1 00:00:04,120 --> 00:00:07,160 Speaker 1: Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 2 00:00:07,200 --> 00:00:13,760 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 3 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:16,759 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 4 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:18,720 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works, and I heart radio and I love 5 00:00:18,760 --> 00:00:22,360 Speaker 1: of all things tech. And you've probably heard a little 6 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:25,639 Speaker 1: bit about five G technology as of late. Back in 7 00:00:25,800 --> 00:00:29,040 Speaker 1: January two thousand nineteen, some of the buzz around five 8 00:00:29,120 --> 00:00:31,800 Speaker 1: G was all about how computer manufacturers are starting to 9 00:00:31,840 --> 00:00:35,120 Speaker 1: build in five G technology into the next generation of 10 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:38,880 Speaker 1: smartphones and laptops and other devices, and both A T 11 00:00:39,000 --> 00:00:42,919 Speaker 1: and T and Verizon had marketing pushes already that mentioned 12 00:00:42,960 --> 00:00:46,400 Speaker 1: five G in recent products and services, despite the fact 13 00:00:46,440 --> 00:00:51,080 Speaker 1: that these technologies aren't actually fully five G. But we'll 14 00:00:51,120 --> 00:00:53,320 Speaker 1: get to that. And then you had the President of 15 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:56,320 Speaker 1: the United States saying that the US companies should really 16 00:00:56,360 --> 00:00:59,240 Speaker 1: be rolling out five G technology faster, and that we 17 00:00:59,240 --> 00:01:03,000 Speaker 1: should already be looking into six G, which isn't even 18 00:01:03,040 --> 00:01:07,000 Speaker 1: a thing. Heck, five G isn't really a thing yet, 19 00:01:07,040 --> 00:01:11,720 Speaker 1: at least not practically. Wireless technology can be confusing on 20 00:01:11,760 --> 00:01:14,080 Speaker 1: a good day, so I figured it's high time I 21 00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:17,120 Speaker 1: tackled this subject. So, what the heck is five G 22 00:01:17,600 --> 00:01:20,000 Speaker 1: and why does it matter. I'm going to try and 23 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:22,640 Speaker 1: cover a bit about how five G works as well, 24 00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 1: but it gets super complicated, so I'm gonna save that 25 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:28,000 Speaker 1: for the end, and I'm not going to get too 26 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:33,520 Speaker 1: technical because one it would require eight episodes, and two 27 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:37,320 Speaker 1: I don't fully understand all the ins and outs myself, 28 00:01:37,440 --> 00:01:40,760 Speaker 1: so just being fully transparent there. Anyway, let's get the 29 00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:44,040 Speaker 1: relatively easy part out of the way. First. Five G 30 00:01:44,560 --> 00:01:49,160 Speaker 1: refers to the fifth generation of wireless standards. Now that 31 00:01:49,600 --> 00:01:53,440 Speaker 1: by itself sounds pretty straightforward, but in reality, things get 32 00:01:53,520 --> 00:01:57,240 Speaker 1: really messy when you start looking into details. While each 33 00:01:57,440 --> 00:02:01,680 Speaker 1: G refers to a different generation, there were different standards 34 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:05,720 Speaker 1: within each generation, making it a bit more complicated, and 35 00:02:05,800 --> 00:02:09,600 Speaker 1: generations would overlap one another. While we would be rolling 36 00:02:09,639 --> 00:02:13,560 Speaker 1: out four G, you still had companies investing and improving 37 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:18,160 Speaker 1: three G. So this isn't very clear cut. It's not 38 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:20,840 Speaker 1: like you can just look at one span of years 39 00:02:20,880 --> 00:02:24,000 Speaker 1: and say this represents two G and in the next 40 00:02:24,040 --> 00:02:27,080 Speaker 1: band this represents three G. It's a little more wibbly 41 00:02:27,120 --> 00:02:31,720 Speaker 1: wobbly timey whymy than that. But this is also easier 42 00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:34,480 Speaker 1: to think about if I use an analogy, something that 43 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:37,160 Speaker 1: we're all familiar with. So I'm going to talk about computers. 44 00:02:37,600 --> 00:02:40,919 Speaker 1: I'm going to arbitrarily divide up personal computers into different 45 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:43,840 Speaker 1: generations for the purposes of this example. But please keep 46 00:02:43,840 --> 00:02:46,440 Speaker 1: in mind this is really just to illustrate a point, 47 00:02:46,520 --> 00:02:48,239 Speaker 1: and I'm going to be skipping over a lot of stuff. 48 00:02:48,280 --> 00:02:51,400 Speaker 1: So I am going to say that in the first 49 00:02:51,560 --> 00:02:55,880 Speaker 1: generation of mainstream personal computers, once you get out of 50 00:02:55,919 --> 00:02:59,640 Speaker 1: the hobbyist level, we have the Apple two computers and 51 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:02,960 Speaker 1: the I b MPC computers. Now I'm ignoring all the 52 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:06,000 Speaker 1: other models out there, like the Common sixty four really 53 00:03:06,040 --> 00:03:09,200 Speaker 1: in just to simplify things. So we're talking about Apple 54 00:03:09,240 --> 00:03:12,240 Speaker 1: and IBM computers. So these two types of computers were 55 00:03:12,240 --> 00:03:14,760 Speaker 1: in the first generation, but they each operated on their 56 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:17,440 Speaker 1: own chip sets and operating systems, so they were not 57 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:21,399 Speaker 1: compatible with each other. They're both first generation, but they're 58 00:03:21,440 --> 00:03:26,000 Speaker 1: both proprietary in their own approach. In the second generation, 59 00:03:26,360 --> 00:03:30,560 Speaker 1: we then have the Macintosh computer and the IBM Clone computers. 60 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:34,440 Speaker 1: Now these computers were more advanced than their predecessors, but 61 00:03:34,600 --> 00:03:38,800 Speaker 1: still were incompatible with each other. Then in the third generation, 62 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:42,240 Speaker 1: you have Mac computers, so no longer just Macintosh. Now 63 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:46,280 Speaker 1: we call them Max and all the different Windows based machines, 64 00:03:46,760 --> 00:03:49,960 Speaker 1: so each generation had more than one standard in it, 65 00:03:50,080 --> 00:03:54,480 Speaker 1: and the same can be said for wireless technologies. I've 66 00:03:54,520 --> 00:03:57,920 Speaker 1: covered the different generations of wireless tech and other episodes, 67 00:03:58,040 --> 00:04:01,200 Speaker 1: but I'm going to give a cliffs notes version of 68 00:04:01,240 --> 00:04:03,600 Speaker 1: what it was all about on this episode. So we 69 00:04:03,640 --> 00:04:08,080 Speaker 1: could say that each generation is marked by two major features. 70 00:04:08,440 --> 00:04:12,880 Speaker 1: First that each generation improved upon the data transfer rates 71 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:17,920 Speaker 1: of its preceding generation, and second that each generation changed 72 00:04:17,960 --> 00:04:21,960 Speaker 1: the encoding methods for data, which not only enabled these 73 00:04:22,040 --> 00:04:26,200 Speaker 1: improved data transfer rates, but also made each succeeding generation 74 00:04:26,480 --> 00:04:29,560 Speaker 1: incompatible with the previous ones, meaning that if you had 75 00:04:29,600 --> 00:04:33,920 Speaker 1: an old cellular phone or device with cellular wireless capabilities, 76 00:04:34,320 --> 00:04:37,320 Speaker 1: it wouldn't be able to take advantage of these newer 77 00:04:37,360 --> 00:04:40,479 Speaker 1: wireless communications technologies. If you had a two G cell phone, 78 00:04:40,800 --> 00:04:44,440 Speaker 1: you could not use the three G cell phone network. Typically, 79 00:04:44,920 --> 00:04:49,480 Speaker 1: newer devices would have some compatibility with older standards, usually 80 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:52,880 Speaker 1: because it takes time to roll out these new systems, 81 00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:58,680 Speaker 1: so you want to have built in backwards compatibility so 82 00:04:58,720 --> 00:05:01,320 Speaker 1: that if you can't get access to the new network, 83 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:04,839 Speaker 1: you can at least still use the older network. This 84 00:05:05,000 --> 00:05:07,760 Speaker 1: sometimes would even require the user to make the switch 85 00:05:08,000 --> 00:05:11,240 Speaker 1: on uh the actual device they were using to go 86 00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:15,599 Speaker 1: to an older wireless network. But even just saying that 87 00:05:15,640 --> 00:05:19,839 Speaker 1: each generation is faster than the previous one isn't really accurate. 88 00:05:19,880 --> 00:05:23,120 Speaker 1: I mentioned just a minute ago these generations can overlap. 