5G is slowly rolling out across the UK with EE and Vodafone taking the lead. The next three to four years should see a rise in the use of 5G connectivity and devices made specially for the service. But what is 5G and how will it impact the future of connectivity?
5G is the next stage of mobile wireless technology. Stronger and faster than the 4G service currently used by most, it promises quicker download speeds, better congestion management, and lower latencies (the time between information sending and delivering). Essentially, 5G aims to act more like a WiFi connection than a mobile network.
Most of what we know about 5G's capabilities is just estimates. It could be 100x faster than 4G but early 5G experiences have struggled to achieve this, with 5G disconnecting in favour of a 4G service. This is because, unlike the radio towers used for 4G which can cover dozens of square miles, the 5G millimeter-wave (a high-frequency radio wave being used for the first time in mobile networks) struggles to cover a city block. Currently, there are only nine UK cities with 5G capability, including London, Manchester, and Edinburgh.
Despite the present issues with 5G, the process of rolling out a new mobile network connection is set to take several years as mass construction of new radio towers must take place to handle the rise in supported devices and transferred data. Later this year, 12 more cities will be added to the roster of 5G hosts, including Blackpool, Reading, Southampton and more...
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