AT&T and Verizon Both Testing Pre-5G Fixed Wireless

Verizon Wireless officials say the company already has deployed pre-5G fixed wireless equipment in at least 10 U.S. cities, planning to upgrade to the finalized 5G standard when it is available.

Verizon in 2015 releasing its preliminary standards for a fixed version of 5G through the 5G Technology Forum (5GTF.org).

Cisco, Ericsson, Intel, LG, Nokia, Qualcomm and Samsung are members of the group, which was created to develop specifications for a fixed wireless service in the 28 GHz  and 39 GHz spectrum.

Verizon hopes to deploy commercial fixed 5G services in 2017.

AT&T also is testing pre-5G fixed wireless, using Qualcomm Technologies and Ericsson platforms, in the second half of 2017. Those trials will be based on the 5G New Radio specification being developed by the industry technology standards group 3GPP, using the 28 Ghz and 39 Ghz frequencies.