5G network slicing finally shown to be more than pipe dream Telco BT has demonstrated network slicing, long slated as a key element for providing full fat 5G networks promised to subscribers. The Brit network giant says it showed both consumer and enterprise applications enabled by network slicing at its Adastral Park research facility. The tests used a 5G Standalone (5G SA) network …
> They keep changing the standards, force us to buy new phones, get the actual standard working late and nobody is interested anyway.
Thank you for penning yet another uneducated rant.
1 - Standards evolve in all industries. Do you still want to run your Ethernet on 10Base2 coax? Do you still want a VESA screen?
2 - Device/chipset vendors are a tiny part of the 3GPP stakeholders. Selling new smartphones is not a driver for change. People change their 4G smartphone every 2.4 years. 3GPP "G"s change every decade.
3 - 3GPP publishes new releases every year or so. Most changes are not new "G"s. They bring incremental improvements. But sometimes, previous standards need to be replaced because they are standing in the way of major advances. This yields new "G"s. WCDMA was hindering progress and was replaced by OFDM in 4G. Diameter was limited to a few use cases and was too slow. So, it needed to be replaced by 5G SBA and REST APIs. 5G also brings Kubernetes to the network (and 4G is retrofitted on Kubernetes too).
4 - Since when introducing 5G *forces* you to buy a new phone? Most networks still support 2G or 3G at least. You can stay with your old Nokia 2G phone. But you did not. You're just ranting. Pathetic.
"Most networks still support 2G or 3G at least. You can stay with your old Nokia 2G phone."
Not in Australia; one of three carriers shut down their 3G services last month and the other two are planning to follow suit over the next few months. 2G ceased functioning in metro areas back in 2016 and got killed off completely in 2018.
"You're just ranting. Pathetic."
Indeed.
USA has also turned off 3G nationwide, with the last network going dark middle of 2023. While 2G is still available on most towers, it is less and less available from mobile carriers and MVNOs, since it is being kept around for infrastructure purposes e.g., elevator emergency phones. My MVNO carrier for example does not allow connecting to 2G towers even though they are owned by the same people that they partnered with to offer 4G and 5G.
You are being vitriolic while also being misleading. Frankly, I don't understand the purpose.
The dream is that network slicing enables operators to charge premium prices for premium services to premium subscribers. The reality is that either the physical RAN already has the capacity to provide the service, or that capacity will be taken away from non-premium customers who will quickly change to another operator.
> The dream is that network slicing enables operators to charge premium prices for premium services to premium subscribers. The reality is that either the physical RAN already has the capacity to provide the service, or that capacity will be taken away from non-premium customers who will quickly change to another operator.
It's quite the opposite. These other operators live in the same economic dimension. Their prices are constrained by similar cost structures and they source their equipment and power from the same vendors. If they can't manage their network correctly (implementing the low-cost "economy" slice) and don't manage to provide good premium SLAs to premium customers (implementing high-QoS slices), then their opex and capex will not allow them to offer a better price to low ARPU subscribers (except if they squeeze their margin).
Network slicing allows operators to decrease subscription fees for subscribers who also agree to compromise with their QoS expectations (e.g. IoT).
When you implement 5G network slicing correctly, economy subscribers still enjoy reasonable QoS; yet premium subscribers get good QoS for their money. But you don't have to supersize your network anymore to achieve that same objective.
In theory, network slicing allows operators to spend wisely (and less) on their network and avoid becoming "all-you-can-eat" commoditized data pipes unable to differentiate between cost-conscious and willing-to-pay consumers. That was the case in 4G and that made operators poorer. 5G is a concerted effort by the industry to re-balance the value chain and bring new use cases to customers - thereby fueling new investment and enabling further progress.
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