What is 5G, why is US President Donald Trump obsessed with it – and did it cause the coronavirus?
5G is one of the key tensions in the US/China trade war; it is said to be 100 times faster than 4G, and one conspiracy theory about it is that it causes Covid-19
Even if you’re not a techie, chances are you’ve seen or heard a lot about 5G lately. It’s currently plastered on most billboards and banners inside telecom and phone stores; it’s been a hot topic in world politics and there’s even a wild conspiracy theory that claims 5G causes the coronavirus. (No, it does not).
But what is 5G exactly? It’s the fifth generation technology of mobile cellular networks that offers vastly improved speed and bandwidth over the 4G, aka LTE, networks on which your phone is almost certainly running right now.
5G is particularly important – it is one of the key tensions in the US/China trade war is due to US President Donald Trump’s desire for America to “beat” China to 5G deployment – because 5G is a far bigger technological jump over 4G than any previous generation jump. 5G, when it’s fully developed, is said to be close to 100 times faster than 4G right now.
Speed is obviously important – with 5G, you’d be able to load any website, PDF document or Netflix movie instantaneously – but it’s the advanced bandwidth capabilities that will be world changing.
To use a real world metaphor: data speed is similar to how fast a car can go on a freeway; data bandwidth is how many lanes are on said freeway. As anyone who’s stuck in traffic knows, if the road is wider with more lanes, traffic flows smoother and faster.
1G gave us the ability to make calls on the go; 2G allowed us to send and load text; 3G let us send photos and 4G made streaming video and music a thing. But the sheer speed and bandwidth of 5G networks will be the structure on which entire smart cities and ecosystems are built.