Future Alert Faster Tech

The next generation of broadband wıll reshape industries—and your business.

- Jennifer Alsever

If you think we live in a society of instant gratification, just wait until 5G, the fifth-generation wireless network, reaches major cities worldwide.

But first, let’s pause to ask a crucial question: Why 5G? First-generation wireless gave us voice. Then 2G added text, and 3G enabled basic mobile computing. With 4G, we got higher speeds and zillions of apps to help us work and play while we’re using our phones. 5G opens the floodgates to download speeds of one gigabit per second, or more than 10 times what we’re used to. Movies will download in seconds, YouTube clips instantly.

South Korea and China now lead in development and rollout, but in the United States, 5G is now in more than two dozen cities—from Atlanta and Detroit to Indianapolis and Washington, D.C.—as wireless companies race one another to expand service.

Those networks aren’t necessarily ready for prime time. For one, you can’t tap into the power of 5G without a new, 5G-compatible phone. Plus, 5G relies on a spectrum that is so high —millimeter waves—it can’t go very far, or go through walls. And right now, it’s expensive to install.