Insiders at Vodafone NZ and Spark both say one event will push 5G into the mainstream more than any other: the release of the first 5G iPhone.
Now, it seems that an announcement is just days away.
An announcement for a 10am, October 13 Apple event in California (6am October 14 NZT) has one word - "Speed".
That was enough for the Wall Street Journal to immediately leap to the assumption the new iPhone will have 5G, and to label the next-generation model "the most anticipated since 2014" (when Apple released the first big-screen iPhone).
Apple traditionally previews new iPhones in September, around a month before their release. This year, amid the pandemic, the September event was given over to a new Watch that can measure blood-oxygen, a lower-price Watch and new iPads.
Vodafone launched NZ's first 5G mobile service in parts of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown in December last year, and has since been filling out coverage in those areas.
Spark launched its first 5G mobile service in Palmerston North in July, and says its first Auckland service will go live this month. Other - as yet un-named - centres will get 5G by Christmas, the telco says.
With its 4G partner Huawei sidelined by the GCSB, Spark has turned to Nokia Networks and Samsung to fill the breach on the edge of its network, while incumbents Cisco and Ericsson will continue to manage the core.
2degrees - an almost all-Huawei shop, at this point - has yet to set a timetable for its 5G upgrade.
Mobile_Networks
The exact performance of 5G, like any mobile technology, depends on your proximity to the nearest cell site.
But the mobile technology supports fibre-like speeds, many more devices connected simultaneously, almost none of the latency (lag) associated with data-intensive two-way connections with early mobile technologies and lots of network smarts that help manage the "internet of things" or the growing universe of smart devices connected to the internet.
In the months and years ahead, Spark and Vodafone are expected to position fixed-wireless 5G - where a mobile network is used as a landline substitute for a single home or business - as an alternative to Chorus UFB fibre.
The Telecommunications Forum recently launched a site that addresses various bogus conspiracy theories about 5G. It joined similar efforts by the Prime Minister's chief science advisor and other experts.
A wave of arson attacks on 5G cellphone towers earlier this year subsided following two arrests.
