TLTP
New York
Fifth-generation (5G) networking hype has been in full force since Qualcomm Inc declared “5G is here, and it’s time to celebrate” in February of last year.
The reality, however, has required patience from consumers due to the time needed to roll out the new networks and the dearth of applications to put additional speed to compelling use, Bloomsburg reported.
Tests in Hong Kong and Tokyo showed similar results – gaps in coverage that could leave most early adopters waiting for networks to reach full speed.
Smartphone makers have swept in with a flood of 5G devices this year, with Samsung Electronics Co., Huawei Technologies Co. and Xiaomi Corp. all pushing the new technology without asking for much higher prices or design compromises. Millions of 5G phones have already been sold, and for the billions of people not yet on the bandwagon, the new wireless standard will soon be the default option anyway.
Carriers aren’t moving quite as fast. They’re investing billions of dollars to set up and expand their 5G networks, but the technical design of this new standard demands high network density to provide the advertised stratospheric speeds. Once they have enough masts in place, they aim to recoup the initial costs by offering more bandwidth-hungry add-ons, such as Nvidia’s GeForce Now game-streaming service, which SoftBank Corp. launched in Japan on June 10.
Where it’s available, even without hitting its max theoretical speeds, 5G is an impressive upgrade for most consumer applications. For example, at a gigabit per second (1Gbps), a user could download a 9-hour audiobook in less than 1 second, according to Fastmetrics, a U.S.-based internet service provider. Even at 1/10 of that speed, 100 megabits per second, a 45-minute TV show takes only 16 seconds, Fastmetrics estimates. TLTP
