Gadgetory

the buzz about 5g is everywhere the fifth generation of cellular technology it promises to be super crazy fast and it can change the future of technology as we know it and it's right around the corner but before we get caught up in all the hype let's rack up the facts and have some real talk about the expectations and I figure why not do that over a game of pool I'm Bridget Carey let's break it down go now the understand 5g first you gotta know a little history in the beginning cell phones were all about voice 2g brought texting 3G 4G that was boosting your internet speed 5g is the next stage and there are three angles to this upgrade first up is speed it could be ten to a hundred times faster than a typical cell network even faster than what most people get at home we're talking downloading a TV series in seconds it's also about connection density that means getting way more people and devices on the network without congestion problems and it's about eliminating latency that means there's no delay in the information getting to you we're talking a lag time of one millisecond that's as fast as a camera flash when you bring all these features together it means we could think differently about how we use the Internet it means self-driving cars can talk to each other on the road without delay there's gonna be way more gizmos and gadgets online tracking data and for you it'll be so smooth you can watch a live sports game in VR from anywhere there's a lot of potential but to build this world we need technology that can tap into a new section of the electromagnetic spectrum it sounds wild but it's not that complicated information is carried in airwaves all around us and the easiest way to think of the spectrum is to break it down in a line now most of the technology we use today is in the lower end we're talking radio waves TV signals microwaves and what the cellular networks are using now on the high end that's where you got your visible light UV light x-rays the higher you go in frequency the faster speed you can achieve and there's this section of frequency that's higher than anything we're using right now we're gonna pluck from that to get 5g it's called millimeter wave but it comes with its challenges millimeter wave can be kind of finicky it doesn't do well with obstacles in the way like buildings or trees I mean even a leaf can get in the way and it can cause interference to get around this carriers can beam signals in specific direction targeting customers directly or sometimes that means pulling a trick shot where the signal bounces around obstacles to get to you millimeter is fast but it doesn't travel as far let's say this dart is a typical cell phone tower it disperses a signal to a wide area but with 5g the signal doesn't cover as much you need many more cell sites to cover the same space more antennas all over the place on street signs and lampposts and rooftops wireless companies will have to install hundreds of thousands more antennas all over they're also trying to cram more antennas on existing cell towers this is a messy project and it costs a lot plus you got neighborhoods upset about how ugly it looks to have antennas everywhere and people are concerned about the health consequences of having all of these high frequency beams all around us now the first 5g networks are rolling out over the next two years but the 5g you get may not even be the technology I'm describing here some carriers are just boosting their 4G networks and calling them 5g and the speed you get really depends on the wavelength that's used it's complicated and that's even if you have a device that can tap into 5g speeds 5g holds a lot of promise but it's a challenging path to get there so the next time you're buying a phone and you hear all that cool marketing lingo consider this I wouldn't want you to get hustled thanks for watching and a big thanks to society billiards in bar in New York City for letting us have fun with 5g so let me know in the comments what you want to see me break down next and be sure to do that thing that's so dandy like subscribe ring the bell you know the drill thanks guys