2019 ‘need to know’ David Court explains 5G and 100Mbps downloads
If there’s one piece of technology that’s head-andshoulders more exciting than anything else in 2019, it’s 5G.
This is the technology that will be powering driverless cars, the Internet of Things, virtual reality (if that ever happens). And yes, most importantly of all, making the download speeds of our smartphones even faster.
However, for most people, it’s still a bit of mystery. Here is everything you need to know about 5G. And why 2019 is such a bumper year for the technology.
The UN-backed standard
Yes, that UN. The United Nations actually has a hand in shaping the mobile technology we all use on a day-to-day basis. It’s called the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and it literally sets the rules for radio spectrum usage.
In 2017 the ITU published a draft report outlining the minimum requirements for 5G. Here are the three main points.–
1. Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB): Consumers must have faster and more reliable mobile broadband – guaranteeing data transmission rates of 100Mbps even when the signal is weak.
2. Ultra Reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC): 5G must have latency low enough to support real-time technologies. This is to support emerging technologies such as autonomous vehicles.
3. Massive Machine-Type Communications (mMTC): This use case is characterised by a very large number of connected devices typically transmitting a relatively low volume of non-delay-sensitive data. Devices are required to be low cost, and have a very long battery life.
5G speeds and standards
The ‘‘IMT for 2020 and beyond’’ report paved the way for the 3GPP – a partnership of seven telecommunications standard development organisations – to start creating actual standards for 5G.
3GPP published its NonStandalone Specifications in December 2017 and its Standalone Specifications in June 2018.
Both the standards are the same. The only difference is how they will deliver 5G.
Non-Standalone 5G can run on the spare bandwidth of existing LTE networks (that currently deliver 4G to our mobiles). This is likely to be a slower version of 5G.
Standalone 5G will use a totally new specifically-designed infrastructure.
Back in November, New Zealand’s security services banned Huawei – a world leader in 5G – from having a hand in shaping this.
3GPP standards for 5G
100 megabits per second (Mbps) real-world download speeds:
Mobile users should expect reliable connections capable of delivering 100 Mbps download speeds and 50 Mbps uploads.
20 gigabits (Gbps) per second is the transfer rate at base stations, but your actual download speed will depend on how many users are connected to your 5G base station.
But 5G will be able to efficiently handle more connected devices than 4G, however, as with all mobile technologies, the speeds it can transmit depends on the number of devices connected, and 5G base stations will be able to transmit data at a rate of 20 Gbps and receive data at 10 Gbps.
A million connected devices per square kilometre: This might sound like a massive number. But it’s a necessary one. If (or when) the Internet of Things takes off it will flood the world with millions of connected devices using 5G.
Work at speed: If you’ve ever tried to stream or download something in a car or on a train, you’ll know it’s an issue. This will improve with 5G.
Low latency: It should take nomore than four milliseconds for data to travel from one point to another in good conditions.
2019
Everything you’ve read above will land this year. This isn’t our war yet, though. The 5G battle is taking place on US soil.
Here in New Zealand, we’re not likely to see any sort of 5G until 2020. Which isn’t a terrible thing because there aren’t any devices capable of receiving a 5G signal at the moment.
They might launch at the Las Vegas Consumer Electronics Show next week, if we’re lucky. Failing that, Barcelona’s Mobile World Congress will almost definitely have several 5G mobiles on display.