What is 5G?

Here’s what you need to know. JIM MARTIN reports

While tentative plans and a handful of phones were announced last year, 2020 is the year of 5G. Many new phones now support 5G, and it’s expected that all the upcoming flagships will have an option for the latest technology. All four of the main networks in the UK now have a 5G service up and running.

The fifth generation of mobile Internet promises huge improvements to both download and upload speeds. It should also have the ability to handle more devices being connected at any one time, with an unprecedented level of demand expected.

Coverage will, unsurprisingly, start with major towns and cities. Networks are hoping that a full roll-out will be completed much more quickly than 4G, but it may be limited to larger settlements for the foreseeable future.

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As with 1G, 2G, 3G and 4G before it, it’s an umbrella term for the fifth-generation of mobile networks. Within 5G there’s lots of jargon, most of which you don’t need to know about or worry about – at least not until you need to buy a 5G phone. At that point, you must ensure it has the right specs to work with your mobile operator. 5G is much faster than 4G. In technical lab tests, 4.5Gb/s (4,500 megabits per second) and more has been achieved, but in the real world you can expect between 10 and 20 times better speed than 4G. That’s according to companies including Qualcomm, Huawei and Samsung.

In tests in real-world conditions (at London’s Canary Wharf, for example), it has been demonstrated that over 1Gb/s is possible, which is a huge increase over the fastest 4G speeds.

It means the Internet connection on your phone is likely to overtake your home broadband speed by quite a margin. And that applies to upload speeds as well as downloads, so posting an 8K video you’ve just shot on your 5G-capable phone to YouTube as you walk along the high street is fast becoming a reality.

Currently, 4G speeds are around 10-15Mb/s on average for downloads, which means actual 5G speeds are between 200- and 400Mb/s – on average. It’s possible you’ll get up to 800Mb/s or even more, and speeds should continue improving as network infrastructure grows, and phone modems improve.

Not every phone carrier in the UK will let you access a 5G network, though more are launching regularly. Here’s where you can get 5G right now.

• EE • Vodafone • O2 • Three • Sky • BT • Tesco Mobile

It’s worth noting that different providers have 5G available in different cities and towns within the UK, so before signing up for a contract it’s worth checking if your area is covered by your network of choice. BT uses the same towers as EE, while Sky borrows O2’s network, so coverage should be the same between those.

Finally, some of the networks charge extra fees for 5G phones and plans, while some – like Vodafone and Three – won’t charge any extra for 5G.

Each provider also offers different phones, so you’ll have to balance the choice between your preferred handset and network.

It was estimated that by 2020 mobile traffic would have increased more than 30 fold since 2014. That’s partly because people want to stream video when they’re out and about, but also because of the number smartphones has increased considerably.

And it’s about to get a whole lot more crowded. We’re already seeing car manufacturers put embedded SIMs in their vehicles, but when self-driving cars hit the roads they’ll all have a 5G connection. Before long so will all your wearable tech, always-connected laptops and tablets, and eventually even your smart home devices.

Infrastructure such as traffic lights could communicate via 5G to work with cars to ensure the speediest flow of traffic, with other smart city tech no doubt to follow.

As well as being faster than 4G, 5G will be a whole lot more responsive, so you won’t have to wait those few seconds before your YouTube video starts playing. The lower latency and faster speeds should also mean you’ll be able to have much higher quality video calls, which are currently poor quality and often laggy when using 4G.

That’s a tricky question to answer, as it’s a complex technology.

In essence, it mainly uses much higher frequencies than 4G where there is plenty of ‘spectrum’ available. 4G works on frequencies between 2- and 8GHz. 5G will use these frequencies – a type of 5G called Sub-6 – as well as the higher band between 24- and 100GHz.

These higher frequencies are being called ‘millimetre wave’. It refers to the fact that, as frequency increases, wavelength decreases. These shorter

waves – just as with 802.11ac Wi-Fi the UK, US, across Europe, and in China, compared with 802.11n – mean much South Korea, and more. faster Internet speeds, but at the cost of shorter working distances. CAN I ROAM WITH 5G?

The simplest way to understand it is In the UK and Europe, 5G is currently with a pipe. Sub-6 is like a longer, thinner available in the sub-6GHz spectrum pipe that offers slower speeds but over rather than mmWave – at least to a longer distance. mmWave is like a very start with – while the US has both. short, fat pipe which can deliver huge Most phones support both types of speeds, but only at short distances. frequency, but the early days of the tech

The problem is that 5G ‘mmWave’ are still seeing some companies focus signals can’t easily pass through walls on one or the other. and will be affected by obstacles such That means that for the next year as tree branches and even rain. What it or two you won’t necessarily be able means in practice is that there will need to roam worldwide and access 5G to be a lot more mobile transmitters connections, and it will vary extensively located much closer to the ground to by your phone and network, though create the necessary coverage. The there probably will be consistency principle of more, smaller transmitters also means there should be excellent indoor 5G coverage as well as outdoor.

Support for Sub6 and mmWave will vary from country to country. Currently, the US is the only country to adopt mmWave, but it will spread further in 2020. Meanwhile For the next year or two you won’t necessarily be able to roam Sub-6 is available in worldwide and access 5G connection

Credit: Getty Images/jacoblund

across Europe at least. It’s worth pointing out that you’ll still be able to access 4G signals when you roam – any 5G phone will be able to handle 4G and below too – so you’ll still be able to make calls and access the Internet, you just won’t get the highest possible speeds.

5G is currently a good solution for densely populated areas, but this kind of technology is too expensive to cover rural areas, so unfortunately your 5G phone will simply use existing 4G signals if you go out of 5G coverage.

Some experts say that 5G will fix the currently awful mobile signal on railway lines, offering ‘seamless’ connectivity, so you should be able to binge watch The Mandalorian on your commute to and from work.

However, that will depend upon how much rail operators – that’s Network Rail in the UK – are willing to invest, as upgrading to 5G isn’t cheap. So don’t expect to see much improvement for several years.