89 00:05:23,680 --> 00:05:28,400 Speaker 1: So when each generation first emerged out of the development 90 00:05:28,400 --> 00:05:30,960 Speaker 1: phase into the deployment phase, so it's becoming a real 91 00:05:31,000 --> 00:05:34,520 Speaker 1: world thing, it wasn't really capable of delivering its full 92 00:05:34,520 --> 00:05:39,400 Speaker 1: potential right away. Nearly every generation saw improvements and data 93 00:05:39,480 --> 00:05:42,960 Speaker 1: rates over time, and sometimes you're in a situation in 94 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:47,160 Speaker 1: which the network or your device can't manage the ideal 95 00:05:47,200 --> 00:05:52,159 Speaker 1: transfer rates. So you've got a device that maybe runs 96 00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:54,560 Speaker 1: on let's say the three G network, and you've got 97 00:05:54,560 --> 00:05:58,040 Speaker 1: a three G network, but there could be other elements 98 00:05:58,080 --> 00:06:02,240 Speaker 1: at play that mean you can't get the ideal speeds 99 00:06:02,279 --> 00:06:05,479 Speaker 1: of the three G network even though you're using the 100 00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:08,719 Speaker 1: proper technologies. I'll talk more about that in a second 101 00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:12,479 Speaker 1: to actually we can cover it now. So I'm specifically 102 00:06:12,480 --> 00:06:16,000 Speaker 1: thinking about situations like the one I would find myself 103 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:19,200 Speaker 1: in when I would attend c e S a few 104 00:06:19,320 --> 00:06:22,840 Speaker 1: years ago, maybe a decade ago. So CEES the Consumer 105 00:06:22,839 --> 00:06:26,760 Speaker 1: Electronics Show is heavily attended by people all using multiple 106 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:31,400 Speaker 1: devices that are tapping into the local mobile networks. So 107 00:06:31,600 --> 00:06:37,400 Speaker 1: there are phones, their tablets, their computers. There's tons of interference. 108 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:40,159 Speaker 1: There's just there's a lot of trying to connect to 109 00:06:40,200 --> 00:06:43,120 Speaker 1: the network at c E S And it doesn't really 110 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:46,120 Speaker 1: matter which carrier you have. The fact that there's so 111 00:06:46,200 --> 00:06:49,440 Speaker 1: many people there and so many devices, all the carriers 112 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:53,600 Speaker 1: are hit with requests to tap into the networks at 113 00:06:53,600 --> 00:06:57,080 Speaker 1: the same time, so it tends to over tax those networks. 114 00:06:57,279 --> 00:06:59,120 Speaker 1: And even if your phone indicates that you have a 115 00:06:59,120 --> 00:07:01,400 Speaker 1: strong signal, I can look at my phone it says, oh, 116 00:07:01,400 --> 00:07:04,520 Speaker 1: I've got full bars of signal. I can easily connect 117 00:07:04,520 --> 00:07:06,760 Speaker 1: to the network. You would end up with a terrible 118 00:07:06,880 --> 00:07:10,200 Speaker 1: data transfer rate where you couldn't even send a text 119 00:07:10,280 --> 00:07:12,280 Speaker 1: message out. There were times when I would switch my 120 00:07:12,320 --> 00:07:16,760 Speaker 1: phone to an older wireless standard and pop onto a 121 00:07:16,880 --> 00:07:20,720 Speaker 1: less congested network. Even though the top data transfer rate 122 00:07:20,760 --> 00:07:25,680 Speaker 1: of the older generation was less impressive than the current generation, 123 00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:30,080 Speaker 1: I would get better results due to the lack of traffic. So, yeah, 124 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:34,240 Speaker 1: this gets really messy. It's not so clear cut. Now, 125 00:07:34,320 --> 00:07:37,280 Speaker 1: let's talk about the generations themselves and keep in mind 126 00:07:37,320 --> 00:07:39,720 Speaker 1: Like I said, these generations had a lot of overlap. 127 00:07:40,080 --> 00:07:43,720 Speaker 1: Some regions like Asia would roll out new generations faster 128 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:46,880 Speaker 1: than other parts of the world, like North America. So 129 00:07:46,920 --> 00:07:49,280 Speaker 1: there's no hard and fast dates that we can use 130 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:53,440 Speaker 1: for this, because the deployment of each generation took a 131 00:07:53,440 --> 00:07:56,760 Speaker 1: long time and didn't start everywhere all at the same time. 132 00:07:57,360 --> 00:08:00,240 Speaker 1: Now you could argue that there is a U O 133 00:08:00,360 --> 00:08:03,800 Speaker 1: G generation of wireless communications before we even get the 134 00:08:03,880 --> 00:08:09,320 Speaker 1: one G. The zero G generation would include radio telephones. 135 00:08:09,440 --> 00:08:12,760 Speaker 1: This is before there were cellular networks, before there were 136 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:17,520 Speaker 1: cell towers, so this is pure radio transmission. The following 137 00:08:17,560 --> 00:08:21,880 Speaker 1: generations would move to cell tower technology and there would 138 00:08:21,920 --> 00:08:25,320 Speaker 1: be this new technology that would allow a handoff or 139 00:08:25,320 --> 00:08:28,640 Speaker 1: a handshake from one cell tower to another to allow 140 00:08:28,680 --> 00:08:32,760 Speaker 1: a call to transfer from one tower to another tower 141 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:37,080 Speaker 1: without interrupting the actual call. The first generation of wireless 142 00:08:37,080 --> 00:08:41,520 Speaker 1: communication standards only carried voice signals. There was no data 143 00:08:41,640 --> 00:08:45,480 Speaker 1: beyond voice, and it included a lot of different standards 144 00:08:45,520 --> 00:08:48,800 Speaker 1: like A MPs or AMPS in North America and in 145 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:52,040 Speaker 1: MT in Eastern Europe, or T A C S TAX 146 00:08:52,520 --> 00:08:55,480 Speaker 1: in the UK, and several more UH and it was 147 00:08:55,520 --> 00:09:00,720 Speaker 1: analog that was the analog generation of wireless community cation standards. 148 00:09:00,960 --> 00:09:04,839 Speaker 1: The second generation, or two G, was able to carry 149 00:09:04,880 --> 00:09:07,439 Speaker 1: not just voice, but data signals. This was the first 150 00:09:07,679 --> 00:09:12,840 Speaker 1: digital way of carrying cell phone conversations. Also, this allowed 151 00:09:12,880 --> 00:09:16,679 Speaker 1: for encryption. You could encrypt the signal. In the analog days, 152 00:09:17,280 --> 00:09:20,559 Speaker 1: you could technically tap in and listen to people talking 153 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:26,120 Speaker 1: on wireless communications because it was unencrypted. That changed with 154 00:09:26,160 --> 00:09:29,000 Speaker 1: two G. So this is our switch from analog to 155 00:09:29,040 --> 00:09:31,840 Speaker 1: digital cellular phones, and it also introduced us to the 156 00:09:31,880 --> 00:09:34,959 Speaker 1: era of text messaging that was suddenly possible with two G. 157 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:38,800 Speaker 1: And the standards in this generation included G S M C, 158 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:42,880 Speaker 1: d M A, and T d M A. Then, depending 159 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:45,560 Speaker 1: upon whom you ask, we get a bit of a cheat. 160 00:09:45,800 --> 00:09:49,640 Speaker 1: This happens in between lots of the different generations. So 161 00:09:49,720 --> 00:09:52,520 Speaker 1: there's some people who say there's a generation two point 162 00:09:52,600 --> 00:09:56,200 Speaker 1: five G or enhanced two G. This was not a 163 00:09:56,240 --> 00:10:00,560 Speaker 1: total departure from the two G standards and methods of operation, 164 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:04,280 Speaker 1: but it allowed for better data transfer rates. So G, 165 00:10:04,440 --> 00:10:07,640 Speaker 1: p R S and EDGE would be considered two point 166 00:10:07,679 --> 00:10:11,280 Speaker 1: five G technologies, at least by some people. Other people say, no, 167 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:13,920 Speaker 1: you don't split out two point five G. Those are 168 00:10:13,960 --> 00:10:16,920 Speaker 1: all two G standards, so it should all belong in 169 00:10:16,960 --> 00:10:20,439 Speaker 1: the same family, and because no one really agrees with this, 170 00:10:20,800 --> 00:10:23,840 Speaker 1: it makes matters even more confusing than they already were. 171 00:10:24,240 --> 00:10:26,559 Speaker 1: Then we get the three G that allowed enough data 172 00:10:26,679 --> 00:10:29,840 Speaker 1: throughput for video signals to come through. I would argue 173 00:10:29,880 --> 00:10:33,320 Speaker 1: the three G advances are what allowed truly useful applications 174 00:10:33,320 --> 00:10:39,040 Speaker 1: of smartphone technology, although interestingly some companies like Apple took 175 00:10:39,040 --> 00:10:43,559 Speaker 1: their time actually embracing three G. Standards included U T 176 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:46,360 Speaker 1: M S C D M A, two thousand H S 177 00:10:46,440 --> 00:10:49,360 Speaker 1: P D A, and E V D O, and like 178 00:10:49,480 --> 00:10:52,320 Speaker 1: two G, some people split that generation out to be 179 00:10:52,720 --> 00:10:56,520 Speaker 1: three and three point five or even three three point 180 00:10:56,520 --> 00:11:00,320 Speaker 1: five and three point seven five G. The real purpose 181 00:11:00,320 --> 00:11:02,840 Speaker 1: of that, again is to single out advances that