WEBVTT - What is 5G? 0:00:04.120 --> 0:00:07.160 Get in touch with technology with tech Stuff from how 0:00:07.200 --> 0:00:13.760 stuff works dot com. Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:16.759 I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 0:00:16.800 --> 0:00:18.720 How Stuff Works, and I heart radio and I love 0:00:18.760 --> 0:00:22.360 of all things tech. And you've probably heard a little 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:25.639 bit about five G technology as of late. Back in 0:00:25.800 --> 0:00:29.040 January two thousand nineteen, some of the buzz around five 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:31.800 G was all about how computer manufacturers are starting to 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:35.120 build in five G technology into the next generation of 0:00:35.200 --> 0:00:38.880 smartphones and laptops and other devices, and both A T 0:00:39.000 --> 0:00:42.919 and T and Verizon had marketing pushes already that mentioned 0:00:42.960 --> 0:00:46.400 five G in recent products and services, despite the fact 0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:51.080 that these technologies aren't actually fully five G. But we'll 0:00:51.120 --> 0:00:53.320 get to that. And then you had the President of 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:56.320 the United States saying that the US companies should really 0:00:56.360 --> 0:00:59.240 be rolling out five G technology faster, and that we 0:00:59.240 --> 0:01:03.000 should already be looking into six G, which isn't even 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:07.000 a thing. Heck, five G isn't really a thing yet, 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:11.720 at least not practically. Wireless technology can be confusing on 0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:14.080 a good day, so I figured it's high time I 0:01:14.160 --> 0:01:17.120 tackled this subject. So, what the heck is five G 0:01:17.600 --> 0:01:20.000 and why does it matter. I'm going to try and 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:22.640 cover a bit about how five G works as well, 0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:25.800 but it gets super complicated, so I'm gonna save that 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:28.000 for the end, and I'm not going to get too 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:33.520 technical because one it would require eight episodes, and two 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:37.320 I don't fully understand all the ins and outs myself, 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:40.760 so just being fully transparent there. Anyway, let's get the 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:44.040 relatively easy part out of the way. First. Five G 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:49.160 refers to the fifth generation of wireless standards. Now that 0:01:49.600 --> 0:01:53.440 by itself sounds pretty straightforward, but in reality, things get 0:01:53.520 --> 0:01:57.240 really messy when you start looking into details. While each 0:01:57.440 --> 0:02:01.680 G refers to a different generation, there were different standards 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:05.720 within each generation, making it a bit more complicated, and 0:02:05.800 --> 0:02:09.600 generations would overlap one another. While we would be rolling 0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:13.560 out four G, you still had companies investing and improving 0:02:13.680 --> 0:02:18.160 three G. So this isn't very clear cut. It's not 0:02:18.280 --> 0:02:20.840 like you can just look at one span of years 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:24.000 and say this represents two G and in the next 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:27.080 band this represents three G. It's a little more wibbly 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:31.720 wobbly timey whymy than that. But this is also easier 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:34.480 to think about if I use an analogy, something that 0:02:34.560 --> 0:02:37.160 we're all familiar with. So I'm going to talk about computers. 0:02:37.600 --> 0:02:40.919 I'm going to arbitrarily divide up personal computers into different 0:02:40.960 --> 0:02:43.840 generations for the purposes of this example. But please keep 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:46.440 in mind this is really just to illustrate a point, 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:48.239 and I'm going to be skipping over a lot of stuff. 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:51.400 So I am going to say that in the first 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:55.880 generation of mainstream personal computers, once you get out of 0:02:55.919 --> 0:02:59.640 the hobbyist level, we have the Apple two computers and 0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:02.960 the I b MPC computers. Now I'm ignoring all the 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:06.000 other models out there, like the Common sixty four really 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:09.200 in just to simplify things. So we're talking about Apple 0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:12.240 and IBM computers. So these two types of computers were 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:14.760 in the first generation, but they each operated on their 0:03:14.760 --> 0:03:17.440 own chip sets and operating systems, so they were not 0:03:17.560 --> 0:03:21.399 compatible with each other. They're both first generation, but they're 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:26.000 both proprietary in their own approach. In the second generation, 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:30.560 we then have the Macintosh computer and the IBM Clone computers. 