Let’s talk about 5G: what it is and what it can really do

You don’t have to work in the technology industry to know that there is a lot of hype around 5G, and the many possibilities it brings.

But with so much white noise, people and businesses alike are still asking:

What is 5G?

In a nutshell, it is the next generation of mobile internet connection.

It offers much faster data download and upload speeds (up to 100 times faster than 4G), latency as low as a few milliseconds and greater bandwidth than ever before.
 

Then, the introduction of 4G in 2013 meant increased speeds and reduced latency, which resulted in hi-res videos, audio streaming and instant maps becoming a daily reality.

While 5G improves on these measures, with no lag time for gamers and even quicker streaming of films and TV on the move, this generation of network has the power to do much more.

It will transform the way we live and work, leading to innovations that many businesses haven’t even realised exist yet.

This is why it’s imperative for businesses to start understanding and implementing this technology now.

The future of 5G

Take healthcare for example, with latency down to a few milliseconds, doctors could treat patients from thousands of miles away as if they were in the same room.

This would mean that even the most remote communities could benefit from video consultations and procedures conducted by specialists living on the other side of the world.

It also means that the control centres used by the emergency services could benefit from remote diagnosis which could inform hospitals about incoming casualties before they even arrive.

When paired with other technologies, 5G will allow new ways of teaching.

Immersive lessons through Augmented Reality will give students the opportunity to explore concepts via gestures such as touch, pinch and zoom, while Virtual Reality will enable them to tour the human body or even visit other planets.

Remote working

Augmented Reality could also become part of our working day and, with virtual experiences that feel so real, people will no longer need to be based in one place to work together.

Imagine an engineer looking at a virtual system and being able to fix it remotely. Or dipping into a virtual database of knowledge to diagnose a fault in seconds.

Transport

Also, if vehicles have cameras installed capturing continuous video footage, accidents could be relayed to a central database and used to help assess and prevent accidents. These videos would not just be collected by the cars involved, but by all the vehicles in the area at the time.

At Vodafone Business, we’re passionate about helping businesses of all sizes understand how innovative technologies, such as 5G, can help carry them into the next phase and make them ready for the future, whatever that may look like.