The year 2020 has been a most unusual year with more than a fair share of anomalies. The biggest of them was the outbreak of the COVID-19 global pandemic which all but brought the world to its knees. Whole cities were locked down, economies halted, medical facilities overwhelmed. Covid-19 really did a number on us.
At the height of the whole COVID-19 hullabaloo, another wave of panic emerged. But this didn’t stem from the COVID-19 virus, at least not directly. It came from something one would have expected people to be excited about; 5G.
In a twitch, all manner of conspiracy theories flooded social media about the emerging 5G spectrum. When I say all manner, I mean from the sanest to the most bizarre. Sermons were even preached regarding the 5G and a few people went haywire.
But what really are the facts surrounding 5G? Is it good or bad? Is it dangerous or beneficial? Does it spell progress or doom? That’s what we will look at in this little discussion.
But first off, what is 5G. 5G stands for fifth-generation mobile internet. It is an upgrade, a major upgrade at that from 4G LTE (fourth-generation long term evolution) mobile internet. It was conceived by a few visionaries around 2012. The whole idea was to put 10 spacing between generations of mobile internet. Hence 4G came on the scenes in 2009 and 5G was rolled out in 2019.
As citizens of the 21st century, it is important that our opinions are guided by facts and not mere hearsay, conspiracy theories, or popular opinion. So, I’ll share with you a few amazing facts you should know about 5G.
Facts About 5G
5G is Pretty Safe.
Is 5G safe? Depending on who you ask, you could get a yes or a no. Some people consider it dangerous because of the radiation wavelength it uses. 5G runs on an ultra-high frequency and ultrahigh intensity. It doesn’t have as much penetration power and has a shorter wavelength, hence the need to have mini 5G towers about every 8 houses. But for a wave to be dangerous, it needs to be an ionizing wave of which 5G isn’t. So 5G is quite safe.
5G is Absolutely Rapid.
If you think the 4G spectrum is fast, you’re not wrong. The 4G spectrum operates at speeds of up to 100megabits per second. Compared to the 5G spectrum, however, 4G is a joke. Being about 100 times faster than the 4G, 5G operates at speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second and can go as high as 15 to 20 gigabits per second.
5G Has Much Lower Latency.
Latency is simply the time delay between when an order is given and when the execution takes place. The latency in 5G is 10 times less than that of 4G. This reduced latency will make it possible to remotely control industrial plants, logistics, surgical equipment, transport systems and infrastructure, and machinery. It will make things like automated driving and autonomous vehicles all the more possible.
5G Is Cloud Based.
The 5G network is such that data processing will now be less device-based and more cloud-based. This means that it will now be much more efficient to run software and app directly from the cloud. Movies, games, computing will be done on the cloud and streamed to your device.
5G is The Future.
Close your eyes and think of all the awesome sci-fi movies that you have ever seen. All of those futuristic smart gadgets, futuristic cities where everything is super smart. One thing makes all that possible and it’s data. Internet of Things requires a network that can transmit data at the speed of thought and that’s where 5G comes in.
The Internet of things is not a new concept. The whole idea of it is to make everything smart, houses, cars, streets, buildings, and have them talk to each other. This requires that a lot of sensors are connected to a central network and talk to each other. This entails enormous data transfer and that’s why we have 5G.
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