[Ohio-talk] What It Will Mean To Have 5G

[milenacleve at roadrunner.com]

Greetings,

An article about 5g that appeared in the New York Times in early 
January.  I thought you might be interested to know what this upgrade will do to technology.
 
What Is 5G? Here’s What You Need to Know About the New Network 
The transition to new fifth-generation cellular networks, known as 5G, will 
affect how you use smartphones and many other devices. Let’s talk about the 
essentials. 
In 2019, a big technology shift will finally begin. It’s a once-in-a-decade 
upgrade to our wireless systems that will start reaching mobile phone users in a 
matter of months. 
But this is not just about faster smartphones. The transition to new 
fifth-generation cellular networks — known as 5G for short — will also affect 
many other kinds of devices, including industrial robots, security cameras, 
drones and cars that send traffic data to one another. This new era will leap 
ahead of current wireless technology, known as 4G, by offering mobile internet 
speeds that will let people download entire movies within seconds and most 
likely bring big changes to video games, sports and shopping. 
Officials in the United States and China see 5G networks as a competitive edge. 
The faster networks could help spread the use of artificial intelligence and 
other cutting-edge technologies. 
Expect to hear more about 5G soon at events like the MWC Barcelona (formerly the 
Mobile World Congress) in February in Spain. Wireless service providers 
including AT&T and Verizon are already talking up 5G. And device makers are 
previewing gadgets that will work with the technology. 
 [5G was one of the main themes at this year’s CES, the world’s most important 
tech conference.] 
Samsung recently demonstrated prototypes of 5G smartphones that are expected to 
operate on both Verizon and AT&T networks. Many other manufacturers are racing 
to follow suit, though Apple is not expected in the initial 5G wave. Analysts 
predict that iPhones with the new technology won’t arrive until 2020. An Apple 
spokeswoman declined to comment. 
Here’s what you need to know. 
What exactly is 5G? 
Strictly speaking, 5G is a set of technical ground rules that define the 
workings of a cellular network, including the radio frequencies used and how 
various components like computer chips and antennas handle radio signals and 
exchange data. 
Since the first cellphones were demonstrated in the 1970s, engineers from 
multiple companies have convened to agree on new sets of specifications for 
cellular networks, which are designated a new technology generation every decade 
or so. To get the benefits of 5G, users will have to buy new phones, while 
carriers will need to install new transmission equipment to offer the faster 
service. 
[One of China’s biggest tech companies is at the center of the fight over the 
future of 5G.] 
How fast will 5G be? 
The answer depends on where you live, which wireless services you use and when 
you decide to take the 5G plunge. 
Qualcomm, the wireless chip maker, said it had demonstrated peak 5G download 
speeds of 4.5 gigabits a second, but predicts initial median speeds of about 1.4 
gigabits. That translates to roughly 20 times faster than the current 4G 
experience. 
 
