First tests have been spotted with immense data speeds in the
upcoming LTE generation. Not less than 3.67GB/s have been
recently reached in a field test in Zurich. Huawei has tested the
thoughput of a 5G cell using multiple devices.

A single device currently is limited to roughly 2GB/s. Huawei has used two devices to speed up things and reached 3.67GB/s downstream using only one network cell.

This field test might show what we can expect from 5G if the network is carefully built and equipped with a very good backbone. As 5G in Switzerland is put to market with 1.5GB/s, the demands and expectations of paying customers are high. As the 5G price plan is at 170 Swiss Francs one can expect good service for that. And also in other countries (Germany: 89€ to 129€) and Austria (69€ to 99€) customers expect value for their money.

So while field tests prove a good speed, the practical everyday usage will show if LTE 5G can deliver what it promises. We all know what 3G was about to deliver and how the reality looked like…

4G seems to run well in Switzerland while 4G still has lots of gaps in Germany switching one back to 3G. And even if you happen to be on a 4G network theorteically offering 450Mbit/s Downstream, the reality is way waaaaaay below that speed and you can be happy if you get beyond 20Mbit/s. For mail and text-only services this might be sufficient but for streaming video and gaming this tends to dropouts until the complete failure of mentioned services.

So while 5G is on it’s way, they’d better check on the 4G network and improve the service quality there as most people still don’t own a 5G capable smartphone to date!