Getting To Know 5G: What Is It?

There’s no questioning the hype around 5G. The buzz around a faster and more connected future is exciting. But for many product designers, the exact definition of the term 5G isn’t totally clear.

5G has little to do with the classic mobile communications as we know it. Unlike previous technologies like 4G, there is not a uniform 5G network. It is more than an evolution of previous technology; it is a whole set of new networks for different applications.

That makes the entire topic a little confusing, but the promises of 5G standard are great. Maximum speeds of up to 20 GB/s, minimisation of the signal propagation time (latency) and many simultaneously mobile devices per area let all wireless experiences seem instantaneous and open the doors for new applications.

So, what is 5G?

What Is 5G?

5G stands for fifth-generation, meaning it is the fifth generation of mobile connectivity. It will have 3 main elements where massive improvements will be seen regarding how we interact with mobile devices right now:

• It can provide data speeds up to 100 times faster
• Lower latency meaning it will be more responsive
• It will be able to connect a lot of devices simultaneously. We will be able to track and monitor a large number of devices like we never could before.

For a basic recap, 1G is the mobile voice (this would be the brick phones popular with yuppies and 1980s villains in movies in the 1980s,) 2G is mobile voice and text (the smaller brick kind that killed pagers in the late 90s and early aughts), 3G is voice, text, and data (we can send photos!), and 4G LTE (we can watch YouTube and do all the other things!).

5G is the next Big Thing.

Therefore, 5G means the following:

• Transmits 10,000 times more traffic
• Handles 10 times to 100 times more devices simultaneously
• Less than 1-millisecond latency
• 10 years machine to machine (M2M) battery life
• More than 10 Gbps peak data rates
• Ultra-reliability.

It is primed to replace 4G LTE standards and predicted to improve everything from machine to machine communications, mobile download speeds that will beat the pants off the fastest land-based ISP, driverless vehicles, and connect your smart home, smartphone, any other Internet of Things item, seamlessly and with no noticeable latency.

Phones are the first order of business to have the improvement as more consumers own one (or several) and they play such a prevalent role in our day-to-day lives.

How Do 4G And 5G Differ?

Although it is expected that 5G will be significantly better than 4-G LTE services, there're no guarantees due to topography, coverage area limitations, and many other factors. The standards for each new generation of technology is set by a number of international governing bodies, such as the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The abbreviation, "G" in this case is used for the word "Generation" which tends to have major advancements when compared to previous standards.

A new generation of the technology is released about every 10 years, with 1G, the 1st generation, being released in 1982. From there, the majority of phones nowadays use 4 G LTE. Although 4G LTE was an improvement from the normal 4G, the upgrade was not deemed big enough to call it 5G.

What Will Happen To 4G LTE?

4G LTE is not going anywhere anytime soon.

While 5G comes to major urban markets in the early part of the 2020s, full nationwide buildout to rural areas won’t most likely happen until 2030.

In fact, 4G LTE is still being built out and won’t peak until 2028. Improvements like LTE-Advanced and LTE-Advanced Pro support data rates up to 3 Gbps which is 5G-like speeds. Many carriers have stated the importance of 4G LTE coverage until 5G fully matures, which some predict to be 2035 to 2040.

So yes, 4G LTE will be around for at least another decade or two.

If you're suffering from poor mobile signal in Waterloo, we can help.