4 ms·

Ask HN: Why is 4G not enough and what are the use cases of 5G?

14 points by xchip 7y ago

nunez 7y ago
5G gets us to Gigabit speeds over the air, which 4G couldn't pull off even in ideal conditions. This introduces an incredible amount of opportunity that was not previously available (such as TV and internet for the home over cellular that's actually viable).
- xchip 7y ago
  Do we know at least 3 problems that 5G is solving? Even in my little town people have internet at full speed via optic fiber.
  - Spooky23 7y ago
    The problem is that wireless margins are significantly higher than wire line, and the government will foot part of the cost.
  - thiht 7y ago
    I live in a big town in France and we still don't have optic fiber. I'm hoping 5G will arrive soon for this reason.
- kleer001 7y ago
  This. IMHO eventually people won't think about storage at all.
throwaway6575 7y ago
The end goal is to finally kill local storage and have everything as a service, on the cloud. This way tech companies will finally take back the control on their users they have so foolishly relinquished in the 70s.
gt565k 7y ago
Surprised no one has mentioned IoT yet. The goal is to have everything connected to the grid. Your door opens: it pings a server, you walk in through your main entrance: A notification is sent. Not just in home automation, but in industrial settings as well. There's a lot of heavy machinery equipment and industries ripe for disruption as IoT devices scale into those industry verticals. For example: real-time access to information about machinery running the supply chain is invaluable. Whether it is ground, air, or ocean freight, being able to tell when a shipment is loaded, when the carrier has arrived, etc... helps optimize a supply chain and allows operators to react in real-time to address supply and demand. Everything will be tracked whether it's an NFC or RFID sticker, and IoT devices will pick up these trackers as they flow through a system or supply chain. In short 5G enables IoT devices at scale that can feed data into BI systems can let you find bottlenecks and react in real-time to issues that have a high impact from a deliverables perspective and might require intervention to correct an issue in real-time. 4G does not have the bandwidth capacity to enable IoT devices at scale.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- xchip 7y ago
  I've been doing IoT stuff for 5+ years now, I am looking forward knowing what is that killing use case that needs the requirements you mention. Also, are you aware that 5G would require people to pay and wifi is free (and fast enough!)? I really want to see a specific problem and then look for a solution, not the other way around.
Spooky23 7y ago
The use case is to allow telcos to put cable companies out of business with millimeter wave antennas to the home. Basically rebuild the bad old AT&T. 5G is critical infrastructure needed to beat the Chinese. Go America. So it gets to bypass pesky state utility regulation.
RikNieu 7y ago
Let me answer by rewriting your question: Why are stiffy drives not enough and what are the use cases of CD-Roms?
- xchip 7y ago
  CDRoms were solving the problems of storage. So what is the problem 5G is solving for the world?
  - kleer001 7y ago
    Bandwidth and latency. In my world view of computing there are the two atomic elements of data and computation. In general people don't care much about computation as its hidden behind many layers. Mostly people care about data. Getting it quickly and getting a lot of it.
    - xchip 7y ago
      That was too loose and generic, with statements like that you would be kicked out of any meeting :P
p49k 7y ago
5G has extremely low latency, enabling anything that would benefit from that: gaming, telemedicine, low-latency video calls (could potentially allow live music collaboration over video chat, for example)
- env123 7y ago
  It will also allow pirates to download 1T of data in 1 min, that's the most important thing
- xchip 7y ago
  Definitely 5G is not solving any problem in gaming. I work for a company that builds big fat chips for gaming, streaming is a thing but this is the first time I hear that we need 5G. As for the rest, I am already doing that and all works quite well!
- Nextgrid 7y ago
  4G already gives you ~30ms latency which is comparable to a DSL connection and just ~15ms above cable/DOCSIS. All of the things you mention are already possible with 4G if it wasn't for data caps.
zxcvbn4038 7y ago
I’m invested now, I want to know how many Gs the marketing people are going to try and pack in there.

14 points by xchip 7y ago

5G gets us to Gigabit speeds over the air, which 4G couldn't pull off even in ideal conditions. This introduces an incredible amount of opportunity that was not previously available (such as TV and internet for the home over cellular that's actually viable).

xchip 7y ago
Do we know at least 3 problems that 5G is solving? Even in my little town people have internet at full speed via optic fiber.
- Spooky23 7y ago
  The problem is that wireless margins are significantly higher than wire line, and the government will foot part of the cost.
- thiht 7y ago
  I live in a big town in France and we still don't have optic fiber. I'm hoping 5G will arrive soon for this reason.
kleer001 7y ago
This. IMHO eventually people won't think about storage at all.

throwaway6575 7y ago

The end goal is to finally kill local storage and have everything as a service, on the cloud. This way tech companies will finally take back the control on their users they have so foolishly relinquished in the 70s.

gt565k 7y ago

Surprised no one has mentioned IoT yet. The goal is to have everything connected to the grid. Your door opens: it pings a server, you walk in through your main entrance: A notification is sent. Not just in home automation, but in industrial settings as well. There's a lot of heavy machinery equipment and industries ripe for disruption as IoT devices scale into those industry verticals. For example: real-time access to information about machinery running the supply chain is invaluable. Whether it is ground, air, or ocean freight, being able to tell when a shipment is loaded, when the carrier has arrived, etc... helps optimize a supply chain and allows operators to react in real-time to address supply and demand. Everything will be tracked whether it's an NFC or RFID sticker, and IoT devices will pick up these trackers as they flow through a system or supply chain. In short 5G enables IoT devices at scale that can feed data into BI systems can let you find bottlenecks and react in real-time to issues that have a high impact from a deliverables perspective and might require intervention to correct an issue in real-time. 4G does not have the bandwidth capacity to enable IoT devices at scale.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
xchip 7y ago
I've been doing IoT stuff for 5+ years now, I am looking forward knowing what is that killing use case that needs the requirements you mention. Also, are you aware that 5G would require people to pay and wifi is free (and fast enough!)? I really want to see a specific problem and then look for a solution, not the other way around.

Spooky23 7y ago

The use case is to allow telcos to put cable companies out of business with millimeter wave antennas to the home. Basically rebuild the bad old AT&T. 5G is critical infrastructure needed to beat the Chinese. Go America. So it gets to bypass pesky state utility regulation.

RikNieu 7y ago

Let me answer by rewriting your question: Why are stiffy drives not enough and what are the use cases of CD-Roms?

xchip 7y ago
CDRoms were solving the problems of storage. So what is the problem 5G is solving for the world?
- kleer001 7y ago
  Bandwidth and latency. In my world view of computing there are the two atomic elements of data and computation. In general people don't care much about computation as its hidden behind many layers. Mostly people care about data. Getting it quickly and getting a lot of it.
  - xchip 7y ago
    That was too loose and generic, with statements like that you would be kicked out of any meeting :P

p49k 7y ago

5G has extremely low latency, enabling anything that would benefit from that: gaming, telemedicine, low-latency video calls (could potentially allow live music collaboration over video chat, for example)

env123 7y ago
It will also allow pirates to download 1T of data in 1 min, that's the most important thing
xchip 7y ago
Definitely 5G is not solving any problem in gaming. I work for a company that builds big fat chips for gaming, streaming is a thing but this is the first time I hear that we need 5G. As for the rest, I am already doing that and all works quite well!
Nextgrid 7y ago
4G already gives you ~30ms latency which is comparable to a DSL connection and just ~15ms above cable/DOCSIS. All of the things you mention are already possible with 4G if it wasn't for data caps.

zxcvbn4038 7y ago

I’m invested now, I want to know how many Gs the marketing people are going to try and pack in there.