Verizon prepares to test 5G network in 2016

Today Verizon announced that it intends to start testing 5G wireless technology next year, and will probably make first commercial deployments in 2017.

The company claims that its 5G technology will have 50 times the capacity of its current 4G network and be able to "handle exponentially more Internet-connected devices."

Verizon's initial 5G tests will take place at two of its research labs - Waltham, Mass., and San Francisco Innovation centers. There, the company has been establishing 5G network environments, or "sandboxes". Companies such as Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Ericsson, Nokia, Qualcomm and Samsung are partnering Verizon in this effort.

"5G is no longer a dream of the distant future," said Roger Gurnani, chief information and technology architect for Verizon, in a prepared statement. "We feel a tremendous sense of urgency to push forward on 5G ... to usher in a new generation of innovation."

Currently, more than 98 percent of the U.S. population has access to 4G LTE and 87 percent of Verizon Wireless data traffic is carried over the network.

Read more -here-

• Belkin ends support for most Wemo devices and its Wemo app
• OpenAI to release web browser in challenge to Google Chrome
• Microsoft is laying off as many as 9,000 employees
• NASA will start livestreaming content on Netflix later this summer
• The government's Apple antitrust lawsuit is still on
• Millions of printers open to hacks due to unpatchable security flaw