Yesterday, Verizon’s 5G Home internet service launched in 4 big cities of the United States that are Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles and Sacramento. Verizon claims that the current peak data speed will reach 1.45Gbps using LTE advanced technology and still have much room for improvement. Therefore, Verizon becomes the first carrier in the world starts providing the 5G commercial service. Its 5G mobile network service is expected to be launched in 2019. Not only Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint are also working on providing 5G service to their customers.
How fast the 5G network will reach in the future? Thinking about 10-100 times faster data download and upload speeds than your Wi-Fi or cellular connection. If you are a movie lover, a Blu-ray movie with dozens of gigabytes can be downloaded in a second. Furthermore, 5G will have up to 10x lower latency and up to 100x higher coverage. It is able to solve the biggest problem of 4G that is poor coverage and reduced speed at crowded locations such as big festivals or stadiums. In other practical applications, 5G is needed for the development and use of virtual reality, self-driving cars, remote surgery and a touchy-feely internet. But meanwhile, devices must develop along with the technology of 5G. For example, current smartphones are not able to support the 5G technology even if Verizon plans to launch the 5G mobile network service in the next year.
I am excited to see the 5G revolution in the near future. How about you? Do you think what kinds of revolution the 5G network will bring to our lives or change the current industries?
Sources:
http://fortune.com/2018/09/11/verizon-launching-5g-home-broadband-service-oct-1/
https://www.networkworld.com/article/3289550/techology-business/5g-more-than-just-a-wireless-upgrade.html
https://www.cnet.com/news/5g-not-just-speed-fifth-generation-wireless-tech-lets-you-do-vr-self-driving-cars-drones-remote/
Hi Yuan, thank you for your interesting post! I’ve recently heard about this new technology and I found it fascinating reading about it. I’m as excited as you for this upcoming revolution. 5G will be fundamental for making our lives and our cities smarter. In this sense, for me it’s stimulating the fact that 5G’s higher coverage could help reduce the probability of losing connection (a crucial problem for the self- driving car systems). Nevertheless, there are also some issues linked especially to 5G’s costs in some countries. In my country, Italy, for example, there has been a great debate about the Government’s auction for the different frequencies of this new technology. The main concern regards the massive amount of investments needed. In a phase where the profit margins for the operators are decreasing, it is not clear if the companies of the sector will be able to afford this expenditure. This scenario could limit the possibilities of the 5G technology which could be essential for our economic growth.