4K Netflix. In the middle of
nowhere. That’s the sales
pitch for 5G networking.
But, as Jeremy Laird
discovered, 5G is going to
be much bigger than that...
A ZILLION INTERNET of Things devices all connected
at once. Lagless cloud-based gaming. Cable-free
connections for home Internet. Doctors operating
remotely on patient s. Smar t f ar ms. A n end to tr af fic
jams. A nd, yes, 10Gb/s in your pocket. All of that and
way, way more is the promise of 5G. If it delivers—
and it’s a big “if”—5G is going to change our lives.
Simply put, 5G is just the inevitable progression
of cellular wireless communication networks. It’s
the fifth such generation, hence the name. As for
5G’s sales pitch, it goes like this: 5G will be vastly
faster than previous networks; it will achieve
dramatically lower latencies; and it will support a
far larger number of devices connected in parallel.
The precise impact of all that will be complex.
Early demos of 5G technology involving multiple ©^NUBBLE
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ALKER^ ON^ UNSPLASHthe 5G dream
44 MAXIMUMPC SEP 2019 maximumpc.com