Skip to main content

5G speed test conducted by Huawei and NTT DoCoMo hits 3.6Gbps peak download speed

5g speed test conducted by huawei and ntt docomo hits 3 6gbps peak download mobile speeds
PathDoc/Shutterstock
We have yet another glimpse at just how fast 5G mobile network download speeds can be. Chinese telecommunications company Huawei and Japanese mobile service provider NTT DoCoMo recently conducted a field trial of 5G technology and achieved a peak download speed faster than 3Gbps.

In what the two companies are calling “the world’s first successful large-scale field test of 5G new radio access technologies,” conducted in an outdoor test site in Chengdu, China, 24 devices were concurrently connected to a sub-6GHz frequency band. The average download speed was 1.34Gbps, while the peak download speed observed was 3.6Gbps.

To put that into context, the fastest LTE speeds in OpenSignal’s “The State of LTE” report for September were found in New Zealand, where the average LTE download speed was 36Mbps. The U.S. clocked in at 10Mbps, close to the rear of the pack.

“This is very encouraging as the industry works to commercialize 5G by 2020,” said Takehiro Nakamura, vice president and managing director of NTT DoCoMo’s 5G laboratory, who called the test “an important milestone.” He added that the next step is a field trial in Japan.

Nakamura refers to the International Telecommunications Union’s official 5G mission plan for the next five years. The organization wants to commercialize 5G in 2020. Initial speculation is that the network speeds required for 5G classification will fall around 20Gbps, which is fast enough to download a 4K movie in about 10 seconds.

Verizon chief information and technology architect, Roger Gurnani, recently shared that the company plans to test 5G wireless technology in the U.S. as early as next year.

Editors' Recommendations

Does the Samsung Galaxy A14 5G have wireless charging?
Samsung Galaxy A14 in hand.

Announced at CES 2023, the Samsung Galaxy A14 5G is an impressive follow-up to the A13 that launched in 2022. Despite being sold at a relatively low price when compared to other Galaxy smartphones, the A14 5G boasts some pretty solid specs and is an easy recommendation for anyone looking to get their hands on an Android 13 device for cheap. But with it being so cheap, that raises a question — does the Galaxy A14 5G have wireless charging?

Any time a smartphone is sold at a budget price, questions arise about which premium features have been cut out to justify its low cost. Often, wireless charging is one of the first to go, as it's only become a staple in premium offerings within the past few years. Now that the Galaxy A14 has been announced and is available for purchase, Galaxy fans may be wondering about its wireless charging capabilities. Here's everything you need to know about the Galaxy A14's charging options and its battery.
The Galaxy A14 5G does not have wireless charging

Read more
I don’t want to see 5G on any phone in 2023
OnePlus 7 Pro 5G

I don’t want to see 5G on any phone in 2023. Why? It’s a complete waste of space, nobody actually uses it, and to the average person on the street, it means absolutely nothing. Yet, it has been a regular feature on new phones for years now.

Before everyone gets all uptight and starts stabbing out an angry email, I’m not talking about 5G, I’m talking about the tiresome practice of adding 5G to the end of phone names. We get it, it has 5G. So do the vast majority of phones out there, and it’s time to differentiate those that don’t, rather than those that do.
Enough already
Samsung Galaxy S10 5G. Julian Chokkattu/Digital Trends

Read more
Verizon’s cheapest 5G unlimited plan just got even cheaper
Verizon banner splashed across iPhone screen.

Verizon is one of the top service providers in the world, and now it's sweetening the deal on its cheapest unlimited 5G plan. Currently, Verizon offers a handful of different service options, with the Welcome Unlimited plan being its cheapest.

An end-of-the-year deal, however, is reducing the price of the Welcome Unlimited plan even further by $5 per month per line — making it one of the cheapest unlimited 5G plans on the market.

Read more