allowed 182 00:11:02,840 --> 00:11:06,320 Speaker 1: for better data transfer rates. By the end of the 183 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:10,280 Speaker 1: three G development cycle, some standards could support data transfer 184 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:13,040 Speaker 1: rates of a few megabits per second, whereas the two 185 00:11:13,080 --> 00:11:16,520 Speaker 1: G technologies maxed out at a couple of hundred kilobits 186 00:11:16,679 --> 00:11:20,280 Speaker 1: per second. So I'll talk a little bit about what 187 00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:23,000 Speaker 1: these data transfer rates mean in a second so that 188 00:11:23,040 --> 00:11:25,040 Speaker 1: we get a better understanding of it. But essentially it 189 00:11:25,080 --> 00:11:27,839 Speaker 1: meant that you could send more information in the same 190 00:11:27,880 --> 00:11:32,720 Speaker 1: amount of time as older devices could do. Right now, 191 00:11:33,280 --> 00:11:35,880 Speaker 1: the latest tech we can use belongs to four G, 192 00:11:36,440 --> 00:11:39,080 Speaker 1: or you could argue four point five if you wanted to. 193 00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:45,679 Speaker 1: This is the enhanced protocol. The standards would be Y 194 00:11:45,760 --> 00:11:49,800 Speaker 1: MAX and Long Term Evolution or LTE. Now these days 195 00:11:50,120 --> 00:11:53,400 Speaker 1: you'd be more likely to talk about LTE Advanced. To 196 00:11:53,480 --> 00:11:55,920 Speaker 1: be a four G system, it first has to meet 197 00:11:55,960 --> 00:12:00,800 Speaker 1: requirements that were established in the International Mobile Telecommunication Advanced 198 00:12:00,920 --> 00:12:05,680 Speaker 1: Set of Standards. The International Telecommunication Union is a department 199 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:09,599 Speaker 1: in the United Nations and it's responsible for creating those standards. 200 00:12:10,120 --> 00:12:13,920 Speaker 1: This technology is still scaling up today with data transfer 201 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:16,760 Speaker 1: rates and the hundreds of megabits per second in some 202 00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:20,400 Speaker 1: of the implementations. Some of them are even hitting up 203 00:12:20,400 --> 00:12:24,720 Speaker 1: to a gigabit per second at least in theory. Now, again, 204 00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:27,560 Speaker 1: that doesn't mean you're actually going to see data transfer 205 00:12:27,640 --> 00:12:30,839 Speaker 1: rates at that level, even if you have a compatible 206 00:12:30,840 --> 00:12:33,680 Speaker 1: device and service. But in general, if you do have 207 00:12:33,760 --> 00:12:36,560 Speaker 1: those things, you'll be able to download or stream content 208 00:12:36,679 --> 00:12:39,600 Speaker 1: more effectively than those of us who do not have 209 00:12:39,800 --> 00:12:43,560 Speaker 1: access to those services and products. So what does this 210 00:12:43,640 --> 00:12:46,640 Speaker 1: all mean for us? Well, it mostly boils down to 211 00:12:46,920 --> 00:12:51,640 Speaker 1: two really big things per generation, where do our phones work? 212 00:12:52,200 --> 00:12:55,480 Speaker 1: And how much data can we access per given unit 213 00:12:55,559 --> 00:12:58,680 Speaker 1: of time. So back during the two G days, the 214 00:12:58,760 --> 00:13:02,640 Speaker 1: United States was split between using the G s M standard, 215 00:13:02,880 --> 00:13:06,200 Speaker 1: which was also used in Europe and Asia, or the 216 00:13:06,280 --> 00:13:09,600 Speaker 1: c d M A standard, which was primarily just used 217 00:13:09,600 --> 00:13:11,160 Speaker 1: in the United States. There were a couple of other 218 00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:14,400 Speaker 1: places that also used it, but US was the primary 219 00:13:15,000 --> 00:13:18,000 Speaker 1: uh place where you would find c d M A technology. 220 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:20,520 Speaker 1: So if you happen to have service with a T 221 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:23,240 Speaker 1: and T or T Mobile, you had a G s 222 00:13:23,360 --> 00:13:26,120 Speaker 1: M phone which at least had the potential to work 223 00:13:26,200 --> 00:13:29,320 Speaker 1: on European networks. That wasn't a guarantee, by the way. 224 00:13:29,440 --> 00:13:33,720 Speaker 1: You actually had to have a special band of antenna 225 00:13:33,880 --> 00:13:35,760 Speaker 1: and chip in your phone in order to be able 226 00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:38,360 Speaker 1: to use European networks even if you had a G 227 00:13:38,559 --> 00:13:40,880 Speaker 1: s M phone, but at least in theory it was 228 00:13:40,920 --> 00:13:45,720 Speaker 1: compatible if you were on Verizon or Sprint in those days, 229 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:47,680 Speaker 1: and that meant you were using a c d M 230 00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:51,920 Speaker 1: A phone, which was not compatible with Europe's systems at all. 231 00:13:52,080 --> 00:13:53,800 Speaker 1: So you would have to get a different phone if 232 00:13:53,840 --> 00:13:56,760 Speaker 1: you wanted to travel to Europe and and call somebody. 233 00:13:57,080 --> 00:14:01,320 Speaker 1: Now that's just one example of one ACE where you 234 00:14:01,440 --> 00:14:03,920 Speaker 1: had a standard that works in certain parts of the 235 00:14:03,920 --> 00:14:06,240 Speaker 1: world and not in others. This is still true for 236 00:14:06,360 --> 00:14:10,840 Speaker 1: a lot of different wireless communications technologies. All right, we've 237 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:13,280 Speaker 1: set the ground. We're gonna go into a little more 238 00:14:13,360 --> 00:14:15,800 Speaker 1: detail about data transfer rates and talk about five G 239 00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:18,600 Speaker 1: in just a moment. But first let's take a quick break. 240 00:14:26,080 --> 00:14:30,960 Speaker 1: More recent generations of wireless communications technologies generally provide better 241 00:14:31,040 --> 00:14:33,960 Speaker 1: data transfer speeds, and we often refer to them as 242 00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:37,840 Speaker 1: being faster, that the four G network is faster than 243 00:14:37,880 --> 00:14:41,880 Speaker 1: the three G network, But really what we mean is 244 00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:45,680 Speaker 1: that the more recent generations have a higher capacity to 245 00:14:45,800 --> 00:14:50,960 Speaker 1: deliver information on our devices, because ultimately, all this information 246 00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:54,080 Speaker 1: is traveling at the speed of light more or less, 247 00:14:54,560 --> 00:14:58,640 Speaker 1: well less, you can't go more, so no transmission is 248 00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:02,840 Speaker 1: really faster than any other. It's not like the signals 249 00:15:02,880 --> 00:15:06,200 Speaker 1: of two G traveled more slowly than the signals of 250 00:15:06,240 --> 00:15:08,840 Speaker 1: three G. They all travel at the same speed. It's 251 00:15:08,880 --> 00:15:13,680 Speaker 1: just that the later generations were able to carry more 252 00:15:13,800 --> 00:15:17,240 Speaker 1: data in that same amount of speed. So let's go 253 00:15:17,320 --> 00:15:20,280 Speaker 1: with another analogy. I love using analogies to explain this 254 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:22,800 Speaker 1: kind of stuff, and we're going to talk about cars. 255 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:27,000 Speaker 1: I think that makes it fairly clear. So in this analogy, 256 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:30,320 Speaker 1: let's say you've got a smart car and you've got 257 00:15:30,320 --> 00:15:33,360 Speaker 1: a semitruck, and they're both on the same stretch of road, 258 00:15:33,720 --> 00:15:36,400 Speaker 1: and the road's speed limit is thirty miles per hour. 259 00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:39,120 Speaker 1: And for the sake of this example, we're going to 260 00:15:39,160 --> 00:15:42,920 Speaker 1: assume both drivers are following that speed limit, which I 261 00:15:42,960 --> 00:15:46,360 Speaker 1: admit is pretty low, but they're both following it. So 262 00:15:46,400 --> 00:15:49,120 Speaker 1: in the world telecommunications, we don't have any choice but 263 00:15:49,200 --> 00:15:51,960 Speaker 1: to follow the universal speed limit. You cannot go faster 264 00:15:52,040 --> 00:15:55,080 Speaker 1: than light. But here we're just saying that the drivers 265 00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:58,640 Speaker 1: will not go above the speed limits. So the smart 266 00:15:58,640 --> 00:16:02,720 Speaker 1: car in the semi truck are moving at the same speed. However, 267 00:16:03,160 --> 00:16:06,560 Speaker 1: you can fit a whole lot more stuff inside that 268 00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:09,680 Speaker 1: semi truck than you could in the little smart car, 269 00:16:10,160 --> 00:16:13,120 Speaker 1: So you can deliver a huge amount of material in 270 00:16:13,240 --> 00:16:15,680 Speaker 1: one trip in the semi truck, and the smart car 271 00:16:15,720 --> 00:16:18,400 Speaker 1: would have to take lots of trips to deliver the 272 00:16:18,400 --> 00:16:22,640 Speaker 1: same amount of stuff. So, while both vehicles or protocols 273 00:16:22,960 --> 00:16:26,840 Speaker 1: are going at the same speed, one can finish a 274 