Tech & Gadgets

What’s Happening With 5G?

Despite publicly available 5G networks celebrating their two-year anniversary, one may wonder when 5G will come with a faster service. A 5G device like the iPhone 12 may be readily available as wireless carriers flaunt their new networks. But for the majority of us, the present-day doesn’t feel a lot different than the time when LTE was the best bet in cellular networks.

The truth is, 5G may already be intact where you reside, but you may not have noticed it. Firstly, you require a 5G-ready smartphone to catch the signal. And although 5G vouched for improved speeds over LTE, we’re not witnessing extremely fast speeds from the networks launched by all the three major wireless carriers across the nation yet.

5G: An Explanation

Following the former iteration of wireless networking, 5G stands for the fifth generation of wireless communication standards. With the emergence of 3G about 20 years ago, surfing the internet on a smartphone became possible. Later, 4G offered speeds that enabled video streaming along with a range of apps that require reliable, sustained connectivity.

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project, a group that develops the rules for wireless connectivity, created the non-stand-alone standard for 5G in 2017. This permits 5G to coexist alongside 4G. A year later, the standard for stand-alone 5G was decided. In the two years since infrastructure developers like Ericsson and Nokia have collaborated with the four big wireless carriers in the United States to develop 5G networks and assess them with devices that have 5G radios that adhere to the new standard.

5G Technologies Are Impacting the Arrival of 5G

The 5G standard’s backbone consists of the low-, mid-, and high-band spectrum. 5G networks function on several frequencies, with the low end of the spectrum being sub-6 GHz and the highest being millimeter-wave (20-60 GHz).

The sub-6 spectrum for existing LTE networks was already being utilized by carriers, and now they require more of it to develop 5G further. Millimeter-wave frequency wasn’t used earlier, and the onset of 5G has offered carriers access to the spectrum that will allow the faster speeds we anticipate with the new standard.

When is 5G Coming to Your Location?

Your location may already have 5G, but unless the wireless carrier you subscribe to, the stars of your location, and the mobile device you own are totally aligned, you possibly can’t use it yet.

AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile each provide 5G coverage, but there are restrictions to their 5G.