5G
5G, the fifth generation of wireless mobile technology, represents a significant advancement over previous generations, offering much faster speeds and improved connectivity. With speeds potentially more than six hundred times faster than 4G, 5G is designed to enhance mobile phone usage, data streaming, and a variety of emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), autonomous vehicles, and telemedicine. The deployment of 5G networks is a complex process, involving the installation of small cell networks and advanced technologies like millimeter waves and beamforming, which allow for dense connections and reduced latency—down to about one millisecond.
While the initial rollout began in 2015, experts predict that 5G may not surpass 3G and 4G in global user numbers until around 2025, as the transition to new hardware is necessary. Users will need 5G-compatible devices, as older technology will not be compatible with the new networks. The benefits of 5G include the ability to connect numerous devices simultaneously, paving the way for smarter homes and cities. As the technology evolves, it is expected to transform how people interact with their devices and the world around them, although the implementation will require time and investment.
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5G
5G is the fifth-generation of wireless mobile technology, which is the technology that allows people to use mobile devices and smart devices. The 5G network is the mobile technology network that gives people access to 5G technology bandwidth and speed. The most notable difference between 5G and its predecessors is that it is much faster. These increased speeds not only make mobile phones and data stream much faster, but also have a profound impact on other technologies, such as the internet of things (IoT), autonomous vehicles, and medicine. Some experts say that 5G is more than six hundred times faster than 4G, though the technology has not reached expectations in some areas, especially low-income and rural regions. By the mid-2020s, over 1.5 billion 5G connections had been deployed globally, primarily in high-income countries and urban areas, though 4G and 3G were still widely used in many places around the world.
Background
Mobile technology networks began with 1G, the first generation, which was released in 1979. This technology was analog, not digital, and allowed users to send audio between mobile phones. 2G, the second generation, allowed users to send voice and text messages. The 3G network enabled people to use mobile data to access the internet and other applications. The 4G network increased speed up to ten times of what was offered with the previous iteration of the technology. Each new type of technology helped change communication, mobile technology, and the world.
The first 5G networks were created in 2015, but by 2020 many areas still lacked the infrastructure for implementation. The global COVID-19 pandemic that emerged in early 2020 caused further delays to implementation, disrupting supply chains and helping to create an environment that proved fertile for the spread of misinformation and conspiracy theories. Some people, for instance, falsely asserted that 5G signals could negatively impact human health. Furthermore, three different types of 5G—low-, middle-, and high-frequency—all existed, but the three types of networks had difficulty communicating with each other. By the mid-2020s, however, there was increasing mainstream acceptance of 5G technology in the US. Major carriers continued to grow their networks, providing 5G access across most of the country, and smaller regional providers proliferated as well, although the extent of their coverage varied widely. According to the wireless industry trade association CTIA, by 2024 there was 76 percent 5G availability throughout the US and 40 percent of mobile devices in the country had 5G connectivity.
Overview
Mobile technology companies have raced to implement 5G networks around the world because of its benefits, the most obvious being higher bandwidth. The higher bandwidth allows more information to flow between devices much more quickly. Another benefit is lower latency, which is the delay between sending and receiving information. The 4G network has a latency of just under fifty milliseconds, which means that it takes less than one second for the network to respond. However, 5G networks respond in roughly one millisecond, which is four hundred times faster than the blink of an eye. This decrease in latency may seem insignificant when considering the download times of mobile phones, but such improved latency plays an important role in developing and improving new technologies, such as autonomous vehicles and remote surgery. A third benefit is dense connection, which means that many different devices can connect to the technology simultaneously. This dense connection is also important for autonomous vehicles and other “smart” devices that are connected to mobile technology.
Although 5G is lumped together as one technological improvement, its benefits occur because of a number of different technological advances that work together, including milliwaves. From the time humans started using radio frequency to send information, they have used only some parts of the radio spectrum. Higher frequency millimeter waves allow people to use bandwidths outside that frequency. Some of the radio frequencies used for 5G networks are higher than traditional frequencies; however, these frequencies have shorter waves, called millimeter waves. These short waves cannot travel through buildings and can even be disrupted by plants and rain. Thus, new 5G networks sometimes require another new technology called small cell networks.
Small cell networks are different from the cell networks used in previous generations of mobile technology. These versions of the technology used huge cell phone towers that beamed the signals over long distances. Since milliwaves cannot be transmitted over far distances, 5G networks include small cells. Small cells have begun to replace, or work in conjunction with, large cell towers from previous mobile technology generations. These small cells are much smaller than regular cell towers and placed in close proximity to each other, which helps ensure that devices do not lose service as people travel. Small cells may also be placed on the sides of existing buildings, poles, and other structures to save space and reduce the cost of installation. The idea behind small cells is that areas will have so many cells that if a person moves behind a building or some other obstacle, a different small cell will replace the signal that is being cut off.
Another new technology needed because of milliwaves is beamforming, which happens when a device creates a specific beam shape to send signals to particular people or devices. For instance, the cells sending signals can create narrow beams and send them to specific targets to avoid buildings and other obstacles that could stop the 5G signal from reaching its targets.
Although milliwaves, small cell networks, and beamforming are increasingly deployed as part of 5G networks, they are not the only way that 5G signals are sent. Signals sent over lower frequencies on 5G are still able to use the large cell towers that are used for 4G and 3G. The devices people use to access 4G and 3G networks, including phones, tablets, and other devices, will not work with 5G, however. This change from 4G to 5G hardware has thus been relatively slow and expensive and will take time for most of society to adopt. Nevertheless, as people increasingly use 5G-enabled devices, they are able to accomplish many different tasks. The fast speed of these networks allows them to download even the largest digital files almost automatically. It also enables them to connect many different devices, such as lights, vacuums, manufacturing robots, autonomous vehicles, and farming equipment. In healthcare, telemedicine has benefited from 5G, which reduces lag times and enhances doctor-patient interactions. 5G has also facilitated advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning.
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