Imagine downloading movies to your phone in a matter of seconds or being operated on by
a robot remotely controlled from the other end of the world.
This is no sci-fi — it’s actually part of the very near future.
5G is going to change the way we use wireless tech and probably our whole lives.
So what is 5G exactly?
Well, it’s the next generation of cellular technology.
It all started with 1G — the first ever cellular network.
If you remember cell phones with antennas, well, they used 1G.
The biggest break came with the arrival of 3G, when we started browsing the Internet
freely on our smartphones.
But that was still just a step in the tech progress.
Today, most developed countries use the fourth generation, or 4G, on their mobile devices.
If you use this technology, you probably already know that you can download pretty large files
on your smartphone or tablet, stream videos and music, make video calls, and much more.
However, 4G is basically limited to mobile gadgets, while 5G is on an entirely new level.
Of course, it will affect the mobile devices first.
The peak download speed is going to be about 10 Gbps — that’s ten times the top downstream
speed of 4G.
And while, in reality, such speeds aren’t likely to be achieved, 5G is still going to
be significantly faster.
Here’s a simple example: with 4G, you can download an 8 GB movie in HD quality in about
7-8 minutes, right?
Well, 5G will allow you to do so in just six seconds!
I wonder how long it would take for the whole Star Trek anthology to download?..
But, like I said, higher speed is just one of the numerous benefits 5G has to offer.
Another one is something called latency.
Latency is the amount of time it takes to send data from one device to another.
With 4G, this amount is somewhere around 50 milliseconds, or five hundredths of a second.
It’s faster than the blink of an eye, yet for electronics and technology, even such
speed might not be enough.
Take automated cars, for example.
With the latency of 50 milliseconds, a self-driving car will only receive the signal that there’s
an obstacle in front of it after a short delay.
This might cost the safety, or even the lives, of those inside the car because every single
moment counts in an emergency situation.
With 5G, though, the latency rate will be reduced to a mere 1 millisecond, or, simply
put, one thousandth of a second.
I can’t even give you a good comparison for this!
The signal is delivered pretty much instantly, which makes the reaction of any device a lot
faster.
That means the self-driving cars I mentioned earlier will be able to avoid almost any trouble
on the road, making them much safer to use.
Another example of the advantage of 5G is the ability of real time communication.
Yeah, I know what you’re thinking: we already have that, don’t we?
Well, not exactly.
You see, with the latency and data connection speed of the 4G connection, you’re only
capable of achieving so much.
The more the network is loaded, the higher the latency, so in a really busy network with
lots of connected devices it can reach unacceptable values.
How do you like the cursor on your screen reacting to the movements of your mouse after
half a second?
Yeah, just the thought of it makes me grind my teeth!
Give me a like if you get what I mean!
Anyway, 5G will solve this issue altogether.
With a 1 millisecond base latency and 10 times the speed of data exchange, it will allow
lots of devices to be connected in a single network without any delay in reaction.
In fact, there has already been a demonstration of how 5G works in real time.
If you’re a fan of sports, you couldn’t have missed it: in 2018, the Olympic Games
were held in PyeongChang, South Korea, and they showed the world what a powerful technology
5G really is.
Action cameras were attached to bobsleds, and viewers from all over the planet could
watch them speed down the slope like they were there in person.
Video producers said that only 5G was capable of real-time streaming in such high quality.
No more theory, guys, this is real!
Did you watch those bobsleds?
If you did, share your impressions down in the comments!
While we’re on the topic of instant communication, by the way, 5G is going to revolutionize one
of the most important spheres of our life: medicine.
Professor Prokar Dasgupta, from King’s College London, says that the new generation of mobile
networking will allow for cheaper and more efficient use of robots in surgery.
For example, today’s robots can only be manipulated from a nearby location — that
is, from an adjacent room.
5G will make it possible for surgeons to operate on patients from almost anywhere in the world!
This will save both time and money spent on travels for specialists and patients alike.
What’s more, real-time monitoring via wearable devices will allow patients to stay safe in
the comfort of their own homes.
And even that’s not all!
You probably know what the Internet of Things, or IoT, is, right?
In case you don’t, it’s all that “smart” stuff you have in your home.
Kettles, washing machines, lamps, sound systems — you name it.
Everything that can be controlled via your smartphone is connected to the Internet of
Things.
Currently, 4G and WiFi networks are enough to control smart homes.
But that’s only because the IoT won’t be developed to its full potential for about
10 more years, according to the 2017 Ericsson Mobility Report.
The current networking standard already limits the efficiency of the IoT.
Remember what I told you about latency?
When there are many smart devices connected in a single environment — let’s say a
fully equipped home — the amount of time to process all the data between them becomes
longer and longer.
And now imagine that it’s not a single home but a huge business equipped with hundreds
of IoT devices?
Naturally, the latency is going to be sky high there!
Of course, that’s unacceptable, so the current powers of the IoT are limited.
And that’s another problem that 5G is going to solve.
With its almost zero latency and high data speeds, it will allow the connection of as
many IoT devices as you want.
And with the growing demand for this kind of gadget, the new generation of networking
will definitely come in handy.
Hey, how about moving a house with the flick of your finger?
And I mean literally moving your house!
So, 5G is an amazing technology, that’s for sure.
But when should we expect it to unroll worldwide?
Well, that’s a tricky question.
You see, many regions of the world don’t even have a chance to enjoy the convenience
of 4G yet.
But even the most developed countries, like the US, Japan, and South Korea agree that
the new generation of mobile networks won’t be widely spread until several years from
now.
Experts from BI Intelligence say that, by 2022, 5G will reach about 15% of the world’s
population.
That’s not too long, I agree, but what about the rest of humanity?
Um, hello, 85% is a big deal, you know!
Well, it seems they’ll have to wait longer.
Sorry, guys, just a couple of years, please be patient.
Anyway, tell me, Bright Siders, what do you personally expect from the 5G networks?
Sound off in the comments below!
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