5G debuts in São Paulo with speeds of up to 400 Mbps this Thursday; see how to use

5G debuted in São Paulo this Thursday (4th). After receiving the approval of Anatel (National Telecommunications Agency) on Tuesday, the city now has the 3.5 GHz frequency of the new generation of mobile internet, which promises to revolutionize industry, agriculture and cities.

In a test carried out at 00h this Thursday (4), the 5G download speed already varied between 300 and 400 Mbps (megabits per second). The same result was observed this morning. However, the telecoms and Anatel have not yet confirmed the activation.

Download speed determines how long it takes data to download from the internet, such as a Spotify playlist and a Netflix movie. To download “Hidden Agent”, the recent release of the streaming, the connection took 18 seconds.

São Paulo is the fifth city to receive authorization to activate the technology, after Brasília, Porto Alegre, João Pessoa and Belo Horizonte. The debut takes place nine months after the auction defines which companies are entitled to use the frequencies that make the service viable.

However, mobile phones compatible with the connection already displayed the 5G icon before that date. That’s because, until now, the frequency that the connection operated was lower, 2.3 GHz, which is considered “impure” for sharing with the 4G signal and not offering all the performance of the technology.

Therefore, the arrival of 5G may go unnoticed for some users. But, in a test carried out this morning in the Avenida Paulista region with a Samsung Galaxy A33 5G, the speeds of the official 5G version exceeded the previous version by ten times.

In Folha’s test of “impure” 5G, Vivo’s 5G download speed reached 36.4 Mbps, a low value even for 4G, whose average is around 100 Mbps. The “pure” 5G promises an average speed of 1 Gbps (gigabit per second), ten times higher than its predecessor, and can reach 20 Gbps.

For the launch in São Paulo, the operators installed and registered around 1,400 antennas, almost triple the minimum required by the regulatory agency. According to the rules of the public notice, companies are required to install one antenna for every 100,000 inhabitants in the first stage of implementing the service.

Last week, the telephone operators made a task force in São Paulo to obtain the approval of Anatel. The city received authorization at an extraordinary meeting of the agency held on Tuesday (2). The operators then paid the fees related to licenses and service so that the connection began to be offered this Thursday.

The number of antennas is essential for fifth generation telephony to work well. This is because the frequency used for the emission of the 5G signal, 3.5 GHz, has a shorter range. For coverage to be broad and of good quality, companies need to build, on average, ten times more antennas in relation to the park already installed in the country.

The technology allows mobile internet browsing speeds up to ten times faster than 4G and latency of less than a millisecond. This range is essential for applications such as remote surgery or control of autonomous vehicles, some of the main promises of the technology, to become popular.

In which neighborhoods will there be 5G signal?

5G coverage is concentrated in the expanded center, between the Tietê and Pinheiros marginals, and also covers a part of the west zone and the beginning of the south zone, according to a map released by Anatel. According to the regulatory agency, the area with the highest concentration of antennas is also where there is a greater concentration of business buildings, employment centers and families with greater purchasing power.​

So far, only Claro has released the list of neighborhoods where 5G starts to work this Thursday (4). They are: Água Branca, Bela Vista, Brooklin Novo, Brooklin Paulista, Butantã, Cerqueira César, Chácara Monte Alegre, Chácara Santo Antônio, Cidade Jardim, Cidade Mãe do Céu, Cidade Monções, Consolação, Higienópolis, Indianópolis, Itaim Bibi, Jardim América , Jardim Ampliação, Jardim Anália Franco, Jardim Caboré, Jardim das Acácias, Jardim dos Estados, Jardim Europa, Jardim Londrina, Jardim Paulista, Jardim Paulistano, Jardim Petrópolis, Moema, Morumbi, Paraíso, Paraíso do Morumbi, Paraisópolis, Parque São Jorge, Pinheiros, Planalto Paulista, Santa Cecília, Santo Amaro, Sumarezinho, Tatuapé, Vila Nova Conceição, Vila Andrade, Vila Carrão, Vila Clementino, Vila Cordeiro, Vila Gomes Cardim, Vila Invernada, Vila Mariana, Vila Nova Conceição, Vila Olímpia, Vila Romana , Vila Suzana, Vila Tramontano and Vila Uberabinha.

Do I need to change chips?

While TIM and Claro said they do not require the exchange, Vivo said replacement is necessary, but did not inform the price.

Do I need to change plans?

The telecoms also did not say whether they will have exclusive data plans for 5G. Vivo’s website, for example, informs that all the plans offered grant access to the new generation. Claro said that the adoption of the connection will not require a contract change.

The professor and coordinator of the Center for Technology and Society at FGV Direito Rio Luca Belli points out, however, that a minimum plan for using 5G should be 100 GB, whose cost today is around R$400.

The expectation is that national 5G will follow international prices until the popularization of the service brings down the value of chips and devices – the main barriers to access.

My phone already showed the 5G icon. What’s the difference?

The 5G available before this Thursday (4) in São Paulo is called 5G DSS (Dynamic Spectrum Sharing) or NSA (non-standalone). The connection is considered “impure” because it operates in the same frequency band as 4G (2.3 GHz), which limits its performance.

The “pure” version, or standalone, has a band dedicated only to it, at 3.5 GHz. In a test carried out by Sheetimpure 5G failed to outperform 4G.

In Brasília, where the network has been available since the beginning of July, the service remains unstable and the promised speeds fluctuate and often match those of 4G due to the lack of coverage in the capital.

