5G networks now active in 2 Coast counties with more to come, C Spire says
Two weeks after C Spire announced it’s investing $1 billion to bring the next-generation 5G wireless to Mississippi, the company has 54 cell sites activated on the Gulf Coast, the most of any region in the state, and plans to add more.
The technology has been turned up in Harrison and Jackson counties and nine cities in South Mississippi since December, the company said Tuesday in a press release.
Activation of 5G has taken place in Biloxi, D’Iberville, Long Beach, Gulfport, Pass Christian, Pascagoula, Gautier, Ocean Springs and Moss Point, along with 12 other small towns and communities in the two counties for better coverage and faster service.
Other markets in South Mississippi are expected to be 5G capable by the end of June, said Brian Caraway, general manager of C Spire’s wireless division.
Original article
Mississippi will have 12th best access to fiber internet in the nation after C Spire spends $1 billion over the next three years to deploy 5G wireless technology, CEO Hu Meena announced Thursday.
This investment in ultra-fast 5G wireless technology and all-fiber Gigabit broadband internet is the largest in the company’s history, Meena said in an online press conference, and is is all about speed.
“What we’re doing is speeding up the deployment of speed,” he said, providing faster data for video, access to the internet and many other applications customers use “on a minute by minute basis and bit by bit basis” every day.
A 5G network is up to 100 times faster than the current 4G wireless connection and with less lag time.
With 4G, it takes about six minutes to download a high-quality, full-length movie, according to C Spire. With 5G, it takes less than 20 seconds.
C Spire already has 5G service live in D’lberville, Long Beach and Gulfport in South Mississippi, along with Columbus, Brookhaven, Ridgeland, Madison and Hattiesburg, for customers who have an iPhone 12.
When the project is complete, C Spire expects bring all-fiber infrastructure to within 1,000 feet of half of Mississippi’s homes and deliver 5G service to more than 60% of the state.
It’s part of a $1.5 billion investment over 5 years that will build fiber networks to hospitals schools and governments, he said.
What will 5G mean for Mississippi?
Gov. Tate Reeves said at the press conference that 200 years ago people in America located along waterways, and 100 years ago where there was train service.
“Going forward, people in America are going to locate where there is connectivity,” he said.
The coronavirus pandemic has more people leaving big cities — at least temporarily — to places where they can work remotely as long as they have access to a fast networks.
Reeves said he is talking to more companies and CEOs around the nation that are looking to locate in business-friendly climates. Having 5G fast as an option for them when considering where to invest is going to make a “huge difference,” he said.
What it means for customers
As with previous new generations of cellular networks, with 5G “consumers can expect new applications and improved user experiences,” the Federal Communications Commission states in response to frequently asked questions.
Consumers generally will need a new cellphone with a chip that allows them to access the 5G network.
The rollout also will require a new network of 5G cell towers that boost wireless signals.
Since the very high-frequency waves used by 5G makes it harder for the signal to travel over distance and through objects, the 5G network will be built with smaller antennas as close as 500 feet apart.
Viral online conspiracy theories have claimed the increased high frequency signals and the 5G infrastructure will increase the risk of cancer.
C Spire says in its blog addressing the issue that “Radio signals are actually within the ‘non-ionising’ electromagnetic bands, where waves lack the ability to penetrate human skin and cause harm.”
This story was originally published January 28, 2021 at 12:57 PM.