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:34.440 Now these computers were more advanced than their predecessors, but 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:38.800 still were incompatible with each other. Then in the third generation, 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:42.240 you have Mac computers, so no longer just Macintosh. Now 0:03:42.320 --> 0:03:46.280 we call them Max and all the different Windows based machines, 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:49.960 so each generation had more than one standard in it, 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:54.480 and the same can be said for wireless technologies. I've 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:57.920 covered the different generations of wireless tech and other episodes, 0:03:58.040 --> 0:04:01.200 but I'm going to give a cliffs notes version of 0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:03.600 what it was all about on this episode. So we 0:04:03.640 --> 0:04:08.080 could say that each generation is marked by two major features. 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:12.880 First that each generation improved upon the data transfer rates 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:17.920 of its preceding generation, and second that each generation changed 0:04:17.960 --> 0:04:21.960 the encoding methods for data, which not only enabled these 0:04:22.040 --> 0:04:26.200 improved data transfer rates, but also made each succeeding generation 0:04:26.480 --> 0:04:29.560 incompatible with the previous ones, meaning that if you had 0:04:29.600 --> 0:04:33.920 an old cellular phone or device with cellular wireless capabilities, 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:37.320 it wouldn't be able to take advantage of these newer 0:04:37.360 --> 0:04:40.479 wireless communications technologies. If you had a two G cell phone, 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:44.440 you could not use the three G cell phone network. Typically, 0:04:44.920 --> 0:04:49.480 newer devices would have some compatibility with older standards, usually 0:04:49.480 --> 0:04:52.880 because it takes time to roll out these new systems, 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:58.680 so you want to have built in backwards compatibility so 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:01.320 that if you can't get access to the new network, 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:04.839 you can at least still use the older network. This 0:05:05.000 --> 0:05:07.760 sometimes would even require the user to make the switch 0:05:08.000 --> 0:05:11.240 on uh the actual device they were using to go 0:05:11.400 --> 0:05:15.599 to an older wireless network. But even just saying that 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:19.839 each generation is faster than the previous one isn't really accurate. 0:05:19.880 --> 0:05:23.120 I mentioned just a minute ago these generations can overlap. 0:05:23.680 --> 0:05:28.400 So when each generation first emerged out of the development 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:30.960 phase into the deployment phase, so it's becoming a real 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:34.520 world thing, it wasn't really capable of delivering its full 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:39.400 potential right away. Nearly every generation saw improvements and data 0:05:39.480 --> 0:05:42.960 rates over time, and sometimes you're in a situation in 0:05:43.000 --> 0:05:47.160 which the network or your device can't manage the ideal 0:05:47.200 --> 0:05:52.159 transfer rates. So you've got a device that maybe runs 0:05:52.160 --> 0:05:54.560 on let's say the three G network, and you've got 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:58.040 a three G network, but there could be other elements 0:05:58.080 --> 0:06:02.240 at play that mean you can't get the ideal speeds 0:06:02.279 --> 0:06:05.479 of the three G network even though you're using the 0:06:05.520 --> 0:06:08.719 proper technologies. I'll talk more about that in a second 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:12.479 to actually we can cover it now. So I'm specifically 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:16.000 thinking about situations like the one I would find myself 0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:19.200 in when I would attend c e S a few 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:22.840 years ago, maybe a decade ago. So CEES the Consumer 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:26.760 Electronics Show is heavily attended by people all using multiple 0:06:26.800 --> 0:06:31.400 devices that are tapping into the local mobile networks. So 0:06:31.600 --> 0:06:37.400 there are phones, their tablets, their computers. There's tons of interference. 