What is point 5G?

[Gurke and Hare]

What is it possible to do with a 5G phone that I can't currently do with my 4G phone? I can watch streaming HD video very well over 4G, and I'm really struggling to think of any application I'd have for a faster data connection. I can see that it would be useful for some commercial/scientific applications, but at a consumer level what is the supposed benefit?

[PlanktonSideburns]

corona

[JamesTC]

4K porn on phone

[Captain Z]

MASSIVE RITA ORAS, STEW. FIVE TIMES THE SIZE OF YOUR BRITISH RITA ORAS.

[touchingcloth]

Latency is a big part of it, because as well as transfer speeds response times are also quicker. Historically that has been a factor in online multiplayer games (where it tends to be called "ping", and a high latency could mean you getting your nut blown off), but the lower the latency the easier it is to run things remotely as if they were locally. Even if you're not gaming, 5g opens up the possibility of doing things like running apps in the cloud but with them performing as if they were running right on your phone, with no noticeable lag.

Other than that I think the cell towers can handle more connected devices simultaneously, so it should mean that loads of locals downloading tons of stuff don't have as much of an impact on your own speeds.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I think better concurrency is part of it. I also think it supports IPV6, whereas on 4g etc you're probably behind some form of NAT within the telco's system. This makes little difference for consumers browsing the web, but will make 5g smart/iot devices addressable, how else would the government be able to control all the 5g-controlled death rays they're putting in lamp posts?

[JaDanketies]

I view it as a kind of signal for what the future will bring. Sure, your phone might not need more than 4G - hell it might not need more than 3G. But you might have your fridge talking to Tesco soon, or a car pootling through a virtual reality rendering of the city and talking with other cars as it goes. 6G is probably when the singularity happens.

[MojoJojo]

I think better concurrency is part of it. I also think it supports IPV6, whereas on 4g etc you're probably behind some form of NAT within the telco's system.

???IPv6 is orthogonal to 5G. It's possible networks will choose to switch to ipv6 with the move to 5G but they didn't bother with 4G going for weird carrier-grade NAT situations instead. To be fair, with mobile the idea of subnets and longest prefix matches for routing doesn't really work so they might as well do weird NAT.

5G is mostly going to be about upping capacity which will make things cheaper, basically. One idea is that 5G could be competitive with fixed line internet. And with it being cheaper lots of stuff becomes feasible that wouldn't otherwise be.

[touchingcloth]

"Cheaper than fixed line" already depends on your location. We have 4G internet at home because having a line installed would cost thousands. The jump to 5G will be massive, though - the 4G connection feels like a DSL connection from about 8 years ago.

[Replies From View]

hold out for 6G

[Chedney Honks]

4K fannies on the go