00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:29,720 Speaker 1: given job faster than the other one because it can 275 00:16:29,800 --> 00:16:34,400 Speaker 1: carry more. So in my description of c E S earlier, 276 00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:38,000 Speaker 1: we could say that I actually jumped into a smart 277 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:41,320 Speaker 1: car because it could take advantage of a special smart 278 00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:44,320 Speaker 1: car lane on the road and travel at the full 279 00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:47,760 Speaker 1: blistering speed of thirty miles per hour. Meanwhile, the semi 280 00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:51,120 Speaker 1: truck was stuck in the normal traffic lane, and that 281 00:16:51,160 --> 00:16:52,960 Speaker 1: one was getting backed up because there were just too 282 00:16:52,960 --> 00:16:56,320 Speaker 1: many people trying to get on that same road and 283 00:16:56,320 --> 00:16:59,160 Speaker 1: it was making traffic slow down. But because I was 284 00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:03,960 Speaker 1: in the less used older lane, I had switched from 285 00:17:04,000 --> 00:17:07,560 Speaker 1: three G t two G. Let's say I could go 286 00:17:08,119 --> 00:17:12,560 Speaker 1: pretty fast because there wasn't anyone in my way. That's 287 00:17:12,600 --> 00:17:15,199 Speaker 1: one of the things that we talked about when we're 288 00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:20,520 Speaker 1: looking at relying upon earlier generations of wireless communications technologies. 289 00:17:21,560 --> 00:17:25,639 Speaker 1: The official name for the five G radio system is 290 00:17:25,760 --> 00:17:28,879 Speaker 1: five G in R And as you may have guessed 291 00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:32,600 Speaker 1: in our stands for new radio and this new radio 292 00:17:32,640 --> 00:17:36,760 Speaker 1: standard will be incompatible with older standards. So if you 293 00:17:36,800 --> 00:17:39,800 Speaker 1: had a pure five G device, one that was only 294 00:17:39,840 --> 00:17:43,640 Speaker 1: connected to five G networks, the chip set, the antenna, 295 00:17:43,760 --> 00:17:46,040 Speaker 1: all of it is just tuned to five G, you 296 00:17:46,080 --> 00:17:50,560 Speaker 1: would probably have a pretty lousy experience. Initially because carriers 297 00:17:50,560 --> 00:17:53,240 Speaker 1: would still be building out their networks. You would have 298 00:17:53,800 --> 00:17:57,160 Speaker 1: very spotty coverage. In fact, you might even live someplace 299 00:17:57,200 --> 00:18:00,760 Speaker 1: where you'd have no coverage whatsoever because don't live within 300 00:18:00,960 --> 00:18:05,480 Speaker 1: range of a five G tower. You'd find that your 301 00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:08,520 Speaker 1: device only works in a few locations with service, and 302 00:18:08,560 --> 00:18:12,720 Speaker 1: for that reason, manufacturers are more likely to roll out 303 00:18:12,800 --> 00:18:16,560 Speaker 1: five G phones, laptops, and other devices that also contain 304 00:18:16,840 --> 00:18:20,800 Speaker 1: four G technology in them to avoid that problem, so 305 00:18:20,840 --> 00:18:24,480 Speaker 1: that your device will rely on four G networks unless 306 00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:26,879 Speaker 1: a five G network is available, in which case it 307 00:18:26,880 --> 00:18:28,960 Speaker 1: will ramp up, it'll switch on over to five G, 308 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:33,119 Speaker 1: and otherwise they'll they'll lean very heavily on four G 309 00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:37,480 Speaker 1: in places where five G is of limited availability or reliability. 310 00:18:37,880 --> 00:18:41,320 Speaker 1: These types of networks, which continues to support these older 311 00:18:41,359 --> 00:18:44,760 Speaker 1: standards while rolling out new ones, have a name. They're 312 00:18:44,800 --> 00:18:48,480 Speaker 1: called n s A networks. Now in this case, the 313 00:18:48,800 --> 00:18:52,119 Speaker 1: n essay does not refer to the spy agency in 314 00:18:52,160 --> 00:18:56,960 Speaker 1: the United States that's looking at all electronic communications. Instead, 315 00:18:57,600 --> 00:19:01,720 Speaker 1: it means non stand alone, meaning the network must pair 316 00:19:01,800 --> 00:19:07,360 Speaker 1: one wireless technology with at least one other wireless technology. Eventually, 317 00:19:07,920 --> 00:19:12,120 Speaker 1: as these networks become more robust, they can sunset the 318 00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:17,800 Speaker 1: older wireless communications standards and become standalone or s A networks. 319 00:19:18,200 --> 00:19:20,520 Speaker 1: We're starting to see this happen right now. In fact, 320 00:19:20,560 --> 00:19:24,560 Speaker 1: some companies have already shut down their two G networks 321 00:19:24,600 --> 00:19:27,760 Speaker 1: and sunset them. Those are no longer supported. Others are 322 00:19:27,800 --> 00:19:30,120 Speaker 1: still supporting the two G networks but planned to shut 323 00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:32,480 Speaker 1: them down in the near future. I believe T Mobile 324 00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:36,159 Speaker 1: has extended operations until twenty twenty, but then is going 325 00:19:36,200 --> 00:19:39,880 Speaker 1: to shut down it's two G network. For example, there 326 00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:43,879 Speaker 1: are three main goals for five G technology. One is 327 00:19:43,880 --> 00:19:48,160 Speaker 1: to have even greater data transfer rates, and like previous generations, 328 00:19:48,200 --> 00:19:51,440 Speaker 1: will likely see a range of data transfer rates rollout 329 00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:55,520 Speaker 1: in various networks. The actual experience will depend upon lots 330 00:19:55,520 --> 00:19:58,720 Speaker 1: of different factors, such as the design of the network, 331 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:02,320 Speaker 1: the actual device or using the number of other devices 332 00:20:02,359 --> 00:20:05,399 Speaker 1: that are on that network, the communications frequency that the 333 00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:08,120 Speaker 1: network is relying upon and your device is relying upon, 334 00:20:08,160 --> 00:20:10,439 Speaker 1: and so on. So it's really hard to give a 335 00:20:10,480 --> 00:20:13,639 Speaker 1: solid number to what five G speeds will mean. That 336 00:20:13,720 --> 00:20:16,639 Speaker 1: being said, let's at least get some ballpark figures in 337 00:20:16,680 --> 00:20:20,440 Speaker 1: here or else it's no use whatsoever. In February two eighteen, 338 00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:24,560 Speaker 1: at the Mobile World Congress, Qualcom released the results of 339 00:20:24,600 --> 00:20:28,119 Speaker 1: some five G simulation tests it had conducted in an 340 00:20:28,119 --> 00:20:31,359 Speaker 1: effort to see what we might expect from five G 341 00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:35,960 Speaker 1: in the early early days in areas like Frankfurt or 342 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:40,960 Speaker 1: in San Francisco, California. The simulation took into account cell 343 00:20:41,040 --> 00:20:44,479 Speaker 1: tower locations that are already in those cities and the 344 00:20:44,560 --> 00:20:47,480 Speaker 1: frequency allocations that would be allowed in those cities. In 345 00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:50,800 Speaker 1: other words, what parts of the radio spectrum would carriers 346 00:20:50,800 --> 00:20:54,000 Speaker 1: be allowed to use. Because five G technology doesn't work 347 00:20:54,000 --> 00:20:58,119 Speaker 1: across the entire radio spectrum. They're specific bands frequency bands 348 00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:01,160 Speaker 1: that five G is focused on. And it also accounted 349 00:21:01,200 --> 00:21:05,440 Speaker 1: for differences in connectivity strength and geography. So the simulation 350 00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:09,240 Speaker 1: focused on what Qualcom considered to be a reasonable expectation 351 00:21:09,320 --> 00:21:12,160 Speaker 1: of a five gene network rollout in the short term. 352 00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:15,320 Speaker 1: So we're talking like they're saying, well, a year from now, 353 00:21:15,400 --> 00:21:19,159 Speaker 1: assuming we roll these these uh systems out, here's what 354 00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:22,080 Speaker 1: we could expect at the end of that year. So 355 00:21:22,160 --> 00:21:25,159 Speaker 1: with all of that said, Qualcom found that the Frankfurt 356 00:21:25,320 --> 00:21:28,840 Speaker 1: simulation saw an increase from fifty six megabits per second 357 00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:32,640 Speaker 1: on a four G network to four hundred ninety megabits 358 00:21:32,720 --> 00:21:35,280 Speaker 1: per second for five G, which is a big jump, 359 00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:38,800 Speaker 1: but it's lagging behind some of the more advanced LTE 360 00:21:39,040 --> 00:21:42,120 Speaker 1: four G systems that are deploying today in other parts 361 00:21:42,160 --> 00:21:44,639 Speaker 1: of the world. So, in other words, we already have 362 00:21:45,000 --> 00:21:49,159 Speaker 1: four G systems that deliver data at that rate or 363 00:21:49,240 --> 00:21:53,080 Speaker 1: even higher. So you say, you could say, yes, the 364 00:21:53,119 --> 00:21:55,720 Speaker 1: five G and Frankfort would be an improvement, but it's 365 00:21:55,720 --> 00:21:59,680 Speaker 1: still lagging behind other four G tech. The San Francisco 366 00:21:59,680 --> 00:22:03,360 Speaker 1: simulation saw browsing speed go from seventy one megabits per 367 00:22:03,400 --> 00:22:07,520 Speaker 1: second on four G to one point four gigabits per 368 00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:12,040 Speaker 1: second for five G, so it's on even greater increase 369 00:22:12,160 --> 00:22:16,359 Speaker 1: on data transfer rates. In the simulation, median five G 370 00:22:16,600 --> 00:22:20,320 Speaker 1: users could watch streaming video at eight K resolution running 371 00:22:20,359 --> 00:22:23,359 Speaker 1: at one hundred twenty frames per second, which is pretty 372 00:22:23,440 --> 00:22:27,240 Speaker 1: darn impressive. But just to get a bigger picture of everything. 