The State of 5G: When, How Fast & The Future It Will Enable

[donk1]

Telstra has conducted extensive trials of 5G around Australia. The networks here thru all carriers are currently in the processes of being upgraded. We should start effectively getting a roll-out at the end of 2018 or early 2019 . The US & Europe around late 2020 - 2021 . Hopefully any issues associated with the use of 5G will be sorted.

 

[Ben Myers]

This just shows you what a progressive country can do, where there are not multiple telecom companies simultaneously trying to kill each other and extracting as many dollars as possible from the pockets of users.

 

[cliffordcooley]

And at the same time the majority of consumers will continue to be stuck with the equivalent of 2G data caps or lower.

 

[Squid Surprise]

This just shows you what a progressive country can do, where there are not multiple telecom companies simultaneously trying to kill each other and extracting as many dollars as possible from the pockets of users.

Not exactly... Canada's pretty progressive, and only has a few telecom companies... but they love their monopolies and see them as an excuse to not bother with any upgrades... Canada won't be seeing 5G any time soon

 

[tipstir]

Maybe one day it will be 100G LTE as technology develops into more stable communication way for cell phone. Yet I thought the adaption of SAT Phone would be a lot stable and better way to communicate then to rely on several cell towers on the ground than in space.

 

[bohemond1099]

And at the same time the majority of consumers will continue to be stuck with the equivalent of 2G data caps or lower.

No kidding; or at best, like Verizon, you pay through the nose for unlimited that gets throttled after 15GB at such slow speeds you feel like you're web surfing like it's 1997.

 

[rvnwlfdroid]

Great Article. The only aspect of 5G that truly interests me is the integration into vehicles. It seems to me people are becoming more and more distracted/careless/rushing while driving. I'm currently driving between 5,000-6,000 miles a month for work. A fair amount of that is freeway driving. Just about every day I need to implement some form of defensive driving to compensate for others acting erratic/rash on the road. Autonomous vehicles can't come soon enough in my book. If 5G helps make that happen sooner. Bring it on.

 

[Berty Boy]

Im all for progression ... 5g is nothing less than an emf weapon. those frequencies will manipulate the inner vibrations of us as beings. water ... metal .. emf .... not a good recipe for mankinds survival over the next 100 years.

 

[Misagt]

The speed doesn't matter as it's just a commercial version of the USA Army's EMF weapon. It's can microwave you body effecting your very cells. This is the perfect weapon to kill everyone.

 

[Squid Surprise]

The speed doesn't matter as it's just a commercial version of the USA Army's EMF weapon. It's can microwave you body effecting your very cells. This is the perfect weapon to kill everyone.

So you decided to necro this thread with a bunch of malarkey? Got any proof of that nonsense you spouted?

 

[psycros]

Why does this article keep getting re-posted? If its continually being updated then the changes should be highlighted.

 

[yeeeeman]

I like that minimum peak figure. It is as true as the biggest lie in this world. That is what they expect to get when 6G will start to appear. Also, in better parts of this world, where mobile data has really moved to 4G (Verizon has 20mbps speed, lol. That is achievable in hspa+ in my country), you can expect speeds in excess of 200mbps, which is over 20MB/s. That is I think, good enough for anything you could possibly imagine to do on a phone. So US is not the best example of what 4G is capable of. It is maybe the worst one. Just look at what data caps americans have, in EU I have over 50gb of traffic at full speed for 6$.
Now, talking about health issues, even if they have found evidences that the new frequencies will do harm to people, I don't think someone really cares. It is all about money, so you have to do everything to push it to every single device, from toothbrushes, shoes and home internet access points. And if people get sick, that is a good thing, more money will be spent on r&d in medicine, in creating pills, in treating pacients. And they will say that thanks to technology we made the advancements that we have made. It is a vicious circle really. But for companies it is win-win, I would say.
Don't get me wrong, I admire technology, but I really believe that today advancements are made without giving a second thought or maybe a third one, to safety.

 

[tipstir]

I am sure they won't fix the issue with weak cell phone coverage. I got their T-Mobile booster for my cell two box type for Cel-fi retail price is $599. I am not paying for it. Anyway I go from 2 bars to 5 bars now in my house. 5G so there is no 5G LTE. Prices will go up on these 5G cells. I guess by 2019 to 2020 it will standard.

 

[ThanosPAS]

[/QUOTE]


Nothing will stand before progress.... let's just hope that those papers that point to health risks are all mistaken...[/QUOTE]

It seems that the health risks are real though and this comes from many sources. The AIs will be so happy when they'll realise what a network we 've built exclusively for them, damaging ourselves in the process haha! Foolishly, abiding by mindsets like, progress for the sake of progress can be detrimental to our fragile bodies, unfortunately...

 

[Luay]

5G's extra bandwidth will serve telecom businesses first, and consumers last. The information comes from you and goes to them, and then you can have the leftovers.

As for the health risks, the fact is no one was able to prove that 5G is safe.

I think what most of us are trying to find out to what degree is it harmful. How far do you have to be from a 5G device or how far from installed towers is considered safe.

