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5G. It's Really Here

Author
glennzb,
Publish Date
Sat, 21 Dec 2019, 12:42PM

5G. It's Really Here

Author
glennzb,
Publish Date
Sat, 21 Dec 2019, 12:42PM

It's a CIA plot.

 

It'll kill the bees.

 

It'll interfere with the weather satellites.

 

Oh, and obviously it'll fry our brains.

 

Perhaps the most talked-about technical advance since the invention of Catch-Up Coronation Street is up and running here in little old New Zealand...

 

5G.

 

If you've been anywhere near the tech world this year, you'll know all anybody wants to talk about is 5G. With the exception of A.I., I've rarely heard so many promises made about how the world as we know it is about to change.

 

2019 has seen the on-switch pressed in many locations around the world and as yet, you'd have to say reality hasn't exactly been flipped on its head. On the bright side, I haven't seen too many reports of mass bee deaths or brain fryings either, so that's good.

 

From my point of view, there are two main reasons 5G hasn't really taken off yet; the inventory of 5G-enabled devices is still reasonably limited and although it's operational all over the world, in many places, just like here in New Zealand, the 5G network isn't really a network yet. Instead, it's more of an interconnected system of 5G islands, privileged zones where your Samsung A90 or enabled Note 10 might show that coveted 5G symbol in the notification window at the top of the screen.

 

2020 will undoubtedly see a massive uptick in 5G handsets being launched, but it's important to remember this new era of better data coverage isn't just about phones.

 

The theory is more and more smart devices will be designed to connect directly to the 5G network, instead of taking up space on your WiFi. Ideally this means exponentially faster speeds, wider bandwidth and less network congestion.

 

All of this sounds very exciting, but it's very early days and there are still a lot of unanswered questions.

 

One of these is how we will be charged for it. Despite the fact they're the only game in town right now (and by in town, I only mean parts of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown) Vodafone isn't actually charging anything for it. If you're already on an eligible plan, there's no extra charge till at least June 2020. We've seen some interesting cases overseas, particularly in the U.S., when telcos try to change the conditions of their 5G plans - especially since customer data demand obviously skyrockets as a result of the faster, fatter network.

 

I've been accessing the Vodafone 5G network with a Samsung Galaxy A90 (very good phone, by the way) and it's certainly pretty crazy to see download speeds well in excess of 200Mbps. In saying that, my 4G speeds seem to be pretty good in those same locations; sometimes as fast as 150Mbps. I don't understand enough about how the new 5G towers work to explain this, but it's cool.

 

The most useful benefit I've experienced so far is being able to download large files and to stream high quality video but again, I'm glad someone else is paying the data bill. If that's something you do a lot when you're on the move, then it could well be time to investigate a 5G upgrade but remember, it's far from working everywhere yet.

 

Here's a rough idea of the Auckland coverage right now...

 

 

What's really crazy is I can get a strong connection at my desk at work, but if I walk the 15 metres into our on-air studios, I'm back to 4G just like that.

 

So it's still very new and exciting but us Kiwis are well known for being early adopters, so I'm sure there are many people out there who can't wait to jump on the 5G train. As far as being able to have open-heart surgery performed on you remotely by a surgeon on the other side of the world, that doesn't seem to be a reality just yet. Cool to be able to download a whole TV series in just a few minutes though.

 

 

Click here for more information on Vodafone 5G.

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