5G will bring “jaw-dropping” change
Vodafone’s roll-out of 5G to usher in a whole new era of mobile phone capability.
What is 5G - and why do you need it? Think of 5G, or fifth-generation mobile technology, as “fibre in your pocket,” says Vodafone New Zealand Technology Director Tony Baird.
If you’re lucky enough to have Ultrafast Broadband (UFB) fibre at home or work, you’ll remember the joy of super-fast internet, with no more worries about stuttering video as Netflix buffered, and the feeling you could suddenly do everything you wanted to online.
Baird asks people to imagine what it would be like to take that sort of ultrafast broadband with you, with a 5G-capable smartphone connected to a 5G mobile network.
If you’ve seen a photo of someone using a brick-size cell phone, back in the day, that’s an example of 1G (first-generation) mobile technology. In the 1990s, things got really high tech as text messaging was added to voice with 2G. In the 2000s, 3G technology brought mobile data, or the ability to email and browse the web from your phone.
In the 2010s came 4G, with boosted bandwidth for a world of “apps” and highdefinition video streaming. Fifth-generation mobile networks are already being rolled out in the US, Spain, Germany, Italy, South Korea, Australia - and now New Zealand, where Vodafone has at least a six-month jump on its rivals with a 5G rollout beginning in December.
“4G has pretty good data capabilities, but 5G takes it to a whole new level. It’s about massive bandwidth, very low latency, quick response times, but also the ability to do IoT (the Internet of Things), higher capacity data applications for industry, gaming and all sorts of things, so it’s really a massive leap on 4G.”
Baird says Vodafone’s initial 5G rollout will see speeds of around 300 megabits per second. In lay terms, that’s faster than most residential UFB fibre connections.
One Wall Street Journal tech reviewer reported downloading the whole new season of Netflix’s Stranger Things to a phone in 34 seconds.
4G and earlier mobile technologies have “latency” or slight lag with two-way connections (think a video call or multiplayer gaming) compared to a good landline broadband connection. 5G takes latency down to just a few milliseconds (thousandths of a second).
Almost zero latency for two-way connections coupled with massive bandwidth allows for jawdropping breakthroughs.
It’s why 5G has already been used for remote surgery and why Vodafone NZ was able to demonstrate the technology with a hologram call. But it also facilitates the expansion of services like fixed wireless or using a mobile network to supply broadband to a home or business as a total replacement for a landline.
5G also has a raft of network smarts that make it a better choice for everything from connecting various smart gadgets to the internet to specialist apps for areas like health, education and emergency services, which the Herald will be exploring over the coming weeks.
For those worried Vodafone’s early 5G rollout is just hype, Baird reels off the numbers: 100 cell sites in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown will be upgraded to 5G by December, plus 20 COWS (cell sites on wheels, used for boosting mobile reception at special events or holiday hotspots in peak season).
Over the next three years, 1400 cell sites will be upgraded to 5G for 94 per cent
Vodafone’s initial 5G rollout will see speeds of around 300 megabits per second. In lay terms, that’s faster than most residential UFB fibre connections.
coverage of the country by population.
To connect to a 5G mobile network, you do need a smartphone or tablet or other device that supports 5G. Here, we’ve seen the floodgates start to open.
Samsung and Huawei have already added 5G support to their top-shelf smartphones, and Apple recently bought Intel’s 5G business for US$1 billion, underlining its seriousness about the technology.
There’s no official timeline for a 5G iPhone but pundits are talking about July or August next year.