鈥淚 want 5G鈥� in the United States as soon as possible,鈥� . The US president isn鈥檛 the only one buying into the hype around the fifth generation of wireless technology. At last week鈥檚 mobile technology event MWC Barcelona, we were promised blisteringly quick download speeds and a mini industrial revolution powered by zippier data. Naturally, you will have to buy a new phone.
鈥淚t is being positioned as all things to everybody, the Swiss army knife of the mobile world鈥�
Perhaps Trump is worried about being left behind: the world鈥檚 first commercial 5G network is being , while US providers aren鈥檛 expected to launch services until later this year. The technology has聽also become part of the US鈥檚 trade war with China. The Trump administration is extending a ban聽on 5G kit made by Chinese firm Huawei, citing national security concerns. Huawei, in turn, is expected to sue the US government this week to overturn聽the ban.
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But hang on. What even is 5G, and what is it going to mean for you? If you have heard about it before, you have probably got some sense that 5G is meant to be faster than 4G, the current mobile internet service that lets us stream video on the go or Instagram our every move.
鈥淚t is being positioned as all things to everybody, the Swiss army knife of the mobile world,鈥� says Simon Forrest at market research firm Futuresource.
In reality, 5G is a collection of different technologies developing at their own pace, some of which won鈥檛 be much faster than existing networks.
In basic terms, there are three main types of 5G, operating at low, medium and high frequencies. The latter is just what it sounds like: an electromagnetic signal broadcast at very high frequencies of over 24 gigahertz. That means data transfer of at least 1000 megabits per second (Mbps), or 50 times as fast as the average 4G speed in the UK.
That ultra-fast signal could be useful if you wanted to, say, connect .
But that high frequency means the signal doesn鈥檛 spread out easily over a wide area, because the tightly packed electromagnetic wave is narrower and less free to bend or diffract.
That means lots of mobile masts would have to be dotted around the stadium to connect everyone up 鈥� perhaps 200 to allow 50,000 people to stream HD video at once. This would be too expensive to do across wider spaces such as cities.
The medium frequency variant of 5G, operating at 3 to 6 gigahertz, would offer speeds of around 100 Mbps or more. This is still faster than 4G and the signal would cover a wider area than high frequency 5G.
In Europe, low frequency 5G will broadcast at around 700 megahertz, but may vary elsewhere, and exactly how it will be used is still a matter of debate. Some see it as enabling far-reaching coverage for a 5G network, although data speeds at those lower frequencies might not beat 4G.
Marketing buzzword
So 5G is really a marketing buzzword that masks a complex mix of technologies that could leave people confused when they buy a new phone. Worse still, countries are free to choose from a range of frequencies for their 5G services, so a smartphone that gives you 5G at home might not do so on holiday. Addressing this problem is crucial, , but progress has been slow.
There is an even bigger elephant in the 5G room, though: who actually needs it? William Webb, a former director at UK telecoms regulator Ofcom and author of The 5G Myth, says he has yet to hear a convincing answer. For smartphone users, a significantly faster connection speed may be pointless. If your phone is slow when browsing the web or streaming a movie, it is more likely to be down to limited hardware than network issues.
鈥淎ll of the applications that we use are no longer limited by the connection speed,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e limited by the processor on the device or the far-end server.鈥�
While you could, hypothetically, use 5G to download vast amounts of data remotely 鈥� an entire TV series, perhaps 鈥� it is unclear that anyone would want to.
That is why some 5G proponents are pinning their hopes on commercial, rather than consumer, applications. Brendan O鈥橰eilly, chief technology officer at Telef贸nica UK, says 5G will fundamentally change the way businesses use data.
Telef贸nica UK, which operates the O2 mobile network, will be rolling out by the end of the year. These won鈥檛 be networks for smartphone users, but small-scale tests for businesses.
O2 is already involved with a 5G trial being run at Worcester Bosch. The UK firm has installed a private 5G network in its factory, which churns out more than a quarter of a million boilers every year and has nearly 100 industrial machines at work.
Chief executive Carl Arntzen says the network allows the firm to connect sensors to its machines and monitor them in real time. This allows any slips in quality to be caught before they create problems down the assembly line. Arntzen says the 5G network is intended to handle these huge data streams better than a Wi-Fi or 4G equivalent, but it isn鈥檛 clear if that is actually the case 鈥� it is 鈥渆arly days鈥� for the trial, he says.
Arntzen isn鈥檛 alone in pondering the benefits of high-speed wireless coverage in offices and factories. A found that a majority of companies outside North America felt identifying a business case for 5G was the main challenge facing the technology. Although respondents expected applications to emerge in the next few years, these clearly haven鈥檛 arrived yet.
鈥淵ou could use 5G to download vast amounts of data, but it鈥檚 not clear that anyone would want to鈥�
Another area supposedly ripe to benefit from 5G is healthcare. The Rush University Medical Center in Chicago is . It thinks doing so will save money in the long-run and allow it to connect up older equipment.
Meanwhile, a trial in Liverpool, UK, is testing communications devices in people鈥檚 homes that allow health visits to be carried out remotely. Instead of speaking in the flesh with a health professional, the individual talks into a speaker-shaped smart device equipped with a high-resolution 4K camera.
鈥淚f somebody鈥檚 got a rash on their skin, they can show it to the pharmacist on the video,鈥� says Rosemary Kay, director at E-Health Cluster, which is running the trial.
In this case, the devices themselves lack 5G chips, but instead use Wi-Fi to connect to routers on nearby street lights. Those, in turn, broadcast a 5G signal operated by AIMES, a cloud service spun out of the University of Liverpool. The idea is to provide trial participants, who are often older people with no mobile or internet network connection, a smooth way of transferring lots of data, which is crucial for 4K video.
But Webb says it would probably be simpler to connect those in-home devices with traditional broadband internet and Wi-Fi instead. 鈥淚f they haven鈥檛 got it, frankly, give it to them,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hat is going to be cheaper.鈥�
Don鈥檛, then, believe all the hype. If a mobile internet revolution is afoot, it is certainly looking suspiciously slow. Many would argue we actually already had such a revolution 鈥� it was called 4G.
The 5G conspiracy
New 5G networks are barely on the streets, but that hasn鈥檛 stopped the rise of baseless conspiracy theories. 鈥淭hese towers are weaponry,鈥� a YouTuber incorrectly insists in a video with nearly 1 million views, as he attempts to 鈥渆xpose鈥� mobile networks and 5G as a government-designed 鈥渒ill grid鈥� poised to harm people en masse.
In some cities, people have scrawled anti-5G graffiti on phone boxes or mobile masts. While research continues to be carried out on any possible effects of electromagnetic radiation on human health in certain scenarios, there is .
The anti-5G conspiracy theorists are themselves a symptom of the hype and uncertainty surrounding the technology, says psychologist Oliver Mason at the University of Surrey, UK, who has studied technophobia.
Paranoia is bound to creep in when change is promised, especially when the details or potential consequences of that change are unclear, he says. 鈥淭echnology is a lovely breeding ground as we鈥檝e got pretty much no idea what is possible.鈥�
