What makes 5G better and different?

Let us look.

 What is 5G?

 5G stands for 5th generation technology for broadband cellular networks.

5G started its rollout in some parts of the world in 2019.

Eventually 5G is set to replace 4G, though this will likely take some time. Though I doubt it won’t take as long as 4G (That’s 4th Generation or LTE) The reason being the basic infrastructure is partly in place.

5G will have to use higher frequency radio waves. This means the distance the radio waves are shorter. This means smaller cells will have to be set up.  How that all works is a bit technical for this article, Only to say up to 3 frequency bands will be used. The frequency bands are important to provide download speeds verses the distance to the cell.

 As usual the cellular network will be divided into small geographical areas

 called cells, connected to the internet and telephone network.

 One of the advertised features is the potential increase in speed up to 10 gigabits per second (Gbit/s) at least in theory. This is because 5G will have a much larger bandwidth.

Bandwidth is like a large water pipe the larger the diameter of the pipe the larger the water flow.

One of the many goals for 5G is to serve up a lot of data, and fast. This means new technology such as IoT (Internet of Things) Robotic Technology will be increasingly be possible  For internet streaming customers you will be able to stream over 8K video if not more.

To be able to use 5G all mobile devices will be equipped with 5G and of course will support LTE for the foreseeable future.

Now in 2021 a complete standalone version completely independent of 4G will require massive infrastructure building. New base stations would have to be built from the ground up. Remaining base stations would need antenna upgrades and service equipment changes, This is likely to cost billions over the coming decade. All current hardware is very, very expensive and is not widely available at this time.

 Is there a compromise solution ?

Yes,  It’s  known as the non-standalone version. Basically 5G must require LTE cell towers at your location this is known as the “Anchor” Or in very simple terms sending a file as an attachments via your email.

Currently 5G needs LTE because the data in the background is still processed via the 4G network.

As things stand right now 4G and 5G will work hand in hand, they depend on each other to function.

So now what?

In Germany 5G is being expanded using a technology called DSS, This stands for Dynamic Spectrum Sharing, Its all technical. For the end user all basically means the amount of data being used will be divided between LTE and 5G. You as an end user will benefit from best possible speeds.

 The advantage of Dynamic Spectrum Sharing is that small towns will benefit without new antennas.

The antenna can send out 4G and 5G this is known as technology neutral. Every provider can use the same technology. Its similar to Linux the licence provides open technology to be be used by anyone, any  distro. There are no licensing issues.

 At the moment for most customers  the speeds achievable with 5G are very similar to LTE.

However, in the long term speeds will increase massively by the use of 3.5 GHz, using a technology called beamforming. In simple terms new antenna will be able to move slightly ( Tilt ) to point to a certain location such as sports stadiums, rail stations, large shopping complexes.

The only issues holding 5G back is Bureaucracy ( far too much and complex in Germany  compared to the UK )  Another issue is financing, massive investment is needed.

I would hope in the future O2, Telekom and Vodafone will combine all resources possible and make the network open source without the need for proprietary technologies.