What do you think about this airline vs 5G brouhaha?

Tue Jan 18 21:47:03 UTC 2022

On 01/18/2022 16:34, Michael Thomas wrote:
> Is this the band that has really really short range for 5G? If so, it 
> doesn't seem like a very big deal to give them the airspace on 
> approaches. I mean, if you live under a flight path by the airport, not 
> getting fast 5G is hardly your biggest problem.

This is the C-band spectrum near 4GHz.  The super short-range (or, 
rather, highly direction and subject to attenuation by almost anything) 
that you're probably thinking of is likely the UWB mmWave band up at ~30GHz.

C-band has moderate structure penetration and limited foliage 
penetration.  With line of sight and at the power levels the carriers 
would consider running, several miles of usable range would be 
unsurprising, though I suspect many typical deployments would have 
design cells smaller than that while using existing "4g" (and newly 
opened ex-TV broadcast space) low- and mid-band frequencies for wider 
area coverage at reduced speeds.  Interference considerations, 
especially high above the horizon (planes...) would be present for 
potentially dozens of miles away.

--
Brandon Martin