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

[David]

Dear Link Institute,

I know I'm just an old fuddy-duddy with a bad attitude toward our Fearless Leaders and the Glorious Future into which they're leading us, but would someone please enlighten me as to why we need 5G?

According to the relevant Wikipedia article:  "The goal of 5G is to provide user experience matching fixed networks via increased data rates, improved spectrum efficiency [this isn't actually an issue with "fixed networks"], reduced latency and better mobility support.  This will impact traditional device communications as well as enabling a vast network of machine-to-machine communications without undue energy consumption, network equipment cost or deployment cost."
- see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5G

Individual end-users are the people who will mostly pay for this stuff, and the main benefit for them seems to be an increased "user experienced data rate" of 100 Mbit/s on frequency-range 1, or 400 Mbit/s on frequency-range 2 with a potential 

By way of comparison, Netflix' recommended bandwidths for watching movies are as follows
- see https://help.netflix.com/en/node/306
    0.5 Megabits per second - Required broadband connection speed
    1.5 Megabits per second - Recommended broadband connection speed
    3.0 Megabits per second - Recommended for SD quality
    5.0 Megabits per second - Recommended for HD quality
    25 Megabits per second - Recommended for Ultra HD quality

So what are we supposed to be doing on our mobile "devices" or widescreen TV which needs a bandwidth of 100 Mbit/s, let alone 400 Mbit/s, and justifies the considerable cost of implementation?

DavidL.

PS... Anyone with an equally bad attitude might find the following video on renewable energy in Oz amusing!
https://reneweconomy.com.au/video-of-the-day-superb-take-down-of-coalitions-energy-policy-43779/?utm_source=RE+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=551878a211-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_05_29_01_00&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_46a1943223-551878a211-40320533