What will 5G do for us?

[Z3Dreamer]

DW's phone is starting to go, so I thought: "Gee, what is this 5G thing and should I wait until it comes out to buy one?"

I did some internet research and it appears that:

• 5G may be 20 times as fast as 4G. I am always skeptical but hopeful.
• 4G Cell phones can do just about everything we want, now, so 5G will not improve cell phones, except maybe in rural locations. See below.
• 5G will be serious competition for existing Internet Service Providers. Speed and cost. I will enjoy this as I hear the US has slower, more expensive Internet than many developed countries.
• If you use 5G for home internet, you will have a 5G modem and maybe an external device that functions much like a mix between a receiver and an antenna. You will not need to replace your existing router. Of course, if you have a router than can only handle 60 Mbps and you want to take advantage of 400 Mbps or 800 Mbps or whatever 5G is, then you should replace it.
• Looks like some rollout will happen in 2019, but not much until end of 2020. In reality, it will be much slower.
• Towers/units are smaller, lower and less powerful than 4G cell phone towers, so there will be many more 5G towers/units.
• Rural locations who have no internet/cell coverage will benefit as it is easier to put up multiple 5G devices than to have a few big ole towers or run an internet trunk line.

I put these things out there so that those of you with more knowledge than me will tell me useful things. Feel free to politely correct my research.

Back to DW's phone. I can buy her a new phone without fear that it will be obsolete in 2 years.

 

[braumeister]

Yes, it will be great, but it will also be a couple of years before most carriers' networks will support it. And the phones to support it are also just beginning to come out.

So it's a technology still in its infancy. Considering the lifespan of most phones, I will ignore it for now.

 

[Bir48die]

Sound promising. If it helps me to stream at my home faster then I'm all for it. Otherwise I'm not sure if it will be a material benefit to me. It's not like I'm going to hook up all my appliances and security to one network.

 

[SumDay]

We're on AT&T, and several times when I'm out and about I've noticed 5G up in the top bar of my phone, but not 100% of the time. So it's here, sort of.

 

[REWahoo]

We're on AT&T, and several times when I'm out and about I've noticed 5G up in the top bar of my phone, but not 100% of the time. So it's here, sort of.

Maybe not...

Sprint is suing AT&T over ‘5G E’ lies

Sprint is suing AT&T in federal court over its decision to rebrand some of its 4G LTE networks as “5G E.” The lawsuit, first spotted by Engadget, claims that consumers are likely to confuse AT&T’s so-called “5G Evolution” network with actual 5G...

 

[COcheesehead]

We're on AT&T, and several times when I'm out and about I've noticed 5G up in the top bar of my phone, but not 100% of the time. So it's here, sort of.

Yea, that's 5GE, which is not really 5G

 

[ls99]

Just more radiated electromagnetic enrgy in all direction. Enjoy! Invest in tinfoil

 

[W2R]

I really do hope that 5G turns out to be that fast, and that good. I won't use it, since I don't normally use internet much if any on my cell phone. Still, maybe Cox Cable will improve my cable internet connection here at home, in response to having some real competition for once.

This morning, 114Mbps download and 11Mbps upload, which I think is great. However, generally it is a bit erratic with outages or major slowdowns more often than I would prefer.

 

[mpeirce]

We're still in the continuous upgrade phase of cellular data communications. 5G is just the next iteration of this and it includes a large hodgepodge of technologies that are ready to be rolled out over the next few years.

There's lots of stuff you will really never notice, but there are a few things that are pretty interesting. Including:

* Much better handling of crowded conditions. Think sporting venues, traffic jams, conventions, Manhattan, and so on.

* Lower power requirements. Even though the very first chips might actually take more power, it does support a very low power mode which will allow devices to use very little power. Think a battery powered device that can run for years on a single battery - like temperature sensor that runs for 5 years then is discarded.

* Faster to setup/exchange data/shutdown. Think smart cars communicating as they zip around.

* Finally, higher speeds. In some ways this has more to do with energy savings that us all needing higher speeds. LTE already supports high enough speeds for HD video. But a higher speed channel doesn't need to be transmitting as long - so the radio is powered up less and takes less power.