373 00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:29,560 Speaker 1: While all this is going on, while we're seeing this 374 00:22:29,640 --> 00:22:33,080 Speaker 1: five G rollout happening, we're also seeing the four G 375 00:22:33,240 --> 00:22:37,560 Speaker 1: networks continue to get enhancements. Qual Calm is rolling out 376 00:22:37,600 --> 00:22:39,760 Speaker 1: the X twenty four modem, which is going to be 377 00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:43,400 Speaker 1: in several smartphones in twenty nineteen. That is a four 378 00:22:43,480 --> 00:22:46,600 Speaker 1: G technology, but it has the ability to support data 379 00:22:46,640 --> 00:22:50,560 Speaker 1: transfer rates of up to two gigabits per second. Keep 380 00:22:50,560 --> 00:22:52,959 Speaker 1: in mind, the simulation for five G maxed out at 381 00:22:53,000 --> 00:22:57,120 Speaker 1: one point four gigabits per second, so this older four 382 00:22:57,200 --> 00:23:00,679 Speaker 1: G technology would have an even better data transfer rate, 383 00:23:00,720 --> 00:23:05,240 Speaker 1: at least in an ideal implementation. Now, in the real world, 384 00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:08,960 Speaker 1: we're probably not going to see anyone actually experienced that 385 00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:11,680 Speaker 1: kind of speed, but at least in theory, the devices 386 00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:14,439 Speaker 1: could support them. This is another example of how the 387 00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:18,760 Speaker 1: late phase for one generation of wireless communication can sometimes 388 00:23:18,800 --> 00:23:23,840 Speaker 1: outperform the early phase of the succeeding generation. Now, over time, 389 00:23:24,000 --> 00:23:26,760 Speaker 1: the five G system will leave four G in the dust. 390 00:23:27,359 --> 00:23:30,120 Speaker 1: It's not uncommon to see predictions of data transfer rates 391 00:23:30,200 --> 00:23:33,960 Speaker 1: hitting ten gigabits per second or faster, which is hard 392 00:23:34,000 --> 00:23:38,000 Speaker 1: for me to imagine, but that's always the case early on, 393 00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:41,920 Speaker 1: before these technologies become part of our daily lives. And besides, 394 00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:45,399 Speaker 1: we might never actually see our own experience match that 395 00:23:45,520 --> 00:23:48,879 Speaker 1: predicted result. But if we do, what would that mean. Well, 396 00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:51,800 Speaker 1: at ten gigabits per second, you can download a full 397 00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:57,200 Speaker 1: four K definition feature length film in about twenty five seconds. 398 00:23:57,680 --> 00:24:02,320 Speaker 1: I'm not talking about streaming. I'm talking about downloading Yawza. 399 00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:05,480 Speaker 1: The second big feature of five G is a reduction 400 00:24:05,680 --> 00:24:09,879 Speaker 1: in response time or reduction in latency. Latency refers to 401 00:24:09,880 --> 00:24:12,840 Speaker 1: the lag you experience between when you activate something and 402 00:24:12,840 --> 00:24:16,400 Speaker 1: when that's something actually happens. In video games, we would 403 00:24:16,400 --> 00:24:19,479 Speaker 1: say something like the lag between pushing a jump button 404 00:24:19,800 --> 00:24:23,600 Speaker 1: and having Mario actually jump is latency. In the equal 405 00:24:23,720 --> 00:24:27,840 Speaker 1: Calm San Francisco simulation I mentioned earlier, the company observed 406 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:32,000 Speaker 1: a response time that was twenty three times faster than 407 00:24:32,040 --> 00:24:36,000 Speaker 1: the median four G experience, which means latency would be 408 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:40,240 Speaker 1: reduced dramatically. That means five G could become the technology 409 00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:44,640 Speaker 1: we rely upon for time critical applications. So, for example, 410 00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:48,199 Speaker 1: autonomous cars that might rely at least in part on 411 00:24:48,240 --> 00:24:51,439 Speaker 1: a networked system could run on five G. When the 412 00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:54,920 Speaker 1: information you're requesting is needed to operate a vehicle that's 413 00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:59,359 Speaker 1: driving at driving speed in traffic, latency is something you 414 00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:02,920 Speaker 1: really have to eliminate as quickly as you possibly can. Now. 415 00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:05,600 Speaker 1: I don't expect we're going to see driverless cars switch 416 00:25:05,760 --> 00:25:09,440 Speaker 1: entirely to some sort of cloud based operating system where 417 00:25:09,480 --> 00:25:12,560 Speaker 1: you have a centralized data center that's making all the 418 00:25:12,640 --> 00:25:15,400 Speaker 1: decisions for all the cars that are on the road. 419 00:25:16,040 --> 00:25:18,600 Speaker 1: But I do imagine the driverless cars of the future 420 00:25:18,640 --> 00:25:22,880 Speaker 1: will balance on board systems that process information right there 421 00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:26,680 Speaker 1: inside the car itself with support systems that live in 422 00:25:26,720 --> 00:25:30,600 Speaker 1: the cloud. So we've got better data transfer rates and 423 00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:33,800 Speaker 1: we've got faster response times. As the first two big 424 00:25:33,880 --> 00:25:37,119 Speaker 1: features of five G. The third one is that the 425 00:25:37,240 --> 00:25:40,000 Speaker 1: five G systems will be able to handle many more 426 00:25:40,119 --> 00:25:44,439 Speaker 1: devices connected to an individual system at the same time, 427 00:25:44,720 --> 00:25:48,600 Speaker 1: and this is absolutely necessary as the Internet of things 428 00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:52,719 Speaker 1: trends shows no sign of slowing down. I'll explain more 429 00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:55,600 Speaker 1: in just a second, but first let's take another quick break. 430 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:06,080 Speaker 1: It's pretty hard to get a reckoning on the number 431 00:26:06,080 --> 00:26:09,280 Speaker 1: of devices that are connected to the Internet, but it's 432 00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:12,520 Speaker 1: a lot. According to Statista, by the end of two 433 00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:17,280 Speaker 1: thousand eighteen, there were twenty three point fourteen billion Internet 434 00:26:17,280 --> 00:26:20,159 Speaker 1: of Things devices connected to the network of networks in 435 00:26:20,240 --> 00:26:24,600 Speaker 1: some fashion. That same site estimates that by five there 436 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:28,560 Speaker 1: will be more than seventy five billion IoT gadgets connected 437 00:26:28,600 --> 00:26:32,040 Speaker 1: to the Internet. But that's just one estimation and other 438 00:26:32,119 --> 00:26:36,080 Speaker 1: sources have different numbers. There is something that's in common 439 00:26:36,119 --> 00:26:40,000 Speaker 1: with all those different numbers, they're all real, real big, 440 00:26:40,520 --> 00:26:43,880 Speaker 1: So they may not all specifically agree on how many 441 00:26:43,960 --> 00:26:47,000 Speaker 1: billion devices are connected to the Internet, but they all 442 00:26:47,040 --> 00:26:50,600 Speaker 1: agree that it is many billion, and it's just gonna 443 00:26:50,640 --> 00:26:54,560 Speaker 1: get bigger. To support all those devices, providers have to 444 00:26:54,560 --> 00:26:58,680 Speaker 1: build out network capacity. Otherwise you would find it impossible 445 00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:02,720 Speaker 1: to use your phone because is there too many doorbells, cameras, thermostats, 446 00:27:02,720 --> 00:27:06,240 Speaker 1: and refrigerators connected to the networks. Actually, to be fair, 447 00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:08,840 Speaker 1: that's a bit of an oversimplification because the way we 448 00:27:08,920 --> 00:27:11,679 Speaker 1: tend to connect devices to the Internet through stuff like 449 00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:15,239 Speaker 1: local area networks and routers, and it ignores stuff like 450 00:27:15,280 --> 00:27:18,520 Speaker 1: the specific frequency bands that the devices and systems are using. 