After years of escalating hype, the wireless industry is finally rolling out 5G. And next year, with many more 5G-capable phones expected to hit the market, the new technology should become a reality for consumers.

Yet despite promises of blazing speeds and coast-to-coast coverage, the leading mobile phone providers are on track to deliver little more than incremental improvements in service in 2020. 

I predict that wireless carriers will spend the coming year pointing fingers at each other and at federal bureaucrats for the failure of 5G to live up to its high-flying promises of turbocharged mobile internet speeds.