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4G isn’t cool. You know what’s cool? 5G. Samsung claims new 5G tests have hit dizzying speeds and could be ready for you to use by 2020.
4G is barely kicking off in this country, but technology giants are already working on the next level of high-speed wireless data connections for sending data between computers and mobile devices. Korean news outlet Yonhap reports Samsung’s 5G tests have reached speeds of 1Gbps — with the potential to hit 10Gbps in future.
Pay attention — here comes the science: what Samsung is calling 5G is the next generation of LTE, or Long-Term Evolution. To reach these eye-watering speeds, Samsung is testing a new adaptive array transceiver technology that transmits data in the millimeter-wave Ka band, at a frequency of 28GHz.
Now I know what you’re thinking: what about the propagation issues inherent in using the millimetre-wave band? Excellent point, reader. Samsung stops the signal from being scattered or lost by using 64 antenna elements.
The results are reported to have hit 1.056Gbps, transmitting up to 2km.
5G is many, many times faster than the current generation of wireless data transmission. 4G peaks at around 130Mbps, and you’re unlikely to see anything like that kind of speeds in real life.
With 5G speeds, you’ll not only be able to connect to the Internet in the blink of an eye, stream high-quality films and games without buffering, and even transmit huge files like 4K UHD movies and even real-time medical services to remote areas.
Samsung isn’t the only company looking to speed things up: Japanese network NTT DoCoMo says it’s hit 10Gbps in testing. Here in the UK, EE is the first 4G network. Vodafone, O2 and Three are also set to launch their own services in the near future, and even BT is looking to get in on the 4G action.
Have you made the switch to 4G yet? Is 4G worth the money? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or race to our Facebook page.