Frankly, most consumers won't have to worry about what 5G is good for. It'll roll out in phones over the next few years. Likewise infrastructure will roll out over years too.

So basically, cellular technology will continue it's steady improvements for years to come.

 

[kimcdougc]

The attached link provides health risks that have not yet been studied with the 5G network. Interesting article. I think there needs to be more research before 5G is rolled out.

https://ehtrust.org/key-issues/cell...s-iot-scientific-overview-human-health-risks/

 

[wmc1000]

Since 5G networks need more transmitters, (typically on existing power, street, etc. poles), closer together than 4G LTE it will probably be a long time before 5G coverage would reach out to less populated rural areas.

 

[explanade]

First 5G phones will be power-hungry. It may take a couple of iterations before they reduce the power consumption.

By then the network will be more built out.

I would be interested not so much for mobile use but as a competitor for home Internet.

Instead of rolling out fiber to every home it looks like many carriers are interested in providing 5G home services.

Verizon and AT&T, which haven't done much in recent years to bring faster broadband to the last mile, plan to compete for the home market against the cable companies, which they declined to do with fiber.

So many cities or neighborhoods in cities have only one option for real broadband. They may bring some competition, which would be good for such areas with limited options and for cord cutters.

 

[Offgrid Organic Farmer]

We will all just have to wait and see. Maybe come back and re-visit this conversation in 5 years.

My town has one cellphone tower, and it is there only because of the Interstate highway cutting through our town. Towns to our East and to our West do not have cellphones.

 

[Lakewood90712]

Just more radiated electromagnetic enrgy in all direction. Enjoy! Invest in tinfoil

Just great, have to stock up on tin foil hats.

Crews pulled new fiber optic cables for 5G last week to all the utility poles in the area.


Going to put pricing pressure on the 2 current phone/ internet carriers

 

[JoeWras]

What to do? Prepare for a lot of warts to start appearing on utility poles all over.

 

[Chuckanut]

We will all just have to wait and see. Maybe come back and re-visit this conversation in 5 years.

My town has one cellphone tower, and it is there only because of the Interstate highway cutting through our town. Towns to our East and to our West do not have cellphones.

Assuming you don't live in a town like the OGOF does, I think a 2-3 year wait would be sufficient. I can't imagine that telephone companies sitting on this much longer than that. Of course, do expect to pay more for 5G. I imagine it will be a way to pry people out of favorably prices plans that the phone companies no longer want us in.

 

[NYEXPAT]

I am looking forward to 6 G!

 

[stepford]

When everybody wants 5G it'll make for some great sales on 4G phones for DW and me.

 

[ransil]

I buy used phones from swappa

 

[audreyh1]

Yea, that's 5GE, which is not really 5G

Oh boy! Yuck!

 

[mpeirce]

I am looking forward to 6 G!

As much as some people like to joke about this, 6G definitely will arrive. 7G too.

It's not really a joke. Having worked in tech, the smart companies are always a few steps ahead of anything the public knows about.

 

[griffithee]

I am looking forward to 6 G!

I see what you did there!!!

 

[bingybear]

maybe you'll get faster robo call and scams.

 

[GravitySucks]

Just more radiated electromagnetic enrgy in all direction. Enjoy! Invest in tinfoil

I made my $$$ selling ground straps. Tinfoil hats are useless unless grounded.

 

[NW-Bound]

I have been so out-of-date, so just looked on the Web to learn the following.

Just a couple of months ago, the FCC opened for bidding spectrum in the 28 GHz band. Next was the 24 GHz band, and then in 2019 the auction of three more millimeter-wave spectrum bands — 37 GHz, 39 GHz, and 47 GHz.

Holy moly! These are millimeter-wave frequencies, and were not used for much because their propagation properties are more like light and not the radio waves we are accustomed too. They get absorbed by rain drops, do not go through walls (but do go through clothes), etc...

Typical applications have been military radars and commercial point-to-point communication links. For mobile applications, I wonder how this will work because the range will be quite short compared to the lower frequencies in use now.


PS. Also called 5G is a new modulation and encoding technique to cram more bits/second into existing frequencies. This will work for mobile phones. Calling both this and the new millimeter bands 5G makes it confusing.