What is 5G and When Do We Get It?

So you want super fast internet.

Good news, if you look at the corner of your phone screen,

it probably says 4G or LTE right now but pretty soon,

it might say 5G and it's going to be so, so fast.

5G is the next generation of high-speed,

wireless communication.

It should bring your phone's data from fast

to bonkers fast.

Imagine HD video downloads in the time it takes to blink.

Virtual reality streams without a single moment

of buffering.

Teleportation, actually no, not teleportation,

but still, really really fast.

Sounds amazing, right?

Well don't get too excited yet.

We won't see 5G roll out for awhile, like maybe 2020,

and there's a lot that's going to need to happen first.

For one thing, we haven't even agreed

on what exactly 5G is.

Like, how fast does it have to be?

What high frequency range of the wireless spectrum

will it use, and who gets to use it?

Then, there's the infrastructure issue.

5G-capable transmitters, antennas, and processors

all have to be built and installed if this is going to work.

Companies like Nokia and Qualcomm and Samsung

all want a piece of that action.

But just like overhauling a major freeway,

it's gonna take years, not months, to plan and build.

The 5G technology we're probably going to end up with

uses high frequency waves.

These can't travel as far as low frequency 4G and 3G waves,

which basically means we're gonna need to install

way more cell towers and antennas to support 5G.

If your carriers expect you to get a signal.

Oh, and you're gonna need a new phone

because your current one won't have the antennas

and chips needed to talk to 5G cell towers.

The 5G revolution isn't really about your phone, though.

It's about bringing all kinds of new technologies online.

Self-driving cars, drones, virtual reality headsets,

the internet of things things.

Sure, it'll also make Netflix buffering a thing of the past

but the real magic when come when a million internet

connected devices can all react and respond to one another

super fast and it's coming, eventually.

In the meantime, we'll just have to survive

with the high-speed service we have now.

At least it's not 3G, gross.