0:06:37.440 --> 0:06:40.159 There's just there's a lot of trying to connect to 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:43.120 the network at c E S And it doesn't really 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:46.120 matter which carrier you have. The fact that there's so 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:49.440 many people there and so many devices, all the carriers 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:53.600 are hit with requests to tap into the networks at 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:57.080 the same time, so it tends to over tax those networks. 0:06:57.279 --> 0:06:59.120 And even if your phone indicates that you have a 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:01.400 strong signal, I can look at my phone it says, oh, 0:07:01.400 --> 0:07:04.520 I've got full bars of signal. I can easily connect 0:07:04.520 --> 0:07:06.760 to the network. You would end up with a terrible 0:07:06.880 --> 0:07:10.200 data transfer rate where you couldn't even send a text 0:07:10.280 --> 0:07:12.280 message out. There were times when I would switch my 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:16.760 phone to an older wireless standard and pop onto a 0:07:16.880 --> 0:07:20.720 less congested network. Even though the top data transfer rate 0:07:20.760 --> 0:07:25.680 of the older generation was less impressive than the current generation, 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:30.080 I would get better results due to the lack of traffic. So, yeah, 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:34.240 this gets really messy. It's not so clear cut. Now, 0:07:34.320 --> 0:07:37.280 let's talk about the generations themselves and keep in mind 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:39.720 Like I said, these generations had a lot of overlap. 0:07:40.080 --> 0:07:43.720 Some regions like Asia would roll out new generations faster 0:07:44.280 --> 0:07:46.880 than other parts of the world, like North America. So 0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:49.280 there's no hard and fast dates that we can use 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:53.440 for this, because the deployment of each generation took a 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:56.760 long time and didn't start everywhere all at the same time. 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:00.240 Now you could argue that there is a U O 0:08:00.360 --> 0:08:03.800 G generation of wireless communications before we even get the 0:08:03.880 --> 0:08:09.320 one G. The zero G generation would include radio telephones. 0:08:09.440 --> 0:08:12.760 This is before there were cellular networks, before there were 0:08:12.800 --> 0:08:17.520 cell towers, so this is pure radio transmission. The following 0:08:17.560 --> 0:08:21.880 generations would move to cell tower technology and there would 0:08:21.920 --> 0:08:25.320 be this new technology that would allow a handoff or 0:08:25.320 --> 0:08:28.640 a handshake from one cell tower to another to allow 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:32.760 a call to transfer from one tower to another tower 0:08:33.320 --> 0:08:37.080 without interrupting the actual call. The first generation of wireless 0:08:37.080 --> 0:08:41.520 communication standards only carried voice signals. There was no data 0:08:41.640 --> 0:08:45.480 beyond voice, and it included a lot of different standards 0:08:45.520 --> 0:08:48.800 like A MPs or AMPS in North America and in 0:08:49.080 --> 0:08:52.040 MT in Eastern Europe, or T A C S TAX 0:08:52.520 --> 0:08:55.480 in the UK, and several more UH and it was 0:08:55.520 --> 0:09:00.720 analog that was the analog generation of wireless community cation standards. 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:04.839 The second generation, or two G, was able to carry 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:07.439 not just voice, but data signals. This was the first 0:09:07.679 --> 0:09:12.840 digital way of carrying cell phone conversations. Also, this allowed 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:16.679 for encryption. You could encrypt the signal. In the analog days, 0:09:17.280 --> 0:09:20.559 you could technically tap in and listen to people talking 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:26.120 on wireless communications because it was unencrypted. That changed with 0:09:26.160 --> 0:09:29.000 two G. So this is our switch from analog to 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:31.840 digital cellular phones, and it also introduced us to the 0:09:31.880 --> 0:09:34.959 era of text messaging that was suddenly possible with two G. 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:38.800 And the standards in this generation included G S M C, 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:42.880 d M A, and T d M A. Then, depending 0:09:42.960 --> 0:09:45.560 upon whom you ask, we get a bit of a cheat. 