“5G” has been a hot topic around the world recently.
It’s at the center of America’s fight with China’s Huawei, which provides cellular equipment for wireless carriers around the globe
By The Way, what is 5G?
Put simply, 5G is a next-generation wireless network that will give you much faster internet connections. But, because of the way it works, it’s about to change the way lots of other things connect to the internet, too, like cars and TVs, and even things like connected lights on city streets.
Here’s what you need to know:
Connections are super fast
5G promises much faster network speeds, which means heavy-duty content like video should travel much more quickly to connected devices.
5G will change the way you get TV and internet at home
Right now, you probably have a cable wire running from the telephone poles on your street to your house. It might come in the attic and then, thanks to some drilling done by the cable guy, snakes its way from room to room connecting to cable boxes. Those cables also need to connect to a modem and/or router to provide wireless internet to your house. That means even if you “cut the cord” and ditch cable, you still need the same coaxial cable line for internet at home.
4G LTE is fast but not quite fast enough for an entire house of people to play games and stream 4K movies at the same time. It makes a poor replacement for wired broadband.
According to proponents, 5G will be fast enough for that, and you can forget the cords. It’s supposed to be just as reliable as the wired broadband internet you’re used to, and it could save you a lot of headaches.
What phones support it?
It’s still super early in 5G days for phones, but things are about to take off quickly.
Verizon and AT&T already have some 5G markets active, and Sprint and T-Mobile will begin rolling them out this year. Verizon is now selling the first 5G phone in the U.S. — the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G — in just two markets. Meanwhile, Sprint’s LG V50 ThinQ 5G launches on May 31 for its first markets.
AT&T isn’t selling a true 5G phone just yet, but it’s signed up to sell the Samsung Galaxy S10 5G later this year, as are T-Mobile and Sprint.
These are all Android phones, but Apple is expected to have its first 5G iPhone ready in 2020.
Trump says 5G is a race America must win by force
Even President Donald Trump is all in on 5G. In April, Trump said that 5G is a race that America “will win.” He said 92 5G markets will be up and running by the end of the year, which will be ahead of South Korea, which is said to have 48 live at the same time.
