The United States has spent four years and over $200 billion building out 5G wireless networks, and the results are underwhelming for the vast majority of American users. A new CTIA consumer survey found that 70% of Americans who own 5G-capable phones β essentially all new smartphones sold in the past three years β say they cannot detect any meaningful difference between 5G and LTE in their daily lives.
The disconnect between the technology's promise and consumer experience traces to a fundamental spectrum problem. The most widely deployed 5G in the US operates on low-band and mid-band spectrum that delivers modestly faster speeds than LTE but nothing like the gigabit connections that 5G advertising implied. The millimeter-wave 5G that delivers multi-gigabit speeds covers only about 1% of the US geographic area and requires being within a few hundred feet of a tower.
Carriers are pivoting their 5G narrative toward B2B applications β factory automation, connected vehicles, smart city infrastructure β where the technology's low latency and network slicing capabilities genuinely deliver transformative capabilities that consumers simply do not use.
Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg acknowledged in a recent earnings call: "We over-promised and under-delivered on the consumer 5G experience. The value of 5G for American businesses is real. For consumers, it's more incremental than we communicated."
