You might have heard of 2G and 3G and you've probably heard of 4G. But what in the world is 5G?
Manasa Lingireddy 10/5/18 Technology/AI 9:50 PM (PST)
Ever heard of 4G? Probably yes. The weird combination of a number and letter at the top left corner of your phone? Ever wonder it means? 4G stands for the fourth generation of cellular network. With the help of this technology, we are able to load websites and other applications in the matter of milliseconds! Crazy right? Well recently, companies such as T-Mobile and Sprint have promised to launch something even more advanced. You guessed it! 5G networking. Now, what does this all mean? What are the benefits? Will there be any harms? And how close are we to actually achieving 5G?
T-Mobile has recently announced that in 2019, it will be launching 5G technology in 30 different cities, ranging from New York to Los Angeles. This cellular network would work much more faster than what we have currently. 4G networking takes about 20 milliseconds to load a website, but 5G networking would be able to the same task in the matter of one millisecond.
Not only would it be faster, but there have been claims that 5G would allow people to stream virtual reality and attend 3D holographic video calls. Downloading things like TV shows and movies would happen at a much faster rate as well. In addition, 5G would make connectivity more reliable and prevent dropped calls. Battery life would improve drastically as well. Ever been in those situations where your phone had 5% and you needed it for something important but couldn’t use it? Well with 5G, you can say goodbye to those issues. 5G will improve battery life by ten times!
However, even thought 5G has its fair share of benefits, there are some harms. The way cellular networks work is through the use of airwaves. Higher frequencies means faster speed. But the issue with higher frequencies is that they will have a shorter range. Since 5G is very fast, it requires very high frequencies which means that the highspeed network would only work if your located within the short range. If you were to be further away, the connection would be very unstable. Because of this, 5G towers would need to be built everywhere. This means that the next time you open your front door, you might see a tower outside. However, the companies planning on releasing their technologies are trying to find different ways to solve this issue. There have also been some claims that there might be health issues involved. According to Environment Health Trust, documents from Wireless Companies state that radio frequency radiation near antennas will increase which essentially damages the DNA inside cells of humans leading to cancer and other health related issues.
Either way, 5G networking will become a reality in a year or two. All of us will probably have to buy new phones specifically designed for 5G since 4G won’t work. It is hard to say if there are more benefits than harms or vice versa. But despite this controversy, we will continue seeing huge technological advancements in the years to come. Maybe even 6G :)
Sources:
“T-Mobile Building Out 5G in 30 Cities This Year …and That’s Just the Start.” T-Mobile, 26 Feb. 2018, www.t-mobile.com/news/mwc-2018-5g.
Mike Elgan. “Why 5G Will Dissapoint Everyone.” COMPUTERWORLD, 29 Sept. 2018, www.computerworld.com/article/3310067/mobile-wireless/why-5g-will-disappoint-everyone.html.
Wray, Sarah, and James Rogerson. “5G For Business: How Will 5G Benefit Businesses?” 5G.Co.uk, 5g.co.uk/guides/5g-benefits-for-businesses/.
Cheng, Roger. “The 5G Revolution Is Coming. Here's Everything You Need to Know.” Cnet, 27 Sept. 2018, www.cnet.com/how-to/the-5g-revolution-is-coming-heres-everything-you-need-to-know/ .
About the Author
Manasa Lingireddy is a sophomore at Interlake High School in Bellevue, Washington. She is passionate about Artificial Intelligence and fascinated by the latest technological innovations in today's society. Manasa has taken many tech classes such as Robotics and AP CS. In her free time, she loves to program and hike!
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