Verizon’s first real-world 6G test turned up a problem you’ll probably run into once 6G arrives: the signal has a hard time getting inside buildings. It’s an early look at what 6G could mean for the Android phones you’ll be buying in a few years.
Verizon CTO Yago Tenorio shared the first results from the carrier’s 6G field test at the Brooklyn AI-Native 6G Summit last week, as Light Reading reports. Last month, Verizon and Ericsson made the first 6G call in the field, using pre-commercial equipment running on 7GHz spectrum.
To see how well the signal holds up indoors, Verizon built a small house for the test device, using different wall and window materials. Tenorio said the results were “not super encouraging” for indoor coverage.
7GHz has a hard time getting through walls
That’s not too surprising. Higher frequencies carry more data, but they don’t travel as far or get through walls as easily. Tenorio said 7GHz struggles to penetrate buildings compared to the 3.5GHz spectrum carriers use for 5G today.
He said Verizon can still work around it. Future 6G radios will need more antenna elements packed closer together, more output power, and higher power limits from regulators. But even with all that, he said 7GHz will probably still struggle to match the coverage of C-band, the 3.7GHz to 4.2GHz spectrum behind Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband network.
The US government is still pushing hard for 7GHz to be a main 6G band. It’s one of four bands the NTIA is studying, alongside 1.6GHz, 2.7GHz, and 4GHz. The NTIA will publish its report on 7GHz on December 10, including how much of it can be freed up and when. After that, it wants the FCC to set up an auction quickly.
Tenorio’s bigger worry is bandwidth. 6G standards call for channels up to 400MHz wide, and he said none of the bands in the pipeline offer a clear path to that. He called 2.7GHz narrow, 4GHz uncertain, and 7GHz challenged.
Those wide channels matter for more than speed. Verizon has been testing a 6G feature called integrated sensing and communication with Nokia and Qualcomm, which lets the network detect objects and movement, kind of like radar. The wider the channel, the more accurate that sensing gets.
Verizon has also gotten an FCC license to test 6G in 4GHz spectrum around its Los Angeles lab. Tenorio said AI wearables, like smart glasses, are one of the clearest early uses for 6G, since they need fast upload speeds as well as downloads.
6G is still a ways off, with the first networks expected around 2030. But tests like this show the challenges carriers like Verizon are already working through.
The post Verizon Tested 6G in the Field, but It’s Holding One Problem Back appeared first on Android Headlines.
