To answer the question what exactly is 5G, we should know that after years of hype, carriers are finally turning on their 5G networks. Just don’t be surprised if you’re nowhere near one.
Both Verizon and AT&T have launched their mobile 5G networks, while KT argues that a robot in South Korea is its first 5G customer. It’s a virtual certainty, however, that you aren’t a 5G customer of any of these carriers. AT&T’s network is live in a dozen cities, including Atlanta, Dallas and New Orleans, but the customers are all small businesses and the carrier has refused to talk about where the coverage is actually located. Verizon, which launched a 5G home service last fall, turned on its network in Chicago and Minneapolis in early April, but says the cities will have pockets of 5G coverage.
This follows months of companies chipping in some last-minute hype, from Qualcomm talking about how the technology would evolve this year during its Snapdragon Tech Summit in December, to a number of prototype 5G phones shown off at MWC 2019. Samsung showed off its Galaxy S10 5G, expected to come later this year.
“A lot of the work went into getting the 5G logo to show on this phone,” Qualcomm President Cristiano Amon said as he held up the company’s prototype during the December keynote of the company’s event.
What is 5G?
5G networks are the next generation of mobile internet connectivity, offering faster speeds and more reliable connections on smartphones and other devices than ever before.
Combining cutting-edge network technology and the very latest research, 5G should offer connections that are multitudes faster than current connections, with average download speeds of around 1GBps expected to soon be the norm.
The networks will help power a huge rise in Internet of Things technology, providing the infrastructure needed to carry huge amounts of data, allowing for a smarter and more connected world.
With development well underway and testbeds already live across the world, 5G networks are expected to launch across the world by 2020, working alongside existing 3G and 4G technology to provide speedier connections that stay online no matter where you are.
Is 5G all about speed?
No! One of the key benefits is something called low latency. You’ll hear this term a lot. Latency is the response time between when you click on a link or start streaming a video on your phone, which sends the request up to the network, and when the network responds, delivering you the website or playing your video.
That lag time can last around 20 milliseconds with current networks. It doesn’t seem like much, but with 5G, that latency gets reduced to as little as 1 millisecond, or about the time it takes for a flash on a normal camera.
That responsiveness is critical for things like playing an intense video game in virtual reality or for a surgeon in New York to control a pair of robotic arms performing a procedure in San Francisco, though latency will still be affected by the ultimate range of the connection. The virtually lag-free connection means self-driving cars have a way to communicate with each other in real time — assuming there’s enough 5G coverage to connect those vehicles.
How does it work?
5G initially used super high-frequency spectrum, which has shorter range but higher capacity, to deliver a massive pipe for online access. But given the range and interference issues, the carriers are also using lower-frequency spectrum — the type used in today’s networks — to help ferry 5G across greater distances and through walls and other obstructions.
T-Mobile, for instance, plans a bigger rollout of its 5G network in the second halfthanks to the use of lower-band spectrum.
The result is that the insane speeds companies first promised won’t always be there, but they’ll still represent a big boost from what we get today with 4G LTE.
What are other benefits?
The 5G network is designed to connect a far greater number of devices than a traditional cellular network. That internet of things trend you keep hearing about? 5G can power multiple devices around you, whether it’s a dog collar or a refrigerator.
The 5G network was also specifically built to handle equipment used by businesses, such as farm equipment or ATMs. Beyond speed, it’s also designed to work differently on connected products that don’t need a constant connection, like a sensor for fertilizer. Those kinds of low-power scanners are intended to work on the same battery for 10 years and still be able to periodically send over data.
What phones support 5G?
2019 is the year that you’ll finally be able to purchase a 5G phone. So far, the following 5G-capable devices have been announced:
- Samsung Galaxy S10 5G
- Samsung Galaxy Fold
- LG V50 ThinQ
- Huawei Mate X
- OnePlus 5G Phone
- Xiaomi Mi Mix 3 5G
- ZTE Axon 10 Pro 5G
Umm… amazing but when does 5G get here?
Verizon launched the first “5G” service in the world in October, but it’s a bit of a technicality — a fixed broadband replacement, rather than a mobile service. An installer has to put in special equipment that can pick up the 5G signals and turn that into a Wi-Fi connection in the home so your other devices can access it.
There’s also some debate about whether the service even qualifies as 5G: It doesn’t use the standards the industry has agreed upon. The company wanted to jump out ahead, and used its own proprietary technology. Verizon argues that the speeds, which range from 300 megabits per second to 1 gigabit per second, qualify the service for 5G designation. Its rivals and other mobile experts dispute that claim.
The launch was extremely limited in select neighborhoods in Los Angeles; Sacramento, California; Indianapolis; and Dallas. (Let us know if you’re among the lucky few who get it.)
As of the end of December, AT&T was turning on its mobile 5G network in a dozen cities, and more specifically in “dense urban and high-traffic areas.” Take note, Verizon: AT&T boasted that it’s the “first and only company in the US to offer a mobile 5G device over a commercial, standards-based mobile 5G network.” It plans to boost its coverage to a total of 19 cities in 2019.
Verizon says it’ll launch its mobile 5G next year.
When will 5G get here in Nepal ?
After its launch on the international market next year it might arrive after 5-6 years in Nepal. Due to its high cost we can’t really be sure when it will arrive here. But believe me we will already have gadgets like smartphones, tablets etc. that supports 5G before the technology gets available in Nepal.
Are you more Curious ? I know you are, check out this amazing links below to know more about 5g :
Cnet: https://cnet.co/2WFrVr1
Techradar: https://bit.ly/2C9yZ8L
SDX Central: https://bit.ly/2BHPSmZ
Verizon: https://vz.to/2tfaiSe
Thankyou so much for reading.
