Orange demos 5G home services with Samsung, Cisco

Orange has been conducting a multi-vendor 5G fixed wireless trial in Floresti, Cluj, Romania..

The trial makes use of Samsung’s 5G solutions including the virtualized RAN, one of the smallest 5G access units and multiple indoor and outdoor 5G routers (CPE), as well as Cisco’s Meraki Z3 WiFi Router and Ultra Gateway Platform, which delivers a 5G virtual packet core on top of Cisco NFV Infrastructure that brings enhanced throughput and flexibility.

The trial, which has been underway for a month and a half across multiple homes in Floresti, uses 26 GHz spectrum, massive MIMO and beamforming technologies.

The companies report coverage beyond 1 km at 1 Gbps speed for a single user in real live conditions. Measurements in these conditions also show aggregated cell downlink throughputs of 3 Gbps with few users, although the system capacity is significantly higher.

Orange is also testing Samsung’s Connectivity Node installed on a streetlamp to provide wireless connectivity for temperature and humidity sensors and security cameras. Sensors and cameras are connected wirelessly to the node, which is then connected to the core network via 5G. The Connectivity Node is a compact, high-capacity, easy-to-install and economical alternative for places where wireline deployment is unfeasible or costly.