4 ms·

I think one of the biggest improvement points of 5G, which most people don't notice, is that it improves the number of devices that can connect to the local cel

I think one of the biggest improvement points of 5G, which most people don't notice, is that it improves the number of devices that can connect to the local cell tower. With 4G, you get 100k device connections per 1 sq kilometer. With 5G, this number becomes 1 million connections per square kilometer. This is a very big deal if you are in a heavily congested area (big cities, major league sporting events). Also a very big deal to high priority services (like police radios, emergency services, etc), as it goes a long way to ensuring connections are available. Also goes a long way to delivering on the promise of IoT... with 1 million connections a lot more things become possible. It's more of an evolutionary tech, than revolutionary. Then again, 5G means means 5th generation... implying the evolutionary process. The average user won't notice it, but its still important nonetheless.

CivBase 4y ago
5G is definitely a cool tech. What's not cool is how carriers trick people into thinking they're using "5G" (or even "6G") just because their phone's cellular data connection is operating on the 5G spectrum. What's also not cool is how carriers market their 5G services with claims of speeds that a normal user will never achieve. I've never seen a carrier market 5G as a solution for maintaining connections in congested areas, even though that realistically seems to be the big ticket item.
- lordfrito 4y ago
  See my other comment here, this solves carrier problems not so much consumer problems. Yeah it's a trick. Marketing being what it is, it's hard to sell it any other way, they have to fallback on "buy this new shiny thing".
bradgessler 4y ago
This perfectly illustrates why 5G is a disappointment for consumers—increasing the number of devices each tower can support is a carrier problem, not a customer problem. I've never in my life heard somebody on 4G LTE say, "Eugh, my connection is too slow!". It's always "fast enough" to browse the web at reasonable speeds, watch videos, or have an OK-quality FaceTime call.
- lordfrito 4y ago
  Totally agree, this fixes infrastructure problems, not so much end consumer problems. Still, the carriers have to get people to upgrade their phones before 4G gets sunset. Can't exactly blame them for pushing the tech, seems like the transition to digital TV. No one was happy their old TVs were going to stop working, but such is progress.
- mustacheemperor 4y ago
  I have been at concerts/events/trade shows where the 4G cell network dragged to a crawl from overuse - but speaking as a consumer, I never realized a benefit of 5G was reducing that problem.
- robben1234 4y ago
  I'm not sure about cost comparison between 4G tower and 5G tower, but from consumer standpoint it feels like doing expenses for the sake of saving carrier's money. As consumer I get to pay for a compatible device, frequently pay more for the compatible plan, and realistically, get nothing in return to show for it.
grishka 4y ago
How well does 5G work wrt distance from the tower? So far, the good old 2G (GSM/GPRS/EDGE) is best in this regard, at least in my own experience. No matter how far from civilization you are, you're more likely to get 2G than no service at all. You can call, sure, but data works so terribly it could as well be unavailable. Does 5G solve that?
- lordfrito 4y ago
  Caveat, I'm not exactly an expert at that level. My understanding is that "it depends". I do know that transmission distance goes down as the frequency (and bandwidth) increases. For example, 2.4 GHz WiFi works farther than 5 GHz, but is slower. I also know that 5G enables high speed "micro cells".. Higher bandwidth but smaller coverage zone. The idea that every city block can have a mini cell in their corner traffic light equipment buried undergound etc., less obtrusive cell towers needed. Sort of in between WiFi and true cell towers. I like to think of it as super charged WiFi on steriods. So that's one capability 5G brings, but it doesn't mean that your local experience is using this. So, again, it all depends. Maybe someone else here can post a more definitive answer or techincal explanation.
  - kjellsbells 4y ago
    You're correct but Ill add some nuance: higher frequencies = higher speeds, but lower propagation out in the real world. So you solve the propagation issue by putting the radio closer to users, eg on street poles. But you also take care to propagate the signal optimally, eg instead of blasting it out in a wide cone of coverage, maybe you use beamforming and MIMO to focus on where the users actually are. Additionally 5G tech also provides some energy efficiency benefits on the radio. The other things that cellular has over wifi are much better handover between radio access points (almost seamless on cellular, less so on wifi) and better behavior in environments where multiple users are transmitting at once (wifi is similar to csma/cd, like in the old days of ethernet). This is going to change with wifi 6E, but that isnt mainstream yet.

