for a truly transformative 5G experience on your smartphone nationwide. We\u2019re playing the long game … the only game that matters.\u201d<\/p>\n https:\/\/hothardware.com\/news\/verizon-att-5g-hotspot-pucks-t-mobile-pucking-kidding-me#o1I7lTEpia0zhLqC.99<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Joe Mayes and Scott Moritz<\/span><\/p>\n February 26, 2018, 12:51 PM PST<\/span><\/p>\n AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc., conceding that phones won\u2019t be available in time for the launch of fifth-generation mobile service this year, plan instead to offer 5G through portable hotspots called pucks.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI would expect that there are a range of handsets available in 2019 and some of those will be in the first half of 2019,\u201d\u00a0Verizon\u2019s wireless chief, Ronan Dunne, said Monday in an interview at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. \u201cIf there\u2019s anything available in 2018, it\u2019s more likely to be a hotspot.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n In a race to be first with technology that will let cars drive themselves and robots perform surgery, the wireless service providers, including No. 3 T-Mobile US Inc., have announced ambitious timelines on the launch of 5G. Sticking with the plan even if phones aren\u2019t ready highlights how none of the carriers wants to be left behind in what\u2019s expected to be a whole new round of revenue from the sale of advanced-network services.<\/span><\/p>\n Equipment makers like Ericsson AB and Nokia Oyj are eagerly<\/a> developing 5G gear to cash in on the building boom. But new networks will need new phones, and that\u2019s where the race hits hurdles.<\/span><\/p>\n Among the first crop of 5G phones will be handsets from China-based manufacturers like Huawei Technologies Co.,\u00a0Xiaomi Corp. and ZTE Corp. Both Huawei and ZTE face a roadblock in the U.S. amid concerns the companies possible ties to the Chinese government could pose a security risk. ZTE says it will have<\/a> a 5G phone available as early as year-end. Verizon and AT&T both dropped plans<\/a> to carry Huawei phones.<\/span><\/p>\n Randall Stephenson, AT&T\u2019s chief executive officer, introduced the idea of the puck during the company\u2019s earnings call last month.\u00a0A puck is portable antenna that allows a user to connect a mobile device to the new super-fast wireless network.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe thing that\u2019s going to cause 5G to go slow, more than anything else, it\u2019s just availability of handsets,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we\u2019re going to be deploying pucks in the first part of our deployment.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2018-02-26\/u-s-wireless-carriers-plan-to-launch-5g-with-pucks-not-phones<\/a><\/p>\n AT&T’s CEO Randall Stephenson shed a little bit more light on the — ahem<\/i> — mobile “puck” that the operator will offer with its first mobile 5G network, expected in late 2018, on the company’s earnings call Wednesday evening.<\/p>\n Surprise, surprise, it surely sounds like a router for distributing the 5G signal among various WiFi devices, which is fair enough, but not really a “mobile” device to my mind. Here’s the full quote:<\/p>\n “It’s not going to be a handset, because handsets just aren’t available, think of this as a puck,” Stephenson said on the call. Commercial 5G smartphones aren’t expected until sometime in 2019. (See AT&T to Spend Trump Tax Bump on Fiber, 5G ‘Foundation’<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Call me old-fashioned — hell, call me “Cyril” for all I care — but I think of a moveable signal router as a classically nomadic device not a mobile device, since you’re likely supporting PCs, laptops and the like with the signal from the 5G “puck.”<\/p>\n Personally, I feel a 5G mobile device should be either be a smartphone or a tablet — at least right now. Eventually a 5G connected car will probably count as a mobile device too of course, but not in late 2018.<\/p>\n Maybe I’m being too much of a stickler? Let me know in the comments below.<\/p>\n \u2014 Dan Jones, Mobile Editor, Light Reading<\/a><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.lightreading.com\/mobile\/5g\/atandts-mobile-5g-what-the-puck\/a\/d-id\/740218<\/a><\/p>\n AT&T says the biggest bottleneck in the spread of next-generation wireless tech is the lack of 5G smartphones.<\/strong><\/p>\n Don’t expect to make a phone call on the first 5G devices.<\/p>\n AT&T<\/a> has set a goal of launching its super-fast next-generation cellular network in a dozen markets by the end of the year. But the first 5G devices won’t be phones<\/a>, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said on a conference call on Wednesday, telling investors they should instead expect “pucks” that work like mobile hotspots.<\/p>\n That makes a lot of sense, since phone makers and component manufacturers are still working to get everything aligned for 5G phones. The chip makers say the first 5G-compatible radio small enough for a phone won’t likely appear until early next year, which is why some scratched their heads about AT&T’s push to get 5G out this year.<\/p>\n 5G pucks, which would work like portable modems, could offer a taste of the network’s amped-up speeds.<\/p>\n Talk of 5G is at a fevered pitch because it’s supposed to transform our world with faster and more reliable wireless coverage. 5G is seen as the technology that will serve as the foundation for other trends, such as self-driving cars<\/a> and streaming virtual reality and augmented reality experiences.<\/p>\n It’s also getting closer to becoming a reality.<\/p>\n There’s a race and a war of words between carriers over who can get to 5G first. Verizon<\/a> is investing in 5G as a broadband replacement service and plans to launch commercial service this year, as well. AT&T touts its 5G as the first mobile version of the technology, while T-Mobile<\/a> has committed to building a nationwide network by 2020, and accused both AT&T and Verizon of overhyping the technology.<\/p>\n Stephenson noted the low availability of handsets will be the biggest hurdle early on. The situation is similar to the debut of LTE networks, which first saw laptop modems before smartphones took advantage of the faster network.<\/p>\n Beyond the mobile network, Stephenson said the prospect of building a nationwide broadband network running on 5G is what excites him the most. He said he could see 5G replacing traditional fixed line internet connections in the future.<\/p>\n “I get very energized about the opportunity in the next few years to build out a nationwide broadband network,” he said.<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.cnet.com\/news\/at-t-ceo-says-the-first-5g-device-will-be-pucks\/<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n
\nVerizon And AT&T Race To Launch 5G Hotspot Pucks, T-Mobile Says You’re ‘Pucking Kidding Me’<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n
\nU.S. Wireless Carriers Plan to Launch 5G With \u2018Pucks\u2019 Not Phones<\/b><\/span><\/h2>\n
\nAT&T’s ‘Mobile’ 5G: What the Puck?<\/b><\/h2>\n
\nAT&T CEO says the first 5G devices will be ‘pucks’<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
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