5G vs. G.fast transmission
5G will be revolutionary
‘5G‘ refers to the next, fifth generation of wireless connectivity. This is one of those sweeping technological innovations that holds great potential for creating new jobs, new industries and changing our personal day-to-day lives. 5G will include more than an increase in speed because it encompasses revolutionary improvements in wireless broadband that will cascade into major changes in business and everyday life. I’ll share more information about this in the post.
5G will further erode geographic and other divisions to provide unprecedented speed with continuous connectivity for billions of business and other devices. For example, much faster chip speed will approach 1.5 gigabits per second (faster than Google Fiber), and eventually even higher. Some foresee increases to terabits per second, now limited to fiber optics.
5G will probably launch in 2018, but standards have yet to be defined
However, no formal standards have yet been set for 5G by industry bodies like the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and full launch for high-tech countries probably won’t come until 2018, global availability coming in subsequent years. The greatest remaining challenge for 5G is ensuring reliable bandwidth over longer distances.
G.fast, another blazing fast transmission technology to launch in 2017
G.fast is an acronym for Fast Access to Subscriber Terminals, scheduled for U.S. launch in early 2017 within limited markets. Based on Israeli chipmaker Sckipio technology, it will be 50 times faster than current average wire-based broadband speeds. Of critical importance, it will work over telephone wires and coaxial cables already installed in your home or apartment. This will provide major cost savings while discouraging further investment in fiberoptic cable installation (according to one estimate this can cost up to $100K for just one home). Fiber optic’s declining competitive advantage will accelerate when G.fast eventually introduces speeds up to 1.5 gigabytes per second, faster than Google Fiber currently offers.
AT&T is planning on deploying G.fast because it integrates well with their DirecTV satellite TV service. This will pave the way for DirecTV customers to move away from expensive internet cable and slow phone line DSL.
Next, I’ll describe some dramatic applications for 5G technology.
A revolution in technology with life-changing application
5G’s amazing tech advancements
When will 5G technology be launched? Estimates vary from 2018 to 2020 and beyond. It’s going to be worth the wait, however, because once that happens, the entire globe will become a unified wi-fi zone with speeds up to 10 Gbps, latency of 1 millisecond, individual user connectivity for 10-100 devices, longer battery life and up to 90% reduction in energy use.
Before getting too excited, however, we need to understand that 5G will be implemented in progressive stages, much later in much of the world than 2020. This is because of lagging tech infrastructure/support in most areas. In addition, many devices will not be 5G capable, so will need to be replaced at significant cost. Finally, there are security and privacy issues that still need to be resolved.
What this means for you and your business
Eventually, 5G will create a unified global transmission standard with universal network availability, significantly enhancing mobile device functionality. Furthermore, 5G IPv6 technology means that IP addresses will be based on one’s network and geographic position. Also, different radio technologies will be able to share the same spectrum more efficiently and at higher altitudes.
Other breakthroughs will include—
- Parallel services, e.g., talking with a person and having visibility of their weather and location at the same time;
- Being able to monitor people more easily—of clear benefit in locating missing persons and finding criminals, with the downside of authoritarian governments finding it even easier to track and control their citizens;
- High resolution, bi-directional bandwidth; and
- Easier overall management.
Epoch industry advancements
Autonomous car connectivity
Almost every day, we see news and tech videos of driverless cars, some of which are already semi-autonomous. With a 5G connection, your car will be able to estimate your time of arrival at a destination, taking the best possible route based on traffic data it gleaned from roads and other cars. This will help reduce driving error and begin to reduce highway fatalities, now at 1.3 million every year. Vehicles will be guided by sensors embedded within the infrastructure—to buildings and pedestrian smartphones, for example, generating data transmitted to the cloud, analyzed, and then sent back to cars within milliseconds. Traffic lights will be adjusted to help to reduce congestion.
A wealth of actionable data for private sector industries and governments
This greatly accelerated device-network connectivity will give governments the data required to more quickly greenlight infrastructure and other projects. It will also provide private industries the information they need to more quickly evaluate new designs for manufacturing, upgrade physical and virtual systems, etc.
HCI + 5G will vastly improve health care delivery
We will experience the benefits of major advances in health care delivery —e.g., with 5G, a doctor would be able to diagnose and treat a patient in a remote location. In addition, then be an unprecedented synergy between blazing 5G connectivity speed and computer-based Augmented Decision Making medical insights that will help reduce the rates and prevalence of disease.