451 00:27:18,520 --> 00:27:21,040 Speaker 1: But the point is pretty valid. You get to a 452 00:27:21,040 --> 00:27:25,439 Speaker 1: point where networks, whether they are local or wide area, 453 00:27:25,760 --> 00:27:29,960 Speaker 1: or the Internet itself, end up getting congested. Now you've 454 00:27:30,040 --> 00:27:33,600 Speaker 1: likely heard about Verizon or A T and T talking 455 00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:37,320 Speaker 1: up some of their technologies as five G, but five 456 00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:41,240 Speaker 1: G as a fully mature technology has not really rolled 457 00:27:41,240 --> 00:27:45,199 Speaker 1: out yet as I'm recording this podcast in February two, nineteen, 458 00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:48,960 Speaker 1: and we're probably not going to see any real serious, 459 00:27:49,040 --> 00:27:53,399 Speaker 1: widespread deployment until twenty twenty. There'll be some in twenty 460 00:27:53,520 --> 00:27:57,840 Speaker 1: nineteen some pilot programs, but as far as national coverage, 461 00:27:57,880 --> 00:28:01,160 Speaker 1: we may be looking at twenty maybe twin twenty one. 462 00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:04,240 Speaker 1: Even then, it's going to be a gradual rollout, and 463 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:06,359 Speaker 1: it's going to take time to reach a lot of 464 00:28:06,400 --> 00:28:09,840 Speaker 1: different service areas. Dense urban environments will get it first 465 00:28:10,080 --> 00:28:12,879 Speaker 1: most likely, but the further out you are from one 466 00:28:12,920 --> 00:28:15,240 Speaker 1: of those, the longer it may take before you get 467 00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:17,520 Speaker 1: this coverage. So it's going to be a few years 468 00:28:17,560 --> 00:28:20,480 Speaker 1: before most of us can regularly take advantage of five G. 469 00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:23,119 Speaker 1: And on top of that, it's going to take another 470 00:28:23,200 --> 00:28:26,560 Speaker 1: few years for developers to create the apps and services 471 00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:29,679 Speaker 1: that will give value to the five G technology. I 472 00:28:29,760 --> 00:28:33,199 Speaker 1: say this pretty confidently because that's how it's unrolled in 473 00:28:33,280 --> 00:28:38,320 Speaker 1: previous generations. When four G came out in it took 474 00:28:38,360 --> 00:28:41,720 Speaker 1: about three years for services like video calls to really 475 00:28:41,760 --> 00:28:45,480 Speaker 1: mature and take advantage of four G technology, which makes sense, 476 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:47,080 Speaker 1: you know, it takes a few years for developers to 477 00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:50,800 Speaker 1: figure out how they can best leverage the platform. So 478 00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:53,640 Speaker 1: what is going on with these five G claims from 479 00:28:53,760 --> 00:28:58,080 Speaker 1: A T and T and Verizon, Well, it's largely marketing speak, 480 00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:01,680 Speaker 1: specifically more so with A T and T than Verizon. 481 00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:04,880 Speaker 1: But I'll explain. I think, as this episode is making clear, 482 00:29:04,960 --> 00:29:07,960 Speaker 1: the whole wireless generation thing is super confusing to the 483 00:29:08,000 --> 00:29:11,600 Speaker 1: average person. On the one hand, these companies are offering 484 00:29:11,640 --> 00:29:16,160 Speaker 1: up technologies and services that push beyond the median experience 485 00:29:16,280 --> 00:29:19,360 Speaker 1: of four G on their networks. On the other hand, 486 00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:22,880 Speaker 1: they're doing so with technologies that are not completely five G. 487 00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:24,800 Speaker 1: So you can think of it as saying that the 488 00:29:24,840 --> 00:29:29,080 Speaker 1: tech gives users access to five G speeds but isn't 489 00:29:29,120 --> 00:29:33,160 Speaker 1: actually fully five G itself. So let's start with a 490 00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:35,320 Speaker 1: T and T. The company is marketing some of its 491 00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:39,600 Speaker 1: advanced four G phones as five G E, and the 492 00:29:39,680 --> 00:29:43,959 Speaker 1: E stands for evolution. But these five G E phones 493 00:29:44,000 --> 00:29:47,880 Speaker 1: won't actually support five G wireless communication, and that's what 494 00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:51,760 Speaker 1: has some folks upset. The implication is that these phones 495 00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:55,800 Speaker 1: will run on frequencies and networks that enable really strong 496 00:29:56,000 --> 00:29:59,040 Speaker 1: data transfer rates, but that's not the same thing as 497 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:03,720 Speaker 1: running on actual five G technology. Instead, five G E 498 00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:08,320 Speaker 1: is really LTE advanced. It is capable of supporting data 499 00:30:08,360 --> 00:30:12,000 Speaker 1: transfer speeds of around forty megabits per second. To be 500 00:30:12,080 --> 00:30:14,600 Speaker 1: fair to a T and T, this isn't an unprecedented 501 00:30:14,840 --> 00:30:18,440 Speaker 1: marketing move. T Mobile did the same thing when it 502 00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:22,200 Speaker 1: rolled out an h s P A plus technology. This 503 00:30:22,320 --> 00:30:25,320 Speaker 1: was a three G technology that it rolled out, but 504 00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:29,000 Speaker 1: it was much faster than the older three G technology 505 00:30:29,080 --> 00:30:32,640 Speaker 1: T Mobile had previously deployed, so the company decided to 506 00:30:32,680 --> 00:30:36,720 Speaker 1: market it as four G, even though the technical specification 507 00:30:36,800 --> 00:30:39,800 Speaker 1: meant it was still three G. A T and T, 508 00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:42,840 Speaker 1: by the way, back in those days criticized T Mobile 509 00:30:42,880 --> 00:30:46,000 Speaker 1: for doing this and saying that they made things less 510 00:30:46,000 --> 00:30:49,760 Speaker 1: transparent and less understandable to customers. But then A T 511 00:30:49,880 --> 00:30:52,000 Speaker 1: and T did the same thing with its own hsp 512 00:30:52,160 --> 00:30:55,120 Speaker 1: A plus network and said that that was also four G. 513 00:30:55,400 --> 00:31:01,239 Speaker 1: So yeah, and people wonder why these topics are so 514 00:31:01,320 --> 00:31:06,440 Speaker 1: difficult to explain. Even without this marketing misinformation, it's hard 515 00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:09,800 Speaker 1: to talk about this stuff. Verizon, by the way, their 516 00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:14,320 Speaker 1: five G offering isn't for phones. It's instead for home networks, 517 00:31:14,360 --> 00:31:18,959 Speaker 1: So this is a home network solution instead of getting 518 00:31:19,000 --> 00:31:23,680 Speaker 1: say fiber to your house or copper. In many cases, 519 00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:26,040 Speaker 1: I'm still running on copper. I don't have fiber optics 520 00:31:26,040 --> 00:31:29,960 Speaker 1: at my house yet. Verizon's five G offering is also 521 00:31:30,040 --> 00:31:33,880 Speaker 1: not true five G, but it's a lot closer to 522 00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:35,960 Speaker 1: it than a T and T is it's using some 523 00:31:36,080 --> 00:31:38,880 Speaker 1: of the technologies that are part of the five G approach, 524 00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:41,720 Speaker 1: so it has lower latency, it has pretty good data 525 00:31:41,800 --> 00:31:46,640 Speaker 1: transfer rates, but it does not use the five G 526 00:31:47,120 --> 00:31:51,960 Speaker 1: in OUR communications standard. Instead, it relies upon a communication 527 00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:57,440 Speaker 1: standard that Verizon itself made called five G t F. Eventually, 528 00:31:57,760 --> 00:32:01,360 Speaker 1: Verizon plans to switch over to the industry agreed upon 529 00:32:01,640 --> 00:32:04,400 Speaker 1: upon standard of in OUR. That's going to require a 530 00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:10,520 Speaker 1: Verizon to actually switch out physical equipment at different stations 531 00:32:10,680 --> 00:32:13,400 Speaker 1: around its service area. So it's going to be a 532 00:32:13,400 --> 00:32:16,959 Speaker 1: big investment on the part of the company. So I 533 00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:21,840 Speaker 1: guess Verizon was weighing decisions. Does it go forward rolling 534 00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:25,400 Speaker 1: out this sort of temporary patch knowing that it's going 535 00:32:25,440 --> 00:32:27,800 Speaker 1: to have to undo that work in the future to 536 00:32:28,360 --> 00:32:34,560 Speaker 1: upgrade to in OUR standards, or does it wait and 537 00:32:34,640 --> 00:32:37,960 Speaker 1: try to just move with the industry to adopt in our. 538 00:32:38,480 --> 00:32:41,680 Speaker 1: The benefit of going forward is that you get an 539 00:32:41,760 --> 00:32:46,720 Speaker 1: early hit at those consumers who want to have those 540 00:32:46,760 --> 00:32:51,280 Speaker 1: five G features as soon as they possibly can. But 541 00:32:51,400 --> 00:32:53,240 Speaker 1: the danger is you're going to have to spend a 542 00:32:53,240 --> 00:32:56,400 Speaker 1: lot of money to change out all that equipment. Verizon, 543 00:32:56,480 --> 00:32:58,240 Speaker 1: for its part, is said they're not going to pass 544 00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:01,240 Speaker 1: those costs down to customers. They're gonna see a big 545 00:33:01,280 --> 00:33:05,719 Speaker 1: bump in their subscription uh fees in order for Verizon 546 00:33:05,800 --> 00:33:08,240 Speaker 1: to go in and change out all this equipment once 547 00:33:08,320 --> 00:33:10,680 Speaker 1: it's once the company has decided that the in our 548 00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:14,160 Speaker 1: standard is established enough for them to make this change. 