0:09:45.800 --> 0:09:49.640 This happens in between lots of the different generations. So 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:52.520 there's some people who say there's a generation two point 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:56.200 five G or enhanced two G. This was not a 0:09:56.240 --> 0:10:00.560 total departure from the two G standards and methods of operation, 0:10:00.720 --> 0:10:04.280 but it allowed for better data transfer rates. So G, 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:07.640 p R S and EDGE would be considered two point 0:10:07.679 --> 0:10:11.280 five G technologies, at least by some people. Other people say, no, 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:13.920 you don't split out two point five G. Those are 0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:16.920 all two G standards, so it should all belong in 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:20.439 the same family, and because no one really agrees with this, 0:10:20.800 --> 0:10:23.840 it makes matters even more confusing than they already were. 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:26.559 Then we get the three G that allowed enough data 0:10:26.679 --> 0:10:29.840 throughput for video signals to come through. I would argue 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:33.320 the three G advances are what allowed truly useful applications 0:10:33.320 --> 0:10:39.040 of smartphone technology, although interestingly some companies like Apple took 0:10:39.040 --> 0:10:43.559 their time actually embracing three G. Standards included U T 0:10:43.880 --> 0:10:46.360 M S C D M A, two thousand H S 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:49.360 P D A, and E V D O, and like 0:10:49.480 --> 0:10:52.320 two G, some people split that generation out to be 0:10:52.720 --> 0:10:56.520 three and three point five or even three three point 0:10:56.520 --> 0:11:00.320 five and three point seven five G. The real purpose 0:11:00.320 --> 0:11:02.840 of that, again is to single out advances that allowed 0:11:02.840 --> 0:11:06.320 for better data transfer rates. By the end of the 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:10.280 three G development cycle, some standards could support data transfer 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:13.040 rates of a few megabits per second, whereas the two 0:11:13.080 --> 0:11:16.520 G technologies maxed out at a couple of hundred kilobits 0:11:16.679 --> 0:11:20.280 per second. So I'll talk a little bit about what 0:11:20.400 --> 0:11:23.000 these data transfer rates mean in a second so that 0:11:23.040 --> 0:11:25.040 we get a better understanding of it. But essentially it 0:11:25.080 --> 0:11:27.839 meant that you could send more information in the same 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:32.720 amount of time as older devices could do. Right now, 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:35.880 the latest tech we can use belongs to four G, 0:11:36.440 --> 0:11:39.080 or you could argue four point five if you wanted to. 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:45.679 This is the enhanced protocol. The standards would be Y 0:11:45.760 --> 0:11:49.800 MAX and Long Term Evolution or LTE. Now these days 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:53.400 you'd be more likely to talk about LTE Advanced. To 0:11:53.480 --> 0:11:55.920 be a four G system, it first has to meet 0:11:55.960 --> 0:12:00.800 requirements that were established in the International Mobile Telecommunication Advanced 0:12:00.920 --> 0:12:05.680 Set of Standards. The International Telecommunication Union is a department 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:09.599 in the United Nations and it's responsible for creating those standards. 0:12:10.120 --> 0:12:13.920 This technology is still scaling up today with data transfer 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:16.760 rates and the hundreds of megabits per second in some 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:20.400 of the implementations. Some of them are even hitting up 0:12:20.400 --> 0:12:24.720 to a gigabit per second at least in theory. Now, again, 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:27.560 that doesn't mean you're actually going to see data transfer 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:30.839 rates at that level, even if you have a compatible 0:12:30.840 --> 0:12:33.680 device and service. But in general, if you do have 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:36.560 those things, you'll be able to download or stream content 0:12:36.679 --> 0:12:39.600 more effectively than those of us who do not have 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:43.560 access to those services and products. So what does this 0:12:43.640 --> 0:12:46.640 all mean for us? Well, it mostly boils down to 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:51.640 two really big things per generation, where do our phones work? 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:55.480 And how much data can we access per given unit 0:12:55.559 --> 0:12:58.680 of time. So back during the two G days, the 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:02.640 United States was split between using the G s M standard, 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:06.200 which was also used in Europe and Asia, or the 0:13:06.280 --> 0:13:09.600 c d M A standard, which was primarily just used 0:13:09.600 --> 0:13:11.160 in the United States. There were a couple of other 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:14.400 places that also used it, but US was the primary 0:13:15.000 --> 0:13:18.000 uh place where you would find c d M A technology. 