[1st-mile-nm] IEEE: 5G is in Danger of Being Oversold

[Richard Lowenberg]

Following on recent postings.     RL

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Commercial service is years away, but even then, 5G won’t fulfill all of 
its promises

https://spectrum.ieee.org/telecom/internet/5g-is-in-danger-of-being-oversold

By Stacey Higginbotham

Just like graphene or Elon Musk’s startups, 5G has become a technology 
savior. Proponents tout the poorly defined wireless technology as the 
path to virtual reality, telemedicine, and self-⁠driving cars.

But 5G is not a technology—it’s a buzzword unleashed by marketing 
departments. As early as 2012, Broadcom was using it to sell Wi-Fi. In 
reality, 5G is a term that telecommunications investors and executives 
sling around as the solution to high infrastructure costs, the need for 
more bandwidth, and a desire to boost margins.

The unifying component behind 5G is faster wireless broadband service. A 
more stringent—and practical—definition is the use of high-frequency 
millimeter waves (in addition to the microwaves that 4G LTE relies on 
today) to deliver over-the-air broadband to phones or homes.

If you’re talking about phones, 5G is still years away. And new services 
aren’t really on the menu. Just listen to the heads of several 
telecommunications companies, who have begun to tamp down investors’ 
expectations around what 5G can deliver.

(snip)


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Richard Lowenberg, Executive Director
1st-Mile Institute     505-603-5200
Box 8001, Santa Fe, NM 87504,
rl at 1st-mile.org     www.1st-mile.org
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