PCs with 5G connections may face issues including international roaming support, but T-Mobile is addressing these issues and is also studying what the data plan might look like.
T-Mobile sells some networked personal computers, such as Samsung’s Galaxy Book Go 5G and its data plans. The company expects user behavior on 5G to be very different from those on smartphones, and will adjust its plans accordingly.
“I think there were many beginnings and adaptations in this field in the early days. I think there are a lot of friction points, from easy activation to eSIM adoption that is not yet fully present,” Ryan Sullivan, vice president of equipment engineering, told Register.
Sullivan said that another challenge is to develop a distribution strategy, partly because PC manufacturers don’t know how to deal with cellular networks. He added that T-Mobile will not become the main distributor of these networked personal computers, and the mass appeal of networked personal computers will be obtained through traditional retail channels.
But unlike Wi-Fi, 5G PCs have some conditions, such as global roaming to achieve seamless connections. It is already difficult for LTE smartphones to roam around the world, which may be a greater challenge for 5G connected PCs that require more bandwidth.
T-Mobile has mastered the customer behavior, usage and cost-effectiveness of international 2G, 3G, 4G or 5G roaming for smartphone users, but not for PCs.
“We don’t know yet in the PC field, I think we will understand this eventually, and you will start to see similar products,” Sullivan said, adding that there will be no technical limitations.
“If you see a situation where it is not provided, it may be by design. It may just be because we are trying to calculate the economics of the global PC roaming situation, what kind of usage is being generated and what the cost structure needs to look like,” Sullivan said.
This is important in scenarios where international users do not want to connect to snooping on public Wi-Fi networks and prefer to seamlessly switch 5G networks.
T-Mobile is also exploring data plans to connect to PCs. The current products for mobile PCs are similar to the company’s tablet plans, but more pricing structures and usage models are being explored.
“Regardless of whether it becomes something you can borrow as part of a hotspot budget, or whether it is a separate independent plan in which the throttling limit is set differently, or whether it is completely in a throttling state, all these things are now being resolved, “Sullivan said.
T-Mobile said that because 5G PC user profiles will be different, it can provide a variety of data. Some people will use 5G as a Wi-Fi backup, while others will use it as an alternative, while others may choose a data package or pay-as-you-go plan.
“We are considering all these things,” Sullivan said. ®
