First Launched in the UK May 30th 2019, with US and South Korea having launched in April the same year, 5G technology is taking the world by storm and many countries, network providers and device manufacturers are all rushing to take part in this controversial technology.
What is 5G?
5G is the fifth generation mobile network which is the immediate successor of 4G, but much faster and more useful.- It is believed that 5G can have speeds up to 100 times faster than 4G, due to its bigger bandwidth and higher energy. With 5G you can download an HD movie in a matter of seconds.
- Unlike 4G wich is mainly mobile phone focused, 5G has a wide range of applications including machine learning.
Although there were some controversy around this super fast technology during it's Launch, it is clear that all mobile network providers world wide have Launched or preparing to launch 5G in their regions of influence and is already part and parcel of humanity.
Various players in the technology industry were in the rush for 5G with an intention of being among the first to Switch on to 5G in the World.
These include various network providers like SK Telecom, KT and LG UPlus in South Korea, Verizon in the US and EE in the UK
There are also a number of 5G enabled Phones in the market and more are expected by the end of this year.
It is therefore important that everyone of us understands the benefits and possible consequences of 5G technology.
Below we are going to discuss some of the advantages and possible disadvantages of 5G technology.
Below we are going to discuss some of the advantages and possible disadvantages of 5G technology.
Note: These are my own observations.
5G pros and cons.
Pros.
1. Larger bandwidth.5G will largely operate on the mm part of the spectrum wich is characterized by high frequency and small wavelength.
This region has a wide frequency range, resulting to a larger bandwidth.
The other benefits of this technology are therefore largely based on this important factor of 5G.
2. Improved Speeds.
It is a straight forward observation that any new mobile technology is much faster than its predecessor. That is why we would obviously expect 5G to be faster than 4G, since it is in turn faster than 3G.
The high speed is as a result of the large bandwidth, an to understand this we will need to use a simple illustration.
Let's say you ordered some load equivalent to 100 trucks and you want it transported to your home. You can either use 1 truck, or a number or them. 1 truck will have to make 100 trips which will take a lot of time, but if you use a number of trucks, the time taken will be equally shortened.
A larger bandwidth is thus like using many trucks, and your load(your download) will take a much shorter time to download.
That is why 5G can allow you download full HD movies within seconds.
The high speed is as a result of the large bandwidth, an to understand this we will need to use a simple illustration.
Let's say you ordered some load equivalent to 100 trucks and you want it transported to your home. You can either use 1 truck, or a number or them. 1 truck will have to make 100 trips which will take a lot of time, but if you use a number of trucks, the time taken will be equally shortened.
A larger bandwidth is thus like using many trucks, and your load(your download) will take a much shorter time to download.
That is why 5G can allow you download full HD movies within seconds.
There is also improved live streaming, online gaming and generally amazing online experience.
Now slow speeds and slow connections will be a thing of the past.
3. 5G has a wide range of applications.
There are endless uses of internet, and apart from browsing and chatting you must be familiar with some of these:
- Video conferencing.
- Online streaming
- Smart homes
- Smart appliances
- Self driving cars
- Machine learning
- Artificial intelligence in general
It is believed that 5G will spur growth in technology sector and bring artificial intelligence to its full potential.
Very soon we will see self driving cars, smart health appliances and so on, thanks to 5G.
This is because 5G has two Key characteristics that makes it highly suitable for machine learning; it's huge and with very low latency.
We are also expecting new technology inventions, and may be you should also be on your way to joining the 5G race. Who knows, 5G might make you the next billionare
5G cons.
1 5G is costly.
Unlike it's predecessors, 5G waves have very short range. This means that 5G will require very many base stations as compared to 4G. This will therefore increase its installation and maintenance costs.
At the moment only high end devices like the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G support this network. Such devices are not at the reach of the masses, especially in developing countries.
Since 5G is extremely fast, it's Users will have to buy bulk data bundles, and many network providers will have 5G tailor made bundle plans. This will likely raise the monthly personal expenses.
Security concerns
Part of the 5G spectrum is the unexplored high-end frequency millimeter wave, between 30GHZ and 300GHZ.
This means 5G waves are high-frequency waves that:
- Have high radiation
- Travel very short distance
- Don't travel well through obstacles like buildings
- Have high penetration
- Are believed to be highly absorbed by plants, insects and even human skin.
The above characteristics of 5G waves raises fears of increased exposure to radiation leading to various health risks.
However, I cannot conclusively support health risks associated with 5G, since the bands used by this technology are in the microwave region, which according to calculations have low energy as compared to infrared and even visible light.I.e,before microwaves harm you, visible light should first do so, since it has high frequency than microwaves.
Conclusion
5G is already here with us, and though it will take some time before it is available worldwide, the pioneers of this technology are enjoying it's convenience.
Related:
Comments
Post a Comment