CivBase 4y ago

5G is definitely a cool tech. What's not cool is how carriers trick people into thinking they're using "5G" (or even "6G") just because their phone's cellular data connection is operating on the 5G spectrum. What's also not cool is how carriers market their 5G services with claims of speeds that a normal user will never achieve. I've never seen a carrier market 5G as a solution for maintaining connections in congested areas, even though that realistically seems to be the big ticket item.

lordfrito 4y ago
See my other comment here, this solves carrier problems not so much consumer problems. Yeah it's a trick. Marketing being what it is, it's hard to sell it any other way, they have to fallback on "buy this new shiny thing".

bradgessler 4y ago

This perfectly illustrates why 5G is a disappointment for consumers—increasing the number of devices each tower can support is a carrier problem, not a customer problem. I've never in my life heard somebody on 4G LTE say, "Eugh, my connection is too slow!". It's always "fast enough" to browse the web at reasonable speeds, watch videos, or have an OK-quality FaceTime call.

lordfrito 4y ago
Totally agree, this fixes infrastructure problems, not so much end consumer problems. Still, the carriers have to get people to upgrade their phones before 4G gets sunset. Can't exactly blame them for pushing the tech, seems like the transition to digital TV. No one was happy their old TVs were going to stop working, but such is progress.
mustacheemperor 4y ago
I have been at concerts/events/trade shows where the 4G cell network dragged to a crawl from overuse - but speaking as a consumer, I never realized a benefit of 5G was reducing that problem.
robben1234 4y ago
I'm not sure about cost comparison between 4G tower and 5G tower, but from consumer standpoint it feels like doing expenses for the sake of saving carrier's money. As consumer I get to pay for a compatible device, frequently pay more for the compatible plan, and realistically, get nothing in return to show for it.

grishka 4y ago

How well does 5G work wrt distance from the tower? So far, the good old 2G (GSM/GPRS/EDGE) is best in this regard, at least in my own experience. No matter how far from civilization you are, you're more likely to get 2G than no service at all. You can call, sure, but data works so terribly it could as well be unavailable. Does 5G solve that?

lordfrito 4y ago
Caveat, I'm not exactly an expert at that level. My understanding is that "it depends". I do know that transmission distance goes down as the frequency (and bandwidth) increases. For example, 2.4 GHz WiFi works farther than 5 GHz, but is slower. I also know that 5G enables high speed "micro cells".. Higher bandwidth but smaller coverage zone. The idea that every city block can have a mini cell in their corner traffic light equipment buried undergound etc., less obtrusive cell towers needed. Sort of in between WiFi and true cell towers. I like to think of it as super charged WiFi on steriods. So that's one capability 5G brings, but it doesn't mean that your local experience is using this. So, again, it all depends. Maybe someone else here can post a more definitive answer or techincal explanation.
- kjellsbells 4y ago
  You're correct but Ill add some nuance: higher frequencies = higher speeds, but lower propagation out in the real world. So you solve the propagation issue by putting the radio closer to users, eg on street poles. But you also take care to propagate the signal optimally, eg instead of blasting it out in a wide cone of coverage, maybe you use beamforming and MIMO to focus on where the users actually are. Additionally 5G tech also provides some energy efficiency benefits on the radio. The other things that cellular has over wifi are much better handover between radio access points (almost seamless on cellular, less so on wifi) and better behavior in environments where multiple users are transmitting at once (wifi is similar to csma/cd, like in the old days of ethernet). This is going to change with wifi 6E, but that isnt mainstream yet.