Unpacking 5G

Have any of these happened to you?

• A colleague says that “5G can solve that!” 
• You read “This new feature will require 5G.”
• Advertisement declares “5G can do this!”

For each of the situations above, if you’re a little unclear on how 5G fits into each of them, please read on. We’re writing this to help people understand the background, context, and goals of 5G.

Some might ask, “What does 5G even mean in the first place?” 5G is the 5th generation of cellular networks, building on technology that has been around since the first cellular network was launched in 1983. The first 3 generations of cellular networks were mainly designed to cater to voice and text transmissions, with data transmission being measured in kilobytes per second. The 4th generation (4G) was designed to support rising data transmission rates caused by people using their phones for gaming, video, etc., with data transmission being measured in megabytes per second.

The goals and design of 5th generation cellular networks are influenced by the rapidly rising levels of cellular data consumption across the globe. In order to support data-intensive cellular applications like video, live streaming, and gaming, networks need to be upgraded and expanded. The ultimate goal of 5G is to achieve cellular connectivity on par with the fixed-line service you get at home, meaning gigabyte per second connectivity from your phone.

If you use a cell phone, 5G will affect you. If you run a business, 5G will affect you and your customers. Regardless of your profession, we believe everyone should be better equipped with basic 5G knowledge in order to have good conversations with colleagues and customers alike. Without this fundamental knowledge, it becomes much harder to have meaningful conversations on 5G or capitalize on the opportunities it presents.

Now that we’ve covered the context behind 5G, let’s explore the major benefits it delivers, and how they’ll impact our way of life.

There are three major benefits of 5G, namely enhanced mobile broadband and capacity enhancements, massive connectivity enabling ubiquitous IoT coverage, and highly reliable low latency service. Let’s dive into what exactly those mean.

1. Enhanced Mobile Broadband / Capacity Enhancements

As we all consume more and more data via our cell phones, the capacity of our cellular networks needs to expand to carry all that data. Imagine virtual pipes, transmitting and receiving so much information that they might burst – and sometimes they do! In mobile networks, poor capacity is experienced as great coverage with extremely slow service or “5 bars of nothing”. As we move to 5G, the twin goals of increased speed and increased density require a huge increase in network capacity to deliver the promised performance. Expanding those virtual pipes means more cellular antennae and more cables connecting those antennae to where the information is processed (most likely a data center).

2. Massive IoT / Massive Connectivity

Enabling many more applications and people with cellular service requires mobile networks to support a level of device density that is rarely seen today outside of stadiums. The architects of 5G, knowing that mobile operators cannot blanket a country with stadium class infrastructure, have addressed device density in it. 5G utilizes new protocols for data transmission and massive MiMo antennae, which can connect to significantly more devices than existing antennae. These network advances enable 5G networks to be efficient as possible.

3. Low Latency / Ultra-High Reliability and Low Latency   

Latency is the round-trip time between two systems such as your cellphone and the Google servers. The lower the latency, the quicker you get the results from your search. While everyone can get behind their apps loading more quickly, low latency has other important benefits. Imagine this: in a remote surgery scenario, the feedback to the surgeon must be as immediate as possible to ensure that the surgeon’s actions are not slowed or limited by network latency. 5G is architected to deliver a substantially lower latency to be able to support these applications.

Ultra-high reliability is targeted at increasing the availability of 5G so that self-driving cars or other industrial machines and processes can be implemented with a higher degree of assurance – 5G is a network that is built to support the technology of the future.

So in summary, what is 5G and why is it important? As mentioned, 5G is the 5th generation of cellular networks, and is built to support the massive levels of data we consume via our phones. 5G isn’t just allowing us to browse more quickly on our phones – it’s also built to enable technologies like IoT, self-driving cars, and remote surgery. When you’re considering how 5G will impact our daily lives, think of what the world will look like in 10 years. Without building highly reliable low latency 5G networks now, that world wouldn’t be possible.