[LINK] Don’t believe the hype: We’re a long way from 5G

[Michael]

On 1 June 2018 at 18:59, David <dlochrin at key.net.au> wrote:

> >But I wonder what applications those proselytizing 5G expect to take up
> the bandwidth?  So far it seems Linkers have no suggestions.


23 years ago I got online with a 14.4kbps modem. It was adequate for text
based gopher sites, ftp of some shareware and web pages with carefully
compressed small images.
I could easily imagine what I would use faster bandwidth for then, because
it was very apparent.
Mainstays of my use then, like NNTP, have been completely superseded.
My laptop is currently on a wifi link via the NBN at faster than 3000x that
old modem's speed. I can now watch videos in a web page and it usually
works. Certainly, Netflix et. al. lets me watch movies should I want.

But my computer does struggle even now with some tasks. It is a pain to do
a full back up to off-site locations. Video conferencing is poor (I urge
you to try a Cisco telepresence video conference if you have the chance. It
uses about 30mbps). When you buy a new Xbox you need to budget several
hours for the downloads of all the updates before you can play a game.
Computer games transmit relatively little data when being played, because
they require everyone to have adequate links to be fair - so they use the
lowest common denominator. I am sure there are game developers right now
who would love to be able to design a game with tens of megabits of
bandwidth they could rely upon.

Most of these needs occur for mobile users too. Iphones come in 256Gb
models now, so back ups are not trivial over the air. A single game on an
ipad can be >3gb. Why not have high quality video conferencing from a
cellular tablet or mobile? It wasn't long ago I had to use a little app to
store web pages and things to read on the train. Now I use my 4g phone to
gain access to that information without needing to pre-plan. But a cost
effective mobile plan is likely limited to 20Gb of data transfer, so I need
to be somewhat parsimonious with data. If 5G means I can be as carefree as
I am at home, that is a win.

And just because I don't currently need more mobile data doesn't mean I am
right.
My teen regularly uses more than 15gb of mobile data snapchatting little 20
second videos to her friends. She would use more mobile data if she had it
available.

The fast 5G speeds will allow a narrow slice of bandwidth to be re-used
over and over to satisfy many end users, so mobile users will feel their
devices get the data faster, freeing up the base station to deal with the
next user's request faster, reducing congestion. They will reduce the cost
of mobile plans significantly, likely making data 'unlimited' as voice
calls and SMS routinely have become.

I'm not an evangelist for 5G, I suspect it is some time away, and I predict
the linked article is right and there will be interference problems in the
rain etc.
But I think it is worth while to deploy, if only to see what new
applications will come about.

In the last couple of years, always on, effectively unlimited data transfer
on home links has opened the door to new apps like distributed file
transfer, blockchains, non-hardware media entertainment, voip, video
conferencing and other things routinely. 15 years ago the same things were
hard and just for hobbyists. Let's see what 5G always on, effectively
unlimited data to mobile devices brings.

Regards,
Michael Skeggs