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:20.520 So if you happen to have service with a T 0:13:20.720 --> 0:13:23.240 and T or T Mobile, you had a G s 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:26.120 M phone which at least had the potential to work 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:29.320 on European networks. That wasn't a guarantee, by the way. 0:13:29.440 --> 0:13:33.720 You actually had to have a special band of antenna 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:35.760 and chip in your phone in order to be able 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:38.360 to use European networks even if you had a G 0:13:38.559 --> 0:13:40.880 s M phone, but at least in theory it was 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:45.720 compatible if you were on Verizon or Sprint in those days, 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:47.680 and that meant you were using a c d M 0:13:47.720 --> 0:13:51.920 A phone, which was not compatible with Europe's systems at all. 0:13:52.080 --> 0:13:53.800 So you would have to get a different phone if 0:13:53.840 --> 0:13:56.760 you wanted to travel to Europe and and call somebody. 0:13:57.080 --> 0:14:01.320 Now that's just one example of one ACE where you 0:14:01.440 --> 0:14:03.920 had a standard that works in certain parts of the 0:14:03.920 --> 0:14:06.240 world and not in others. This is still true for 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:10.840 a lot of different wireless communications technologies. All right, we've 0:14:10.840 --> 0:14:13.280 set the ground. We're gonna go into a little more 0:14:13.360 --> 0:14:15.800 detail about data transfer rates and talk about five G 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:18.600 in just a moment. But first let's take a quick break. 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:30.960 More recent generations of wireless communications technologies generally provide better 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:33.960 data transfer speeds, and we often refer to them as 0:14:34.000 --> 0:14:37.840 being faster, that the four G network is faster than 0:14:37.880 --> 0:14:41.880 the three G network, But really what we mean is 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:45.680 that the more recent generations have a higher capacity to 0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:50.960 deliver information on our devices, because ultimately, all this information 0:14:51.120 --> 0:14:54.080 is traveling at the speed of light more or less, 0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:58.640 well less, you can't go more, so no transmission is 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:02.840 really faster than any other. It's not like the signals 0:15:02.880 --> 0:15:06.200 of two G traveled more slowly than the signals of 0:15:06.240 --> 0:15:08.840 three G. They all travel at the same speed. It's 0:15:08.880 --> 0:15:13.680 just that the later generations were able to carry more 0:15:13.800 --> 0:15:17.240 data in that same amount of speed. So let's go 0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:20.280 with another analogy. I love using analogies to explain this 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:22.800 kind of stuff, and we're going to talk about cars. 0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:27.000 I think that makes it fairly clear. So in this analogy, 0:15:27.320 --> 0:15:30.320 let's say you've got a smart car and you've got 0:15:30.320 --> 0:15:33.360 a semitruck, and they're both on the same stretch of road, 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:36.400 and the road's speed limit is thirty miles per hour. 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:39.120 And for the sake of this example, we're going to 0:15:39.160 --> 0:15:42.920 assume both drivers are following that speed limit, which I 0:15:42.960 --> 0:15:46.360 admit is pretty low, but they're both following it. So 0:15:46.400 --> 0:15:49.120 in the world telecommunications, we don't have any choice but 0:15:49.200 --> 0:15:51.960 to follow the universal speed limit. You cannot go faster 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:55.080 than light. But here we're just saying that the drivers 0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:58.640 will not go above the speed limits. So the smart 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:02.720 car in the semi truck are moving at the same speed. However, 0:16:03.160 --> 0:16:06.560 you can fit a whole lot more stuff inside that 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:09.680 semi truck than you could in the little smart car, 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:13.120 So you can deliver a huge amount of material in 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:15.680 one trip in the semi truck, and the smart car 0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:18.400 would have to take lots of trips to deliver the 0:16:18.400 --> 0:16:22.640 same amount of stuff. So, while both vehicles or protocols 0:16:22.960 --> 0:16:26.840 are going at the same speed, one can finish a 0:16:26.880 --> 0:16:29.720 given job faster than the other one because it can 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:34.400 carry more. So in my description of c E S earlier, 0:16:34.440 --> 0:16:38.000 we could say that I actually jumped into a smart 0:16:38.040 --> 0:16:41.320 car because it could take advantage of a special smart 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:44.320 car lane on the road and travel at the full 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:47.760 