The 5G speeds will be particularly noticeable in higher-quality streaming video. 
And downloading a typical movie at the median speeds cited by Qualcomm would 
take 17 seconds with 5G, compared with six minutes for 4G. 
Rather than remembering to download a season of a favorite TV show before 
heading to the airport, for example, you could do it while in line to board a 
plane, said Justin Denison, a Samsung senior vice president. 
Is that the only speed that matters? 
No. There’s another kind of speed, a lag known as latency, that may become even 
more important with 5G. 
Issue a command now on a smartphone — like starting a web search — and the 
response isn’t exactly immediate. A lag of 50 to several hundred milliseconds is 
common, partly because signals often must pass between different carrier 
switching centers; 5G, which uses newer networking technology, was designed to 
reduce latency down to a few milliseconds. It was also designed to deliver 
signals more reliably than earlier cellular networks, which today frequently 
drop bits of data that aren’t essential for tasks like watching movies on a 
phone. 
That improvement could bring many benefits, notably in fields such as virtual 
reality. The highest-quality VR applications now typically require bulky 
headsets that are connected by wire to nearby personal computers that generate 
3-D images. With 5G, that would be off-loaded wirelessly to other machines, 
freeing users to move and making it easier to develop goggles the size of 
eyeglasses, said Cristiano Amon, president of Qualcomm’s semiconductor business. 
In the related field of augmented reality, people could point a smartphone 
camera at a football game and see both live video on the display and 
superimposed player statistics or other data, said Patrick Moorhead, an analyst 
at Moor Insights & Strategy. 
And 5G’s impact extends to medicine and other fields that increasingly rely on 
high-speed connections. 
“If you talk about remote surgery or connected cars, you don’t want latency 
times to be too long,” said Fredrik Jejdling, an executive vice president at 
Ericsson, a maker of cellular equipment. 
When will 5G be here? 
The answer for smartphone users in the United States appears to be by the second 
quarter of 2019; precise timing is uncertain. 
AT&T has actually switched on its mobile 5G service in 12 cities, with seven 
more targeted in its initial rollout plan. But smartphones aren’t ready yet for 
a direct connection to 5G networks. So AT&T will initially market a 5G hot-spot 
device, made by Netgear, that can funnel wireless broadband connections to 
nearby phones and computers using Wi-Fi. 
Andre Fuetsch, president of AT&T Labs and the carrier’s chief technology 
officer, said the first Samsung smartphones for AT&T’s 5G network will be 
available in the first half of 2019. 
Verizon is already selling a 5G-branded service — based on its own variant of 
the technology — to provide wireless internet connections to homes in limited 
parts of Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles and Sacramento. The carrier predicts 
that it will begin serving smartphone users in the first half of 2019, without 
identifying cities or specific timing. 
[Who decides where 5G cell service will go?] 
Sprint said it might also switch on a 5G service first for smartphones in 2019, 
initially targeting nine American cities. Its prospective merger partner, 
T-Mobile, has stressed a nationwide 5G launch in 2020, but said it was 
installing gear in 30 cities that would be ready when 5G smartphones appeared in 
2019. 
Countries expected to follow the United States with 2019 rollouts of 5G include 
Britain, Germany, Switzerland, China, South Korea and Australia, according to a 
timetable compiled by Qualcomm. 
ADVERTISEMENT 
[In the 5G race, the United States is pushing its allies to fight back against 
China’s Huawei.] 
Will consumers see the full benefits of 5G? 
Verizon and AT&T will introduce their 5G offerings with the first use of high 
frequencies that are known by the phrase “millimeter wave.” Using this, the 
wireless providers can pump data at high speeds, but the signals don’t travel as 
far. So the two carriers are expected to first target densely populated areas — 
“parts or pockets” of cities, as AT&T’s Mr. Fuetsch put it. 
Sprint and T-Mobile plan to start with lower frequencies. The result may be 
somewhat slower initial speeds but broader range, said Michael Thelander, 
president of Signals Research, a wireless consultancy. 
Still, 5G’s full benefits aren’t expected until American carriers upgrade key 
central switching equipment, which may not happen until late 2019 or sometime in 
2020. 
So should I buy a smartphone that works with 5G right away? 
A consumer study sponsored by Intel in August found that 58 percent of Americans 
were not knowledgeable about 5G or had not heard of it, though another survey in 
December by the chip maker indicated solid demand once the benefits were 
explained. 
Confusion actually could increase over the short term because of some technical 
details. 
You have a lot to consider. For example, while Verizon and AT&T plan to later 
add 5G services based on lower frequencies that offer wider coverage, the first 
5G handsets may not work with those portions of their networks. So the reach of 
5G signals for those phones may remain limited. 
“I wouldn’t buy a 5G phone until it supports 5G in one of the lower-frequency 
bands,” Mr. Thelander said. “For all operators but Sprint, this means at least 
late 2019, and more likely 2020.” 
A version of this article appears in print on Jan. 1, 2019, on Page B1 of the 
New York edition with the headline: What 5G Will Mean When It Arrives This Year.