Is the world ready for 5G?

by Christina Yeager

There has been much hype around 5G for over a couple of years now, but owing to the recent speedup in 5G research, it is expected to be launched very soon, possibly by 2020. 5G is expected to change the lives of every industry that has anything to do with the internet -- thus our lives.
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What is 5G and how promising is it?

What is 5G?
5G is the next generation of telecom networks. It will be a constantly growing network of networks that will connect everything at an at least hundred times faster speed than any mobile internet speed ever. Today’s world revolves around internet, and this high-end approach could serve the modern development in many ways.

Expected 5G speed:
5G will be at least ten times faster than our home broadband service. In 5G test trials, the browsing and the download speed are going up to 1.4Gbps and 186Mbps respectively. This is a drastic step up from the 4G browsing and download speeds of 71 Mbps and 10Mbps.

Possible benefits of 5G:
Beyond speed, 5G is expected to have countless benefits. It will benefit all, businesses and people individually as well as collectively. Faster speed. This is stating the obvious. The 5G network will be a hundred times speedier than the previous 4G network with promises of speed up to 10 Gb/sec.

Greater Capacity:
5G is going to offer a greater capacity. This means that the 5G network will simultaneously handle all high-demand applications, from connected self driving cars to high definition video streaming.

Remote surgery:
5G will eliminate the lag present in the 4G LTE and will virtually allow a surgeon to perform surgery on a patient through a robot while not being physically present at that place.

Cars without drivers:
5G self-driving cars will be seen on the roads and not just in the movies only. Google and Uber are already investing in them. Smart traffic lights will result in less wasted time (time spent waiting in traffic).

Improved Battery Life:
Although one would think that with more applications and features, the device battery will die fast. The truth is that 5G is expected to increase the battery life of all devices at least ten times.

But will the 4g phones work with 5G?
5G will work side by side with the existing 3G and 4G technologies and will allow you to be online all the time. But 5G will not work on the 4G phones as the 5G network will need a 6 GHz frequency.

Who will launch 5G?
Currently, there’s an ongoing race between the United States and China as to who can launch it first. Both have their developers and researchers working overtime.
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Conclusion
The 5G evolution is much bigger than just speed. While the shift from 3G to 4G was all about a faster mobile internet speed, the shift from 4G to 5G is a whole new level of development in technology and not just a higher mobile internet speed. In fact, if it delivers what it is claiming to, it might just be the 4th industrial revolution.
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