5G has always been hyped as being superior, with speeds faster than an airplane. However, with the construction of mainstream 5G bands, the drawbacks have become increasingly apparent, prompting operators to aggressively build low-frequency 5G. Nevertheless, the speed of low-frequency 5G has always been shrouded in mystery, and recently operators have revealed the truth about low-frequency 5G.

China Broadcasting Network, the fourth-largest operator, has recently conducted a low-frequency 5G test in Inner Mongolia, which showed that the speed is much slower compared to mainstream 5G bands.

China Broadcasting Network owns the 700MHz band, which is currently shared with China Mobile. The two companies jointly built the 700MHz 5G network, and the actual test results in Inner Mongolia showed excellent coverage, with a speed of up to 320Mbps under good signal conditions.

The biggest advantage of the 700MHz band is its ultra-large coverage range. In scenarios such as pastures, the signal coverage range can reach up to 15 kilometers, while the speed can still reach 100Mbps.

Low-frequency 5G has an ultra-wide coverage range, but its speed is as low as 100Mbps, which is somewhat disappointing. There are two branches of 4G standards. China promotes TD-LTE with a speed of 100Mbps, while Europe promotes LTE-FDD with a speed of 150Mbps. It can be seen that the speed of low-frequency 5G is even 50Mbps slower than European 4G LTE-FDD.

The technology of 5G has actually gone through many competitions. Initially, it was China's 5G centimeter wave and the US's 5G millimeter wave. Ultimately, US operators only used 5G centimeter wave as a supplement to fixed broadband, as the drawbacks of 5G millimeter wave are too obvious. It is essentially a large WiFi, and even leaves and raindrops can hinder the propagation of 5G millimeter wave signals.

Chinese operators chose 5G centimeter wave, but as Chinese operators built more than one million 5G base stations, they gradually became overwhelmed. The high density of 5G base stations built using 5G centimeter wave and the high power consumption of 5G base stations led operators to have to shut down the 5G network during idle hours.

Two years ago, China Mobile and China Broadcasting Network cooperated to build a 700MHz 5G network. From the actual test in Inner Mongolia, it can be seen that low-frequency 5G is indeed excellent, with ultra-large coverage, which can significantly reduce the cost of 5G network construction and operation. However, in terms of speed, it is obviously much slower than the 1Gbps of 5G centimeter wave, similar to 4G, and even slower than 4G+.

However, such speeds are sufficient for most consumers' daily use. With the advancement of China Broadcasting Network and China Mobile's low-frequency 5G network construction, China Unicom has also begun to build 5G using the 900MHz band, while China Telecom is using the 800MHz band. All three major operators have begun to promote the construction of low-frequency 5G networks.

For operators, controlling costs is now clearly the top priority. Whether 5G can achieve its theoretical indicators is no longer the first consideration. After all, operators' money does not come easily. The construction and operation of 5G networks need to consider costs and benefits, and low-frequency 5G can obviously achieve the desired goals more easily.

5G began commercial use in mid-2019. During the construction of 5G networks, problems were constantly discovered, and the choice of frequency bands was also constantly changing. Ultimately, the choice was made to build a wide-area coverage 5G network using low-frequency bands. Although it failed to achieve the theoretical indicators of 5G, it is still a technological advancement. The commercial use of 5G will help promote operators' support for the development of 6G.