Regional wireless operator US Cellular conducted a 5G trial in Madison, Wisconsin, using 15 GHz spectrum and gear from Ericsson. The company said the tests achieved peak speeds of 9 Gb/s at a distance of 787 feet and 1.5 Gb/s at a distance of a mile.

Ericsson installed the 5G radios on a tower that is currently being used by US Cellular to deliver commercial service. The tests were run using real-world conditions and evaluated radio performance at different distances from the tower.

Other tests conducted measured performance of beamforming, beam tracking, and multi-user multiple input and multiple output (MIMO).

US Cellular also conducted a 5G trial with Nokia  in October in Schaumberg, Illinois, that tested fixed wireless service in indoor and outdoor environments using 28 GHz spectrum. That test resulted in speeds up to 5 Gb/s and less than two milliseconds of latency.

In September at the CTIA SuperMobility Conference in Las Vegas, Mike Irazarry, CTO of US Cellular, said that the company would be conducting two to three 5G trials.

Interestingly, Irazarry also said that he envisioned 5G being a “network of networks” where for the first time all technology domains will converge. In other words, he believes that 5G will allow seamless interoperability between licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum like Wi-Fi, and more.