What is 5G All About?

When the first analog cell phone made its debut, 1G (1st generation) technology was introduced. With each new iteration, cell phones became more advanced. 2G technology allowed for text messages and voicemails. 3G allowed us to browse the web, share photos with our families and friends, and find our way with GPS. The introduction of 4G allowed for comprehensive web capability on our cellphones, including downloading and watching movies. But now, 5G is on its way.

You’ve likely heard of the 5G rollout for a couple of years now. While you may wonder what is left to be done on your cell phone, the even-more-improved data transfer rates and reduced lag time will transform the way we drive (connected cars), the way we live (smart communities), the way we work (the IoT), and the way we learn. (immersive education and classrooms.)

5G has been criticized as too expensive, but there is no denying that it provides many advantages over our current generation, model 4G LTE.

• Faster Data Speeds – Industry insiders project data speeds to increase by over 10 times with 5G, meaning that data transfer, video and image transmission will be remarkably quick. Downloading a movie, once a time consuming effort, will now require less than a minute.
• Increased Connectivity and Stability – Not only are 5G smartphones faster, but they offer more extensive coverage, and a more stable connection. With signal reliability significantly increased, delayed messages and dropped calls shouldn’t be an issue.
• Improved Data Access – Smartphones are now such a prolific part of our lives, and the applications which reside on them have transformed the way we operate in our every day lives. Because the number of both users and applications is increasing daily, spectrum bands are becoming crowded. With 5G, more spectrums are being introduced to this market, thus providing more bandwidth for faster connections.
• Better Internet Service – Because the technology is faster and more steady, 5G will provide home and business internet services which far exceed 4G offerings.

5G is not as simple to understand as everyone had hoped. Three major iterations of the technology have emerged thus far: low-band, mid-band, and high-band. The three levels are currently incompatible, and perform very differently from each other, and the most popular version doesn’t yet rise to the level of hype which precedes it – in fact, it performs about the same as 4G. The 5th generation is expected to continue to evolve over the next decade several years.

Low, Middle, and High Band 5G

Fifth generation technologies allows carriers to offer a greater range of airwave options than 4G. The most important innovation is that short-range airwaves which didn’t work with 4G will now be available.

Did You Know? 5G speeds are directly correlated to the width and number of available channels. Low band offers very few, narrow channels; while mid-band provides additional wide channels, and high-band offers the most robust services.

Low Band operates in sub 1Ghz frequencies. They have the capability to travel great distances, but there aren’t many wide channels available, resulting in very slow transmissions. The low-band channels cellular carriers are utilizing average 10MHz in width.

Medium band offers airwaves bandwidths between 1-10GHz. Most current cellular and Wi-Fi frequencies are classified as mid-band.

High band 5G (also known as millimeter-wave) represents the truly new technology. Most airwaves in the 20-100GHz range and were rarely used for consumer applications. The bands are very short range; usually only about 800 feet from a tower. This means that there is still work to be done, especially in rural areas.

If you are interested in how 5G networks can help your company – or are in need of server virtualization, VPN installation, or a business technology assessment – you only need to make one call to Alliance IT.