UScellular taps Qualcomm, Inseego to launch 5G mmWave fixed wireless in 10 US cities

UScellular, the fourth-largest full-service wireless carrier in the US which provides national network coverage, has announced a collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies and Inseego and has launched its 5G mmWave high-speed internet service in 10 cities across the country.

Its fixed wireless access (FWA) Home Internet+ service is now available in parts of East Moline and Rock Island, Illinois; Bettendorf, Cedar Falls, Davenport, Dubuque and Waterloo, Iowa; Yakima, Washington; and Beloit and Janesville, Wisconsin. Home Internet+ is potentially capable of delivering speeds of up to 300Mbps, an increase of 10-15 times compared with its 4G LTE home internet system, and is a described as a “significant milestone” in the company’s multi-technology approach to providing high-speed internet solutions.

The operator is confident that with its massive capacity and quick deployment time compared to other wireline options, 5G mmWave is an affordable and accessible solution to expand broadband services to help bridge the digital divide in the US. Looking at key use cases, UScellular sees Home Internet+ enabling high-quality experiences for video-conferencing with hundreds of participants, as well as simultaneous streaming of shows, music and gaming.

The launch follows a friendly user trial that began in Janesville, Wisconsin, in 2021 and builds on field testing that demonstrated the speed and range that 5G mmWave technology is capable of providing.

“At UScellular, we are passionate and motivated to deliver on our mission of connecting people and communities to what matters most to them,” said Mike Irizarry, executive vice-president and chief technology officer at UScellular. “This FWA solution is key to providing customers with affordable and reliable in-home connectivity no matter where they live, and we look forward to expanding it to more areas in 2022 and beyond.”

At the technological heart of the service is the Inseego Wavemaker FW2010 outdoor 5G CPE, powered by a Qualcomm 5G Fixed Wireless Access Platform Gen 1 featuring the Snapdragon X55 5G Modem-RF System, to provide high-speed internet access wirelessly to customers’ homes or businesses.

Inseego said it is using the Qualcomm 5G FWA Platform Gen 1 to provide a “comprehensive, fully integrated” modem-to-antenna 5G system which is engineered to streamline product development for multiple mobile broadband product categories, including sub-6GHz, mmWave and extended-range mmWave CPE devices.

The Qualcomm 5G platform is also designed to provide operators and OEMs with the technology capabilities to tackle wireless complexity while enabling them to offer a diverse product portfolio to customers.

The Wavemaker FW2010 outdoor CPE is capable of delivering multi-gigabit download speeds for data-hungry applications. It connects to a Wi-Fi router to provide secure and reliable internet access for numerous devices throughout a home, business or office. Inseego claims its product offers “exceptional” 5G cellular antenna performance, and the FW2010 can extend mmWave coverage many miles away from a cell tower. It also supports 5G sub-6GHz and Cat 22 LTE, making it applicable for a range of locations and applications.