Photo: Verizon
If you’re a college student in 2018, I think you can agree that you see technology everywhere in the classroom. Projectors, desktop computers, laptops, TV’s, and cell phones. Speaking of cell phones, have you heard about the new 5G technology soon to be released in 2019 by phone carriers such as Verizon and New T-Mobile? Well if you haven’t, I think the next question that comes to mind is, what exactly is 5G?
If you’ve seen a cell phone company commercial before, you’ve probably heard them say something along the line of “switch to us (insert carrier name) for our lightning fast 4G networks…” Except do any of you really know what 4G or 5G means? Let me break this down for you.
5G stands for the fifth generation of wireless technology. Simply put by the phone carrier Verizon, “5G will provide more speed, data transfer rates many times faster than a blink of an eye, massive bandwidth and greater opportunities for connectivity and reliability. One way to quantify the difference is in terms of download speeds.” In simpler terms, 5G will have greater speeds to move more data, be more responsive, and be able to connect to many devices at once compared to the 4G network currently being used.
Why should we care?
The technology around us seems to be changing almost at a blink of an eye. Remember the flip phone? Yeah, me neither (just kidding, my first cell phone was a flip phone). About the only thing you could do at the time (with a flip phone) was call your mom for a ride home. Now look at the smartphones we have in our hands today. They can access the internet, make phone calls, send text messages, use apps to order up a pizza, amongst many other possible uses. The list goes on and on. With our smartphones, augmented reality (AR) is a capability we have at our fingertips with applications like Snapchat, using their filters; or with other apps like Pokémon Go, showing a Pokémon right on the sidewalk in front of you. In a business setting, we no longer must rely on an assembly line of workers to complete a task. We have a few automated machines and or robots to do the work of 1,000 people within minutes. However, with 5G coming into the mix, Verizon predicts there’s almost nothing that 5G couldn’t be used for. With Verizon moving on to say it will allow AR to work seamlessly, and for industrial machines/robots to be controlled remotely. If a device depends on a quick response time and data analysis 5G will be able to provide these capabilities.
It’s just crazy to think we can move much past what we’re currently using today, 4G. Fourth generation wireless technology or 4G already provides us with a wireless internet connection at a much higher speed and quick data transfers. 5G is said to be the next “connectivity leap” predicted to boost internet speeds even further and reduce latency. The real question is where do you stand? Are you excited for an upgrade or worried (being that techy savvy individual you are) you’ll have to splurge a lot of money on the next device with 5G capabilities? Comment below.
Posted by: Kate O’Dell
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