Lau made the prediction at a panel session on 5G and its capabilities. Lau believes that 5G will have three stages, with the second really beginning to take effect from 2021 after the initial launch phase. He predicted that a host of smart functionalities would come out between 2021 and 2025, with a third stage culminating in the “age of IoT” between 2025 to 2030. Lau said: “I’m personally hugely optimistic about 5G; I see that in the next 10 years, it is going to fundamentally transform our lives.
In our opinion, the future of mobile is an exciting one. Faster networks can and will create new businesses, applications and services. 5G won’t just bring faster phones. It will shape every type of tech it touches. And while you may be thinking that 5G is just a little faster, a little more reliable – it’s actually more than that. It’s a massive breakthrough that’s going to change the way devices connect to the internet, and more importantly, to each other. In fact, as 5G rolls out over the next two years, it’s going to change everything that uses a wireless connection; at this point, it is pretty much everything.
First of all, with 5G – it’s fast — 20 gigabits per second over wireless fast. That’s 100-to-250-times faster than 4G. By comparison, 4G provides average speeds of about 10-to-20 megabits a second. So, it’s like going from streaming one Netflix movie in HD, to streaming 400 films in 8k at the same time. What’s more impressive is 5G’s low-latency rate, or the amount of delay between the sending and receiving of information. Now, 4G tends to average about 100-200 milliseconds. To be fair, 100 milliseconds is fast; human reaction time is about 200-300 milliseconds. But 5G will get it down to 1 millisecond or less, which is almost real-time.
That means things such as self-driving cars may be one of the biggest breakthroughs to come out of 5G — sending data between one another, and communicating with traffic lights, road sensors, aerial drones, and so on. Think about it: Human reaction speed is 200 milliseconds, yet we still have accidents every day. And there’s more. 5G could also power the next generation of robotic devices. Surgeries could be performed from the other side of the world, with robot controlled in real-time by expert human surgeons — saving lives in situations where time and distance are the difference between life and death.
5G won’t just bring faster phones. It will shape every type of tech it touches.And while you may be thinking that 5G is just a little faster, a little more reliable, and a little newer, it’s actually more than that. It’s a massive breakthrough that’s going to change the way devices connect to the internet, and more importantly, to each other. In fact, as 5G rolls out over the next two years, it’s going to change everything that uses a wireless connection; at this point, it is pretty much everything. So, what’s so special about a 5G future?
First of all, it’s fast. Like, really fast — 20 gigabits per second over wireless fast. That’s 100-to-250-times faster than 4G. By comparison, 4G provides average speeds of about 10-to-20 megabits a second. So, it’s like going from streaming one Netflix movie in HD, to streaming 400 films in 8k at the same time. But what’s more impressive is 5G’s low-latency rate, or the amount of delay between the sending and receiving of information. Now, 4G tends to average about 100-200 milliseconds. To be fair, 100 milliseconds is fast; human reaction time is about 200-300 milliseconds. But 5G will get it down to 1 millisecond or less, which is almost real-time.
Self-driving cars may be one of the biggest breakthroughs to come out of 5G — sending data between one another, and communicating with traffic lights, road sensors, aerial drones, and so on. Think about it: Human reaction speed is 200 milliseconds, yet we still have accidents every day. Imagine if your car could react and communicate its reaction to hundreds of cars around it, all within a millisecond. Not only could we prevent car accidents, we could end traffic jams altogether. Hundreds of self-driving cars that move in concert, with limited risk that they’ll hit each other because they all know exactly where they are in real-time and reacting to the actual world around them.
5G could also power the next generation of robotic devices. Surgeries could be performed from the other side of the world, with robot controlled in real-time by expert human surgeons — saving lives in situations where time and distance are the difference between life and death.
4G can go ten kilometers and barely lose signal. 5G maxes out at about 300 meters and can’t go through walls or rain.
5G will revolutionize the future, and companies have already spent billions to set up their networks and to fund new technologies that can use it. The challenge is just a case of, how long will it take to bring 5G to life?