549 00:33:14,200 --> 00:33:16,880 Speaker 1: There's also no guarantee of when that will happen, so 550 00:33:17,120 --> 00:33:21,560 Speaker 1: a lot of unanswered questions still. Alright, well, I put 551 00:33:21,600 --> 00:33:23,640 Speaker 1: it off as long as I possibly could, but it 552 00:33:23,720 --> 00:33:26,040 Speaker 1: is time to talk about what actually will make five 553 00:33:26,120 --> 00:33:28,440 Speaker 1: G work. I'm going to do this from a very 554 00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:33,480 Speaker 1: very high level bird's eye view is probably too low 555 00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:37,800 Speaker 1: of an altitude, let's say a satellite view of the technology. So, 556 00:33:38,840 --> 00:33:43,200 Speaker 1: like earlier generations of cellular technology, five GEN networks have 557 00:33:43,600 --> 00:33:47,480 Speaker 1: cell sites that cover a territory. The territory is divided 558 00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:52,360 Speaker 1: up into sectors. Moving through sectors needs to be seamless 559 00:33:52,520 --> 00:33:54,880 Speaker 1: for the end user. So for me and you, whenever 560 00:33:54,920 --> 00:33:58,120 Speaker 1: we're moving around, we want to make sure that we 561 00:33:58,200 --> 00:34:01,280 Speaker 1: don't notice when we pass them one sector to the next. 562 00:34:01,320 --> 00:34:03,400 Speaker 1: If I'm on a phone call with you and I 563 00:34:03,440 --> 00:34:05,480 Speaker 1: happen to be riding in the back of a car 564 00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:09,040 Speaker 1: and I'm not really concerned with how irritating it might 565 00:34:09,080 --> 00:34:11,040 Speaker 1: be for me to be on a phone conversation while 566 00:34:11,080 --> 00:34:13,560 Speaker 1: someone else is driving. I'm chatting with you. I don't 567 00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:16,040 Speaker 1: want there to be any interruption in our phone call 568 00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:18,880 Speaker 1: as the car travels from one side of a city 569 00:34:18,920 --> 00:34:21,239 Speaker 1: to the other, and while it's doing that, it's going 570 00:34:21,280 --> 00:34:24,080 Speaker 1: to be passing through these sectors. This was sort of 571 00:34:24,120 --> 00:34:27,440 Speaker 1: the basis of the cellular technology approach, this idea that 572 00:34:27,840 --> 00:34:32,000 Speaker 1: there needs to be this this handshake in between cell 573 00:34:32,080 --> 00:34:36,399 Speaker 1: towers that allows the seamless transition of a call from 574 00:34:36,440 --> 00:34:39,480 Speaker 1: one tower to the next. And it's a pretty complicated 575 00:34:39,520 --> 00:34:42,120 Speaker 1: technology I've talked about in previous episodes of tech Stuff, 576 00:34:42,160 --> 00:34:45,000 Speaker 1: so we're not gonna go into more detail, but just 577 00:34:45,040 --> 00:34:47,520 Speaker 1: to say that five G is built on that same 578 00:34:47,560 --> 00:34:51,480 Speaker 1: sort of foundation, this idea of cells that represent a 579 00:34:51,520 --> 00:34:54,560 Speaker 1: certain area of service and that those cells can hand 580 00:34:54,680 --> 00:34:59,000 Speaker 1: off service to neighboring cells as a person is moving 581 00:34:59,040 --> 00:35:03,319 Speaker 1: through the different set There's so an important part of 582 00:35:03,360 --> 00:35:07,000 Speaker 1: the technology. The cells sites have to connect to a 583 00:35:07,120 --> 00:35:11,440 Speaker 1: network backbone. They themselves aren't just magical conversation, you know, 584 00:35:11,640 --> 00:35:15,839 Speaker 1: telecommunications points. They have to connect to a a larger 585 00:35:16,080 --> 00:35:20,680 Speaker 1: communications network. That connection can be wired, or it can 586 00:35:20,719 --> 00:35:25,680 Speaker 1: be wireless. Five G will use wider bandwidths of frequencies 587 00:35:25,680 --> 00:35:29,400 Speaker 1: than four G did, but the encoding for data across 588 00:35:29,480 --> 00:35:32,680 Speaker 1: the five G networks is similar to that of four G. 589 00:35:32,920 --> 00:35:36,279 Speaker 1: It's called O F d M. But there's really no 590 00:35:36,440 --> 00:35:38,600 Speaker 1: need for us to get into that too deeply. It 591 00:35:38,640 --> 00:35:41,480 Speaker 1: gets way too technical and it becomes nearly impossible to 592 00:35:41,520 --> 00:35:44,880 Speaker 1: talk about without visual aids. It's just important to remember 593 00:35:44,920 --> 00:35:48,200 Speaker 1: this is the methodology by which five G will convert 594 00:35:49,160 --> 00:35:53,680 Speaker 1: data into signals and then from signals back into data. 595 00:35:54,760 --> 00:35:57,799 Speaker 1: I know that signals are kind of a kind of data, 596 00:35:57,840 --> 00:35:59,680 Speaker 1: but you don't understand what I mean. It's for the 597 00:35:59,680 --> 00:36:02,719 Speaker 1: trend mission of that data. Five G is going to 598 00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:06,120 Speaker 1: run on two bands of frequencies that are on either 599 00:36:06,200 --> 00:36:09,919 Speaker 1: side of six giga hurts um, but by other either side, 600 00:36:09,960 --> 00:36:12,439 Speaker 1: I mean significantly on either side of six gig hurts. 601 00:36:12,480 --> 00:36:15,120 Speaker 1: Six gig hurts is kind of the dividing line between them. 602 00:36:15,200 --> 00:36:20,000 Speaker 1: So it hurts is one wave cycle per second, So 603 00:36:20,080 --> 00:36:23,360 Speaker 1: if you have a wave that's going at one hurts, 604 00:36:23,480 --> 00:36:27,439 Speaker 1: it means it takes a full second for one wave 605 00:36:27,520 --> 00:36:30,759 Speaker 1: length to pass through a given point. You've identified a 606 00:36:30,800 --> 00:36:35,240 Speaker 1: point you're measuring how many radio waves passed that point 607 00:36:35,280 --> 00:36:38,680 Speaker 1: in one second. You count one, that's one hurts. Six 608 00:36:38,719 --> 00:36:42,120 Speaker 1: giga hurts would be a frequency in which six billion 609 00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:46,879 Speaker 1: wave cycles pass a given point every second. The low 610 00:36:46,960 --> 00:36:51,840 Speaker 1: frequency networks will operate within existing WiFi and cellular bands, 611 00:36:51,880 --> 00:36:54,960 Speaker 1: so at that wavelength, signals can travel the same distance 612 00:36:55,080 --> 00:36:57,719 Speaker 1: as what we use today. The nice thing about that 613 00:36:57,800 --> 00:36:59,880 Speaker 1: means you don't have to build out a ton of 614 00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:02,840 Speaker 1: new cells to get the same coverage. You could actually 615 00:37:02,880 --> 00:37:07,320 Speaker 1: add equipment to existing cell towers to support five G 616 00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:11,000 Speaker 1: because you can transmit just as far as you could 617 00:37:11,000 --> 00:37:17,160 Speaker 1: with the four G methodology. However, those frequencies aren't able 618 00:37:17,200 --> 00:37:19,920 Speaker 1: to carry quite as much data on them as the 619 00:37:19,960 --> 00:37:26,080 Speaker 1: high frequencies ones can, so you won't get crazy fast 620 00:37:26,560 --> 00:37:30,520 Speaker 1: or a crazy huge data transfer rates. They would still 621 00:37:30,560 --> 00:37:34,840 Speaker 1: probably be better than four G, but not the enormous, 622 00:37:34,840 --> 00:37:37,600 Speaker 1: incredible potential ones we've heard about, but we would still 623 00:37:37,640 --> 00:37:44,240 Speaker 1: probably see data transfer rates that are better than LTE. However, 624 00:37:44,280 --> 00:37:47,160 Speaker 1: the high frequency five G tech is a different story. 