As a parent I'm not jumping on the 5G wagon until I know for sure that it is harmless.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0NEaPTu9oI

 

[Tempus]

You do realize entire swaths of the United Sates can't even sustain 4G and entire countries are on 3G or worse right? Not everyone lives in a first or second world big city or tiny country with miniscule GLOCs.

I live in a northern suburb of Dallas with a surrounding population of nearly 300k people and the 4G coverage here is spotty at best for both AT&T and T-Mobile (I don't know anyone with Verizon). Drive out of here for 15 or 20 minutes and you are lucky to get usable 3G. The plan to stick 100's to 1000's micro-cells on telephone poles is a useless idea in much of the southwest where there are large swaths of land without a man made object in sight.

Live in a city, you're good. The rest of us in rural areas, forget it.

 

[doomworm]

"Connecting everything in the world to a wireless smart grid". That should make it much easier for Skynet to take over.

 

[Bubbajim]

Gotta love the technophobia of Techspot.

 

[senketsu]

Looking at it historically, only 100 years ago, humans were exposed to zero RF, fast forward to today and we are inundated with RF. It seems to be human nature to discover something, roll it out globally and then later when problems surface, to react (examples are so numerous I won't list). IMHO we are currently conducting an experiment on humans and RF that is problematic because if/when problems surface this technology is so interwoven into the fabric of modern society that change will be virtually impossible as you cannot simply ban its use or prohibit manufacture.

 

[MilwaukeeMike]

I don't need a faster connection any more than I need more data.

I need it to always work when I'm indoors. Does 5G get through walls better than anything else we've had?

 

[DelJo63]

I don't need a faster connection any more than I need more data.

I need it to always work when I'm indoors. Does 5G get through walls better than anything else we've had?

NO -- it's WORSE :sigh:

 

[SomeOldfart]

"If something can be connected, it will be connected to 5G." - Former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler
"Hold my beer." - Ajit Pai, Current FCC Chairman

 

[wiyosaya]

So this article somehow came back from the dead? Initial comments on this were from February 2018, but the article date is now October 4, 2018? Nothing like recycling old material into a new package. And, BTW, there was an entire section dedicated to 5G in the September 13, 2018 Wall Street Journal that said almost exactly the same things. WTF?

My bet: The predictions made in this article will be akin to predictions made about the future in the late 1800's and early 1900's at the World's Fairs that were held during that time period. I am willing to bet that MOST of those predictions never came true, and I am willing to bet MOST of these predictions will never come true.

These predictions sound like companies drooling over imagined profits based on selling to people who don't need it through creating some sort of artificial demand. No one, IMO, needs an internet connected thermostat. Programmable ones work just fine and some of those have the ability to use both indoor and outdoor temperature sensors to optimize energy usage - all without, GASP, being connected to the internet.

I am willing to bet that the same thing that is now happening to various streaming services https://www.techspot.com/community/...battle-for-online-streaming-supremacy.249488/ will happen to this. Maybe, just maybe the promise of 5G will come to fruition in autonomous vehicles.

It might sound like I am against the advancement of technology to some. In no way, though, do I see that as true. My viewpoint is from what I see as what is practical. Where is the practical need for all the bling that 5G promises to bring? How many people need the massive amounts of data that mm wave 5G can deliver? Who needs to track every grain of sand on the Earth? To me, tracking every grain of sand on Earth as a justification for this is ridiculous. Some of the proposed things that 5G may enable make 5G sound like a solution to problems no one has.

And all this coming from someone who just switched to 4G LTE data with 40Mbps download speeds and dropped Spectrum.

And last but not least, someone please tell me why I would ever want to have 100 5G devices per square meter in my home?

I find technology very cool. However, MOST of the items cited in this article that 5G supposedly will bring sound like some dropped too much LSD and never fully came back from the fantasy land trip.

 

[Shotgunnner]

I'm disappointed that this isn't going to cure cancer since it promises everything else. Gonna be fun trying to stay under a 2 GB data cap.

 

[JavaMan]

Being rural, a few miles out of town, I pay $80 per month for unlimited 3mbps down and 0.5mbps up. I looked at a few cellular providers for data, but since they all charge for a few gigabytes per month, it's not a workable solution. Streaming video uses 100GB or more per month (not even thinking about 4k, as that's not even possible on my internet). Until the cellular carriers stop charging $10-$30 per month for each 5GB block of data, they are just not an option for watching video for many people.
I understand 5G is supposed to bring down the cost of data, but do you really think AT&T or Verizon will pass those savings on to you. Yeah right.

For mmWave to be useful it has to work inside. How many people stand around outside all day watching videos on their phone out in the sun? Exactly. People need their phones to work inside buildings, often times large buildings. Using mmWave means all the malls will have to install DAS systems to provide mmWave to shoppers inside the mall. Grocery stores will have to install DAS systems to provide mmWave to shoppers inside. All the employers will need to install...um, no, they won't, you just don't get any cell service while at work, that works for them.