5G - All You Need To Know About This Network Technology

5G stands for the 5th Generation Network. This is the latest mobile network technology just after 4G and also the fastest amongst all network generations.

Just as computers have generations which evolve from time to time, same as computer internet networks.

5G made Internet connectivity more accessible to everyone, devices and systems, it also increased the speed at which internet commands are sent and received.

As an upgrade network type, technology features from 4G can also be found on 5G as they both have similar network principles which advancement found in 5G. This includes an increase in the GHz from 3GHz which 4G networks use to a quantum leap of 100GHz upwards.

Brief description of the network Generation types.

1G. The first generation network was introduced in the mid 1980s and it came with a capacity support of delivering analogue voice signals over its network. 

2G network. This was invented a few years after the coming of 1G and it had an advancement of the way voice signals were transferred over networks. 2G introduced CDMA thus opening the floor for 3G.

3G network. 3G which is still very much in use in devices today brought data connectivity to devices allowing devices to connect on the internet with ease. It was during this era that web 2 came into existence and social networking sites began to develop.

4G. Early 2010 ushered us into the era of mobile broadband internet, the era of 4G network and all its derivatives. This network was much faster than 3G and is still widely used today.

Faults of the older network Generation, 3G and 4G especially gave rise to 5G which came into use in the early months of 2019.

The core differences are their speed differences. 

The 1G network gives a speed of 2.4 Kilobytes per second.

The 2G network offers an average speed of 64 KBps that runs on GSM technology.

A 3G network offers an average speed range of about 144 KBps-2 MBps and a 4G network which runs on LTE technology has a speed of about 100 Mbps to 1 Gigabytes per second.

Features of 5G.

•‍ Speed and Latency: 

The time it takes for a response to be gotten over a 5G network is amazingly fast and smooth, thus, making a 5G network device good for complex internet activity like Augmented Reality(AR)

• Enhancement of Broadband on mobile devices:

5G came with an improvement of the speed at which mobile devices browse the net. This gives mobile devices the capacity to do more in a shorter period of time and it's an advantage for users who love multitasking with their mobile devices as they won't have to worry about their device lagging from slow downloads and uploads.

• More connections:

5G can come with support for multiple devices being connected together and running at the same time. Though 4G has a huge support for many devices at the same time, it's important that it can't be compared to how much 5G can support.

This is good news to the IoT industry that works on interconnected devices running simultaneously.

Cons of 5G.

• Coverage and Obstruction:

With an increase in industrial buildings and infrastructure, it's important to note that 5G technology will have issues covering large distances as it isn't capable of passing through building blocks, trees and thick materials. 

Few people who have been using 5G since it came into use have complained that it often cuts short from their router when they're moving around their house.

This is the only major con of 5G, the rest of them like availability in rural areas, are only a matter of time and it will be widely adopted globally, though that does not mean that older network types like 4G and 3G will become instantly redundant.

The issue of wide coverage can also be tackled by installing routers in strategic positions in buildings instead of relying on a central network to cover an area. 

Conspiracies surrounding 5G technology.

Covid-19: 5G came into use in 2019 the same year COVID-19 broke out in China. This caused wide controversies about 5G technology especially in rural and undeveloped areas and it caused a resistance to the adoption of the network in those areas.

This conspiracy has been proven to be false. 5G does not cause COVID.