Which cell phones are compatible?

See the list of the main devices compatible with the connection:

5G SA (pure) and NSA (impure) operate:

Apple:

• iPhone 12 mini, iPhone 12, iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 12 Pro Max
• iPhone 13 mini, iPhone 13, iPhone 13 Pro, iPhone 13 Pro Max
• iPhone SE 2022

Samsung:

• Galaxy Z Fold 3 5G
• Galaxy Z Flip 3 5G
• Galaxy S22 5G, Galaxy S22+ 5G and Galaxy S22 Ultra 5G
• Galaxy S21 FE, Galaxy S21 5G, Galaxy S21+ 5G and Galaxy S21 Ultra 5G
• Galaxy A33 5G, Galaxy A52s 5G, Galaxy A53 5G and Galaxy A73 5G
• Galaxy M53 5G

Motorola:

• Motorola Edge 20, Edge 30 and Edge 30 Pro
• Moto G200 5G
• Moto G62 5G
• Moto G82 5G

Others:

• Redmi Note 10 5G and Redmi Note 11 Pro 5G
• Xiaomi 11 Lite 5G NE, Xiaomi 12 Lite and Xiaomi 12
• POCO M3 Pro 5G and POCO M4 Pro 5G
• POCO X4 Pro 5G
• Infinix Zero 5G

Only operate 5G NSA (impure):

Samsung:

• Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G
• Galaxy Note 20 5G and Note 20 Ultra 5G
• Galaxy S20 FE 5G
• Galaxy A22 5G, A32 5G and A52 5G
• Galaxy M23 5G and M52 5G

Motorola:

• Motorola Edge 20 Lite and Edge 20 Pro
• Motorola Edge
• Moto G100
• Moto G71 5G
• Moto G50 5G
• Moto G 5G and 5G Plus
• Lenovo Legion Phone Duel

What is 5G and what can it do?

5G is the next generation of mobile internet connection, the one used in cell phones and other wireless devices. The technology offers higher speeds for downloading and sending files and lower latency for transmitting data in real time.

For the average consumer, 4G already serves entertainment, work and education activities well. But 5G is associated with increased productivity in industry, agribusiness, healthcare and other sectors. Therefore, the promised higher speeds and minimal latency are to be expected.

The speed of pure 5G reaches, on average, 1Gbps (Gigabit per second), which is ten times higher than the average of 4G. For example, to download a 5GB file (a high definition movie) on pure 5G, you would have to wait 42 seconds. And this connection can reach up to 20 Gbps.

By 2027, the year in which technology should become dominant, according to Ericsson’s projections, there will be 4.4 billion 5G users worldwide. By the end of this year, it should reach 1 billion.

Just having the equipment to have full access to 5G?

Access to technology should not be quickly disseminated, warns Luca Belli, professor and coordinator of the Center for Technology and Society at FGV Direito Rio

“To ‘reach’, 5G needs a high density of 5G stations to be installed and such stations to be connected by a fiber network. These stations or cells basically act as routers that must be extremely close to the user for access to the 5G network”, he wrote in an article in Sheet.

Official planning predicts that 5G will reach all Brazilian cities – or at least the neighborhoods where the investment is most profitable – “by 2029”.

Why should the cost of using 5G be high?

According to Professor Luca Belli, from FGV, although operators have not revealed the prices of mobile internet plans to use 5G, the increase in the volume of data consumed should produce higher bills for users.

“The plans practiced until today by the operators are not based on the type of technology, but by data consumption. In other words, you do not pay for 3G, 4G or 5G plans, but pay based on how much data you consume”, describes Belli.

If with 5G it is possible to download a 20 GB video in 20 seconds, while with 4G it would take half an hour, a consumer who uses this speed to download three videos will spend triple the data. Currently, the cost of consuming 20 GB is around R$60, regardless of the technology used and the time required.

That is, whoever downloads 20 GB may have a cost of R$ 60, regardless of speed, and whoever downloads 60 GB will have triple the cost, unless the amount charged for the GB drops radically, exemplifies the professor.

5G should even reach 1Gbps (Gigabit per second) in Brazil

Luca Belli, from FGV, warns that today there is a difference in the country between the ideal of technological performance and reality.

4G reaches speeds of 100 MBps in the laboratory, but the average speed in the Brazilian mobile connection is less than 20 MBps, or about 20% of the potential.

“Considering the wide range of challenges, it seems prudent to think that, at least “until 2029″, the average speed of 5G will be no more than 20% of the declared maximum.”

What other impacts can 5G have?

The arrival of 5G should also move the job market in Brazil by generating jobs and demanding new professional skills. The technology and telecommunications sectors will be the most affected.

Luca Belli, however, argues that there can be high social costs without planning that prepares exits for workers in automated factories (who will be replaced by 5G-connected robots), for example, or for farm workers, who will be replaced by autonomous tractors, or for truck drivers, which will give way to self-piloted electric trucks.

“In China and South Korea, which are world leaders in 5G and automation, this process is being studied and a systemic change, including to prepare and reconvert the workforce, has been planned for years. China introduced three years ago the programming as a compulsory subject in elementary school”, writes Belli.

In the current Brazilian context, unfortunately, there are many advertisements, but few strategies. The only thing that can be said about the arrival of 5G in Brazil at this moment is that, considering the existing ‘planning’, the disruptive potential of this excellent technology will not generate universally distributed benefits, and may even exacerbate existing digital inequalities. “