625 00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:51,640 Speaker 1: It will rely on millimeter wave frequencies around the twenty 626 00:37:51,680 --> 00:37:55,279 Speaker 1: eight and thirty nine giga hurts bands because that's where 627 00:37:55,320 --> 00:37:58,680 Speaker 1: there's a whole lot of space for big communications channels 628 00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:01,879 Speaker 1: that can carry huge amounts of data very quickly. These 629 00:38:01,960 --> 00:38:05,799 Speaker 1: radio waves can't travel as far with enough power to 630 00:38:05,840 --> 00:38:10,239 Speaker 1: be as reliable as the lower frequency variant can, so 631 00:38:10,280 --> 00:38:12,520 Speaker 1: in other words, they don't have as great a range 632 00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:16,600 Speaker 1: of transmission, which means companies wouldn't have to probably build 633 00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:21,279 Speaker 1: out a lot more five G cells to make their 634 00:38:21,320 --> 00:38:25,080 Speaker 1: network have enough coverage. On the flip side, these cells 635 00:38:25,120 --> 00:38:28,080 Speaker 1: wouldn't have to be nearly as powerful as the cell 636 00:38:28,120 --> 00:38:31,480 Speaker 1: towers we rely upon today. They could actually require much 637 00:38:31,600 --> 00:38:34,480 Speaker 1: less power to operate, so instead of using a few 638 00:38:34,560 --> 00:38:38,720 Speaker 1: high powered cellular antenna towers to cover a given region, 639 00:38:39,200 --> 00:38:42,680 Speaker 1: you would have a whole bunch of low power, high 640 00:38:42,800 --> 00:38:47,640 Speaker 1: frequency transmitters. For some regions, like densely populated urban areas, 641 00:38:47,960 --> 00:38:51,319 Speaker 1: many of the carriers out there have already built out 642 00:38:51,400 --> 00:38:53,840 Speaker 1: the infrastructure that could support this type of five G. 643 00:38:54,600 --> 00:38:58,239 Speaker 1: They're already these additional cell towers that could just have 644 00:38:58,320 --> 00:39:02,279 Speaker 1: five G tacked onto them and the infrastructure is good 645 00:39:02,280 --> 00:39:05,279 Speaker 1: to go. However, in other areas, like in suburbs, once 646 00:39:05,320 --> 00:39:08,719 Speaker 1: you move out of these densely populated areas, it can 647 00:39:08,760 --> 00:39:11,719 Speaker 1: get harder to get the permission necessary to build out 648 00:39:11,719 --> 00:39:14,560 Speaker 1: the infrastructure. There are a lot of communities that don't 649 00:39:14,640 --> 00:39:19,200 Speaker 1: want to have these these transmission towers erected in their community. 650 00:39:19,280 --> 00:39:22,800 Speaker 1: It's sort of that not in my backyard, the Nimbigi principle. 651 00:39:22,880 --> 00:39:25,480 Speaker 1: I don't want that to be on the top of 652 00:39:25,520 --> 00:39:28,080 Speaker 1: this building. It's too close to my house. That kind 653 00:39:28,080 --> 00:39:31,719 Speaker 1: of thing. So this isn't a technical challenge. This is 654 00:39:31,760 --> 00:39:35,160 Speaker 1: a social or political challenge that companies are going to 655 00:39:35,200 --> 00:39:38,520 Speaker 1: have to overcome to have a good five G deployment 656 00:39:38,560 --> 00:39:41,919 Speaker 1: if they want to use these high frequencies. Now, as 657 00:39:41,920 --> 00:39:44,880 Speaker 1: I record this, a T and T is pre prepping. 658 00:39:44,920 --> 00:39:48,080 Speaker 1: It's a true five G rollout in a few select cities, 659 00:39:48,440 --> 00:39:51,320 Speaker 1: and it will be of modest size and will likely 660 00:39:51,360 --> 00:39:53,680 Speaker 1: only see a few phones in two thousand nineteen that 661 00:39:53,719 --> 00:39:57,319 Speaker 1: actually support five G technology. But at least we could 662 00:39:57,320 --> 00:40:00,200 Speaker 1: say those phones and services will be true five G 663 00:40:00,920 --> 00:40:03,719 Speaker 1: rather than four G that happens to be marketed as 664 00:40:03,719 --> 00:40:06,759 Speaker 1: if it were five G, and five G could really 665 00:40:06,800 --> 00:40:10,040 Speaker 1: transform how we get internet at home. If carriers can 666 00:40:10,040 --> 00:40:12,960 Speaker 1: get permission to build out those five G networks and 667 00:40:13,080 --> 00:40:17,400 Speaker 1: provide coverage, they can run fiber to specific cell sites 668 00:40:17,440 --> 00:40:20,920 Speaker 1: to those cell towers, they could connect those by fiber 669 00:40:21,000 --> 00:40:24,080 Speaker 1: to the network backbone, and then they can use wireless 670 00:40:24,080 --> 00:40:28,200 Speaker 1: transmissions to deliver internet service to customer homes, so there's 671 00:40:28,239 --> 00:40:32,240 Speaker 1: no need to run fiber out to the actual customer homes. 672 00:40:32,239 --> 00:40:37,160 Speaker 1: This cuts way down on cost. Uh. It also speeds 673 00:40:37,160 --> 00:40:40,319 Speaker 1: things up significantly. You don't have to dig up the 674 00:40:40,440 --> 00:40:43,240 Speaker 1: ground and bury cables and all that kind of stuff 675 00:40:43,239 --> 00:40:47,560 Speaker 1: and disrupt traffic. It could be a much faster deployment. 676 00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:52,520 Speaker 1: Assuming that the carriers get that permission to erect the 677 00:40:52,520 --> 00:40:56,440 Speaker 1: the cell towers or to add the technology to existing 678 00:40:56,480 --> 00:41:01,160 Speaker 1: cell towers, so you can get true broadband speed delivered 679 00:41:01,560 --> 00:41:04,680 Speaker 1: wirelessly to your home. You wouldn't have to have some 680 00:41:04,719 --> 00:41:07,960 Speaker 1: technician come out and hook up cable. You would just 681 00:41:08,040 --> 00:41:11,480 Speaker 1: get a wireless modem from your carrier. The other nice 682 00:41:11,480 --> 00:41:14,160 Speaker 1: thing about this is that if it does in fact happen, 683 00:41:14,680 --> 00:41:17,840 Speaker 1: it should mean that more people in the United States 684 00:41:17,840 --> 00:41:22,000 Speaker 1: in particular, will get more choices for their broadband provider. 685 00:41:22,160 --> 00:41:25,719 Speaker 1: Right now, a lot of people, myself included, if you 686 00:41:25,760 --> 00:41:29,560 Speaker 1: want true broadband speeds, if you want the faster speeds 687 00:41:29,600 --> 00:41:33,120 Speaker 1: in your area, you're limited to one provider. There's not 688 00:41:33,280 --> 00:41:37,120 Speaker 1: really a choice there so at my house, there's one 689 00:41:37,160 --> 00:41:40,840 Speaker 1: provider that can deliver the speeds I want to my house. 690 00:41:41,360 --> 00:41:47,000 Speaker 1: The next closest one is slower than the one I have, 691 00:41:47,640 --> 00:41:50,279 Speaker 1: so that's not really acceptable to me. And there's not 692 00:41:50,360 --> 00:41:54,080 Speaker 1: a lot of incentive for the other carriers to spend 693 00:41:54,120 --> 00:41:56,480 Speaker 1: the huge amount of money you would take to roll 694 00:41:56,560 --> 00:41:59,520 Speaker 1: fiber out to my house and compete with the one 695 00:41:59,600 --> 00:42:04,200 Speaker 1: provider or that is delivering that kind of service. By 696 00:42:04,239 --> 00:42:09,600 Speaker 1: going the wireless route, you've reduced the cost of deployment significantly, 697 00:42:10,239 --> 00:42:14,160 Speaker 1: and in theory, you could have a lot more competition 698 00:42:14,320 --> 00:42:17,919 Speaker 1: in those same areas, and competition is fantastic. We want 699 00:42:18,120 --> 00:42:23,919 Speaker 1: competition because when there's competition, the consumer benefits. Companies will 700 00:42:23,960 --> 00:42:28,080 Speaker 1: try to be competitive and pricing and features, and you 701 00:42:28,120 --> 00:42:33,000 Speaker 1: can pick whichever package best suits your needs instead of 702 00:42:33,040 --> 00:42:35,520 Speaker 1: just being stuck with whatever happens to be available in 703 00:42:35,520 --> 00:42:40,080 Speaker 1: your area. This is my dream that we get to 704 00:42:40,200 --> 00:42:43,480 Speaker 1: that that future. I'm hoping that that actually happens. Now. 705 00:42:43,680 --> 00:42:46,200 Speaker 1: I would advise folks to hold off on jumping onto 706 00:42:46,200 --> 00:42:49,400 Speaker 1: the five G bandwagon for a little bit. The deployment 707 00:42:49,440 --> 00:42:52,000 Speaker 1: is going to take some time and initial results might 708 00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:55,279 Speaker 1: be a little disappointing. At first, I suspect it's going 709 00:42:55,320 --> 00:42:58,840 Speaker 1: to be twenty or maybe even before we start seeing 710 00:42:59,120 --> 00:43:03,839 Speaker 1: any really impelling implementations of five G. Now I say that, 711 00:43:04,520 --> 00:43:07,640 Speaker 1: but I also imagine I'll probably ignore my own advice 712 00:43:07,760 --> 00:43:10,640 Speaker 1: and jump into the five G world earlier rather than later. 713 00:43:11,360 --> 00:43:13,480 Speaker 1: So what the heck do I know? But I know 714 00:43:13,560 --> 00:43:17,120 Speaker 1: that at least for the first year, I'll likely be 715 00:43:17,200 --> 00:43:20,440 Speaker 1: somewhat disappointed, which is crazy because I already know this 716 00:43:20,520 --> 00:43:22,680 Speaker 1: going into it. Why would I be disappointed if I 717 00:43:22,680 --> 00:43:24,800 Speaker 1: know it's already gonna happen, because I'm in a rational 718 00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:27,399 Speaker 1: human being. I think that's a good time to wrap up. 719 00:43:28,000 --> 00:43:30,960 Speaker 1: If you guys have any suggestions for future episodes of 720 00:43:31,000 --> 00:43:33,600 Speaker 1: tech Stuff, why don't you send me a message. The 721 00:43:33,640 --> 00:43:37,200 Speaker 1: email addresses tech Stuff at how stuff works dot com, 722 00:43:37,320 --> 00:43:40,080 Speaker 1: or hop on over to our website that's tech Stuff 723 00:43:40,120 --> 00:43:43,200 Speaker 1: podcast dot com. You'll find an archive of all of 724 00:43:43,200 --> 00:43:46,279 Speaker 1: our episodes there. You also find links to find us 725 00:43:46,320 --> 00:43:49,960 Speaker 1: on social media like Twitter and Facebook, and you'll find 726 00:43:49,960 --> 00:43:52,360 Speaker 1: a link to our store. And so we're at t 727 00:43:52,600 --> 00:43:55,600 Speaker 1: public dot com slash tech stuff, where every purchase you 728 00:43:55,680 --> 00:43:57,399 Speaker 1: make in our store goes to help with the show, 729 00:43:57,440 --> 00:44:00,120 Speaker 1: and we greatly appreciate it, and I will talk to 730 00:44:00,120 --> 00:44:09,000 Speaker 1: you again really soon for more on this and thousands 731 00:44:09,040 --> 00:44:21,160 Speaker 1: of other topics, because it how stuff works. Dot com