HOW NETWORKS OPERATE

A mobile network is divided into cells where each phone is connected to exactly one cell at any given time (hence the name ‘cell phone’)

Each cell is operated by a cell tower on which a wireless transceiver base station is mounted. The base station maintains a wireless connection to all active phones in its cell

When a person speaks into her cell phone, radio waves from it travel through the air to a nearby cell tower, from where they are further transmitted

When the user and the phone move to another cell, the base stations perform an exchange called a ‘handover’

Though 5G networks mostly rely on 4G and 4G LTE (long-term evolution network, used to transmit wireless data at a faster rate compared to 3G) towers now, telcos are working to develop standalone 5G networks

These networks are based on a few core concepts such as:

Millimeter waves or extremely high-frequency radio waves that give mobile devices gigabyte-plus speeds over short distances

Beamforming or high-precision antenna arrays capable of directing wireless signals to individual devices

MIMO (multipleinput, multipleoutput) transmitters designed to deliver wireless data to devices at a much higher capacity

While 4G uses radio towers to deliver both phone services and wireless internet to mobile devices, 5G incorporates new technology and higher radio frequencies. Both use more base stations to deliver faster speeds in a quicker response time