blistering speed of thirty miles per hour. Meanwhile, the semi 0:16:47.840 --> 0:16:51.120 truck was stuck in the normal traffic lane, and that 0:16:51.160 --> 0:16:52.960 one was getting backed up because there were just too 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:56.320 many people trying to get on that same road and 0:16:56.320 --> 0:16:59.160 it was making traffic slow down. But because I was 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:03.960 in the less used older lane, I had switched from 0:17:04.000 --> 0:17:07.560 three G t two G. Let's say I could go 0:17:08.119 --> 0:17:12.560 pretty fast because there wasn't anyone in my way. That's 0:17:12.600 --> 0:17:15.199 one of the things that we talked about when we're 0:17:15.200 --> 0:17:20.520 looking at relying upon earlier generations of wireless communications technologies. 0:17:21.560 --> 0:17:25.639 The official name for the five G radio system is 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:28.879 five G in R And as you may have guessed 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:32.600 in our stands for new radio and this new radio 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:36.760 standard will be incompatible with older standards. So if you 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:39.800 had a pure five G device, one that was only 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:43.640 connected to five G networks, the chip set, the antenna, 0:17:43.760 --> 0:17:46.040 all of it is just tuned to five G, you 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:50.560 would probably have a pretty lousy experience. Initially because carriers 0:17:50.560 --> 0:17:53.240 would still be building out their networks. You would have 0:17:53.800 --> 0:17:57.160 very spotty coverage. In fact, you might even live someplace 0:17:57.200 --> 0:18:00.760 where you'd have no coverage whatsoever because don't live within 0:18:00.960 --> 0:18:05.480 range of a five G tower. You'd find that your 0:18:05.560 --> 0:18:08.520 device only works in a few locations with service, and 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:12.720 for that reason, manufacturers are more likely to roll out 0:18:12.800 --> 0:18:16.560 five G phones, laptops, and other devices that also contain 0:18:16.840 --> 0:18:20.800 four G technology in them to avoid that problem, so 0:18:20.840 --> 0:18:24.480 that your device will rely on four G networks unless 0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:26.879 a five G network is available, in which case it 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:28.960 will ramp up, it'll switch on over to five G, 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:33.119 and otherwise they'll they'll lean very heavily on four G 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:37.480 in places where five G is of limited availability or reliability. 0:18:37.880 --> 0:18:41.320 These types of networks, which continues to support these older 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:44.760 standards while rolling out new ones, have a name. They're 0:18:44.800 --> 0:18:48.480 called n s A networks. Now in this case, the 0:18:48.800 --> 0:18:52.119 n essay does not refer to the spy agency in 0:18:52.160 --> 0:18:56.960 the United States that's looking at all electronic communications. Instead, 0:18:57.600 --> 0:19:01.720 it means non stand alone, meaning the network must pair 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:07.360 one wireless technology with at least one other wireless technology. Eventually, 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:12.120 as these networks become more robust, they can sunset the 0:19:12.200 --> 0:19:17.800 older wireless communications standards and become standalone or s A networks. 0:19:18.200 --> 0:19:20.520 We're starting to see this happen right now. In fact, 0:19:20.560 --> 0:19:24.560 some companies have already shut down their two G networks 0:19:24.600 --> 0:19:27.760 and sunset them. Those are no longer supported. Others are 0:19:27.800 --> 0:19:30.120 still supporting the two G networks but planned to shut 0:19:30.160 --> 0:19:32.480 them down in the near future. I believe T Mobile 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:36.159 has extended operations until twenty twenty, but then is going 0:19:36.200 --> 0:19:39.880 to shut down it's two G network. For example, there 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:43.879 are three main goals for five G technology. One is 0:19:43.880 --> 0:19:48.160 to have even greater data transfer rates, and like previous generations, 0:19:48.200 --> 0:19:51.440 will likely see a range of data transfer rates rollout 0:19:51.520 --> 0:19:55.520 in various networks. The actual experience will depend upon lots 0:19:55.520 --> 0:19:58.720 of different factors, such as the design of the network, 0:19:59.000 --> 0:20:02.320 the actual device or using the number of other devices 0:20:02.359 --> 0:20:05.399 that are on that network, the communications frequency that the 0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:08.120 network is relying upon and your device is relying upon, 0:20:08.160 --> 0:20:10.439 and so on. So it's really hard to give a 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:13.639 solid number to what five G speeds will mean. That 0:20:13.720 --> 0:20:16.639 being said, let's at least get some ballpark figures in 0:20:16.680 --> 0:20:20.440 here or else it's no use whatsoever. In February two eighteen, 0:20:20.440 --> 0:20:24.560 at the Mobile World Congress, Qualcom released the results of 0:20:24.600 --> 0:20:28.119 some five G simulation tests it had conducted in an 0:20:28.119 --> 0:20:31.359 effort to see what we might expect from five G 0:20:32.280 --> 0:20:35.960 in the early early days in areas like Frankfurt or 0:20:36.000 --> 0:20:40.960 in San Francisco, California. The simulation took into account cell 0:20:41.040 --> 0:20:44.479 tower locations that are already in those cities and the 0:20:44.560 --> 0:20:47.480 frequency allocations that would be allowed in those cities. In 0:20:47.520 --> 0:20:50.800 other words, what parts of the radio spectrum would carriers 0:20:50.800 --> 0:20:54.000 be allowed to use. Because five G technology doesn't work 0:20:54.000 --> 0:20:58.119 across the entire radio spectrum. They're specific bands frequency bands 0:20:58.160 --> 0:21:01.160 that five G is focused on. And it also accounted 0:21:01.200 --> 0:21:05.440 for differences in connectivity strength and geography. So the simulation 0:21:05.480 --> 0:21:09.240 focused on what Qualcom considered to be a reasonable expectation 0:21:09.320 --> 0:21:12.160 of a five gene network rollout in the short term. 0:21:12.480 --> 0:21:15.320 So we're talking like they're saying, well, a year from now, 0:21:15.400 --> 0:21:19.159 assuming we roll these these uh systems out, here's what 0:21:19.200 --> 0:21:22.080 we could expect at the end of that year. So 0:21:22.160 --> 0:21:25.159 with all of that said, Qualcom found that the Frankfurt 0:21:25.320 --> 0:21:28.840 simulation saw an increase from fifty six megabits per second 0:21:29.160 --> 0:21:32.640 on a four G network to four hundred ninety megabits 0:21:32.720 --> 0:21:35.280 per second for five G, which is a big jump, 0:21:35.760 --> 0:21:38.800 but it's lagging behind some of the more advanced LTE 0:21:39.040 --> 0:21:42.120 four G systems that are deploying today in other parts 0:21:42.160 --> 0:21:44.639 of the world. So, in other words, we already have 0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:49.159 four G systems that deliver data at that rate or 0:21:49.240 --> 0:21:53.080 even higher. So you say, you could say, yes, the 0:21:53.119 --> 0:21:55.720 five G and Frankfort would be an improvement, but it's 0:21:55.720 --> 0:21:59.680 still lagging behind other four G tech. The San Francisco 0:21:59.680 --> 0:22:03.360 simulation saw browsing speed go from seventy one megabits per 0:22:03.400 --> 0:22:07.520 second on four G to one point four gigabits per 0:22:07.560 --> 0:22:12.040 second for five G, so it's on even greater increase 0:22:12.160 --> 0:22:16.359 on data transfer rates. In the simulation, median five G 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:20.320 users could watch streaming video at eight K resolution running 0:22:20.359 --> 0:22:23.359 at one hundred twenty frames per second, which is pretty 0:22:23.440 --> 0:22:27.240 darn impressive. But just to get a bigger picture of everything. 0:22:27.480 --> 0:22:29.560 While all this is going on, while we're seeing this 0:22:29.640 --> 0:22:33.080 five G rollout happening, we're also seeing the four G 0:22:33.240 --> 0:22:37.560 networks continue to get enhancements. Qual Calm is rolling out 0:22:37.600 --> 0:22:39.760 the X twenty four modem, which is going to be 0:22:39.800 --> 0:22:43.400 in several smartphones in twenty nineteen. That is a four 0:22:43.480 --> 0:22:46.600 G technology, but it has the ability to support data 0:22:46.640 --> 0:22:50.560 transfer rates of up to two gigabits per second. Keep 0:22:50.560 --> 0:22:52.959 in mind, the simulation for five G maxed out at 0:22:53.000 --> 0:22:57.120 one point four gigabits per second, so this older four 0:22:57.200 --> 0:23:00.679 G technology would have an even better data transfer rate, 0:23:00.720 --> 0:23:05.240 at least in an ideal implementation. Now, in the real world, 0:23:06.280 --> 0:23:08.960 we're probably not going to see anyone actually experienced that 0:23:09.080 --> 0:23:11.680 kind of speed, but at least in theory, the devices 0:23:11.680 --> 0:23:14.439 could support them. This is another example of how the 0:23:14.560 --> 0:23:18.760 late phase for one generation of wireless communication can sometimes 0:23:18.800 --> 0:23:23.840 outperform the early phase of the succeeding generation. Now, over time, 0:23:24.000 --> 0:23:26.760 the five G system will leave four G in the dust. 0:23:27.359 --> 0:23:30.120 It's not uncommon to see predictions of data transfer rates 0:23:30.200 --> 0:23:33.960 hitting ten gigabits per second or faster, which is hard 0:23:34.000 --> 0:23:38.000 for me to imagine, but that's always the case early on, 0:23:38.119 --> 0:23:41.920 before these technologies become part of our daily lives. And besides, 0:23:42.200 --> 0:23:45.399 we might never actually see our own experience match that 0:23:45.520 --> 0:23:48.879 predicted result. But if we do, what would that mean. Well, 0:23:49.160 --> 0:23:51.800 at ten gigabits per second, you can download a full 0:23:52.000 --> 0:23:57.200 four K definition feature length film in about twenty five seconds. 0:23:57.680 --> 0:24:02.320 I'm not talking about streaming. I'm talking about downloading Yawza. 0:24:02.600 --> 0:24:05.480 The second big feature of five G is a reduction 0:24:05.680 --> 0:24:09.879 in response time or reduction in latency. Latency refers to 0:24:09.880 --> 0:24:12.840