As the UK 5G rollout continues at a pace, the Cloudcell Technologies team have been taking a keen interest in how it is progressing and what opportunities it is unlocking for our partners and their clients.
Following on from our last update, we’ve been measuring the real-world speeds of 5G at different sites across the country to make sure our clients have the fastest and most reliable connectivity possible. And you might be surprised to know, that 5G isn’t always the answer.
As you might expect, the vast majority of the 5G rollout has taken place in cities and a few towns. We are still finding rural 5G coverage is very rare.
That being said, the increased coverage, alongside the large volume of new equipment hitting the market means that 5G connectivity solutions in some locations are now viable for our clients.
However, as we’ve touched on in the past, 5G is still not available across the majority of locations in the UK and in these situations 4G connectivity will still be the fastest and most reliable option.
We have found that by using our best-in-class equipment, alongside leveraging our extensive experience, we can actually access 5G in locations where the coverage mappers say it is not possible. This is because we are actually accessing a cell tower over 5 miles away.
All of the above has led us to adjust our two key propositions, to provide our clients with the best of both 4G and 5G:
The EQ Storm – designed for a medium capacity required.
This solution is either a dual 4G connection or a single 5G.
If 5G is not available at the client’s location, then two 4G connections are utilised to give them the best possible connectivity at that site.
Likewise, on some occasions we’ve actually seen 5G availability at locations, but found it does not perform as well as 4G. We have experienced this scenario in both metropolitan & suburban locations.
The EQ Max – designed for large capacity requirements
This solution has a number of configurations: either a quad 4G connection, a dual 5G or a hybrid dual 4G + single 5G solution.
Clients using this solution not only get the best performance possible at their location, but they also benefit from great resilience, as the different 4&5G connections typically span different operators, resulting in an extremely resilient solution.
We’ve found this solution can provide a viable alternative to leased line and FTTP fixed line services; which don’t benefit from the same levels of resilience.
EQ Max, like its little brother, EQ Storm, is able to deliver a fixed public IP address over unlimited data bundles, meaning they are both genuine fixed line replacement solutions.
What 5G Speeds Are We Experiencing?
We’ve found when 5G is performing well on site, we can see download speeds of between 200 – 300 Mbps & upload speeds of around 20 Mbps.
What Next in the 5G Rollout?
As 5G continues to expand its coverage footprint and the investment in 4G is maintained, Cloudcell Technologies’ solutions will be primed to deliver a truly business grade mobile broadband service in all UK locations.
We are also eagerly awaiting the deployment of the latest 5G versions – 5G Standalone and 5G Millimeter. These promise improved coverage and even faster speeds. The 5G future certainly looks bright to us!