Why #Fiber Is the Key to Getting Faster #5G Everywhere #bitcoin #eth

The government's $42.5 billion investment in physical broadband infrastructure could be a game-changer for getting 5G to more places, from suburbs to rural communities.

 

During the pandemic, Liora Bram got even more accustomed to juggling work with family. As life began to open up in the spring, and her children returned to their regular routines of school and sports practices, Bram found herself running her small public relations business from her car as she waited for school pickup or on the sidelines at a baseball game. 

She expected her new iPhone 13 and 5G wireless service from Verizon Wireless to help her take her home office mobile. But that's not what happened. More often than not, she's found herself unable to access critical apps like Microsoft Outlook because she can't get a signal. Now she's just accepted that in some parts of town she has no access.

Bram said she's chalked up the poor service quality to the fact that she doesn't live in an urban center and that the 5G signal just may not be robust enough yet. Her town of North Grafton, Massachusetts, is about 40 miles west of Boston. Her community of roughly 7,800 residents isn't a dense suburban market, but she noted that it's not exactly rural either. 

"I just assumed that a 5G device and service would mean everything would be faster," she said. "My phone is my lifeline for managing my work and my household. I just don't understand why I can't replicate the connection and experience I get at home wherever I am. That to me was the promise of 5G, and that's not what I'm getting right now."

Kevin King, a director of communications for Verizon, said he isn't sure why Bram is having issues, since the company's coverage map shows that its 5G Ultra Wideband service is offered in her town. He also said the company is in the midst of expanding its C-band midband spectrum, which today covers more than 100 million people around the country and is expected to cover at least 175 million by the end of the year.  

Still, Bram isn't alone in her frustration. While we're still a long way from seeing any of the much-hyped futuristic applications that 5G was supposed to bring, like autonomous vehicles or augmented reality, even the promised higher download speeds and super responsive networks have been inconsistent or simply unavailable to most people, especially those who live outside big cities or dense suburban communities. 

But there's a potential answer to her 5G coverage issue: more fiber. 

Fiber-optic lines buried underground or strung on utility poles might seem counterintuitive when all you hear about are ads talking about wireless everything, but an investment in old-fashioned physical infrastructure is critical to ensure those wireless signals can get to more places and people.  That's because those signals don't actually travel that far -- hopping between your phone and a local cell tower or base station that's hooked into that physical infrastructure. 

The promise of 5G for many is being able to take their home office on the go, like while waiting in the car line at school pickup. 

Peter Dazeley/Getty Images

There's reason to be hopeful on the fiber front. The federal government plans to pour more than $42.5 billion into broadband as part of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act signed into law in 2021. The money, which is being distributed through the US Commerce Department's National Telecommunications and Information Administration directly to states, is supposed to ensure all Americans have access to affordable, consistent high-speed internet. 

Experts have called it a historic opportunity to finally end the digital divide. While the program appears intent on getting fiber connected directly to people's homes, wireless experts say it could also provide a much needed boost to core infrastructure that can be tapped for mobile 5G in less densely populated areas and rural regions. 

Getting broadband -- both wired and wireless -- to more places is critical as the affordable housing crisis pushes more people beyond the suburbs in rural and exurban areas. That includes North Grafton, which is close enough to commute to a big city, but not dense enough to be considered a true suburb. Those regions have traditionally suffered from poor service because carriers worry there are too few customers to justify the investment. 

"It's a big deal," said Ben Moncrief, executive vice president of C Spire operations in Alabama. The Mississippi-based regional service provider has been building a fiber network throughout Mississippi and Alabama to support its own regional wireless network and deliver fiber broadband to homes and businesses. "This kind of money, especially in rural areas, could accelerate 5G networks and help lots of small carriers get to places they otherwise weren't able to get to because the population density is too low."

But wireless experts concede that access to fiber isn't the only help needed from the feds to make 5G in rural areas a reality.  Rural and smaller wireless carriers still need federal programs to help fund the deployment of next-generation service in these markets, too. 

"Fiber alone is not going to get us nationwide 5G," said Tim Donovan, senior vice president of legislative affairs for the Competitive Carrier Association. "It's an important part, but there's a lot more to it." 

5G needs fiber

It doesn't matter which "G" or generation of wireless technology we're talking about, all wireless networks need to hand off traffic to high-speed, hardwired infrastructure. 

"The first rule of building a wireless network is to get signals out of the air and into the ground at the first available point," said Gary Bolton, who heads the Fiber Broadband Association. "It's like building a house, you need a strong foundation of infrastructure. And fiber is key, because it's future proof."