The Good, The Bad, and The Busted Myths About 5G
Over the last few years, telecommunications companies have been building up hype and starting conversations about the novel 5G technology. Every internet user likely has one way or another, heard of this new addition to the world. So what exactly is 5G? According to T-Mobile, a mobile communications brand,
5G is the next generation of the wireless network that will fuel innovation and transform the way we live, work, and play.
It is called ‘5G’ because it is the fifth generation of wireless communications technology and it is characterized by tons of new features that are bound to revolutionize the future of the internet and internet-enabled devices.
How Did We Get Here?
As mentioned earlier, 5G means the fifth Generation. This implies that there are other preceding generations. A brief account of 5G’s predecessors will go a long way in helping us understand what this innovation really entails.
1G
This is the first generation of wireless cellular technology. It was introduced around the 1980s. 1G allowed only for voice communication and it operated using analog connections which meant that there was no encryption at all, so anyone with a radio scanner could easily listen in on calls.
2G
The second generation which was introduced about ten years later literally changed the world. Analogue was replaced with digital and data services were introduced. 2G incorporated technologies like GSM for clearer voice communication over longer distances and EDGE which allowed for data transfer rates of up to 384 kbit/s. People could send text and multimedia messages from their mobile phones for the first time. The way people conducted business and lived their lives was changed for good.
3G
Introduced in 2001, the third generation of wireless cellular technology brought data transfer speeds much faster than 2G. This speed made it possible for new services such as video calling to thrive.
4G
This generation provided high-speed internet, several times faster than 3G with speeds up to 1 Gbit/s. It was first introduced in 2009 and it made high-quality video streaming possible and improved virtual presence through its reduced latency.
5G is set to deliver internet speeds more than ten times as fast as what 4G was able to offer, as well as very low latency of about 8–12 milliseconds which may eventually become as low as 1 millisecond. This low latency means devices can communicate with each other with hardly any lag. Browsing on the internet is going to be as efficient as pushing a key on your computer keyboard and immediately seeing the character appear on your screen. That fast. No more playing with that spinning circle while you wait for a webpage to open up.
In addition to this, 5G is set to offer Ultra Wideband with up to 10 gigabits per second. This bandwidth and almost negligible latency give 5G network the potential to support about 1 million devices at once per square kilometer which is a connection density ten times more than 4G could support.
How 5G Works
As expected, there are a lot of technicalities behind the function of the 5G network. But put simply, with 5G, signals are transmitted using a type of electromagnetic radiation known as Radio Frequency Radiation (RFR). RFR transfers encrypted information using waves, with a frequency that describes the number of these waves that are produced per time.
5G has 3 bands: low-band, Mid-band, and High-band. As their names imply, the low-band has the lowest frequency range of the three and the high-band has the highest.
While the previous generations used microwaves, the high-band of 5G will, for the first time, make use of millimeter waves. These waves are very short, which means that although their high frequency allows more of them to be released, they can’t travel far distances. The implication of this is that, for network providers to be able to cover a large area, several 5G mini-towers or ‘cells’ would have to be put up. In fact, current estimates suggest that one cell would be put up for every 2 to 8 houses. These waves are also easily obstructed e.g. by trees or walls. 5G is designed to work along with 4G networks so that in the event of an obstruction, the signal can still be carried by a 4G network. Of course, this will mean a slight delay, but the alternative would be that the signal doesn’t get to you at all.
Drawbacks of 5G
One phrase that is increasingly becoming very closely associated with the term 5G is ‘conspiracy theories’. Recently, social media has been brimming over with several of these theories with notions ranging from 5G being used for mind control to 5G being the root cause of the coronavirus pandemic.
While a good number of these conspiracy theories may not even remotely be based on facts and can be easily debunked, this doesn’t mean that 5G technology doesn’t have its dangers or disadvantages.
Some of these shortcomings are listed below. It is, however, worth noting that because the people at the forefront of research into 5G technology are telecommunications companies which stand to gain loads of money from 5G, it is very likely that there are more dangers associated with this technology than the ones listed below, and of course enlightening the public about these will be bad for their business. So, the dangers listed here are only those which can be inferred from the limited knowledge that the public has about this new technology.
Increased Cost
5G technology is going to require a significant amount of new infrastructure to be put in place in addition to the ones which already exist. Considering factors such as the number of small cells that have to be put up to compensate for the short range of 5G’s millimeter waves, a huge amount of money will have to be invested by telecom companies and we can be sure that this heavy-duty spending will reflect in the cost of their services.
Also, because 5G uses a completely different from wavelength from 4G, smartphone manufacturers will have to install new equipment to create 5G-compatible phones. As Michelle Yan of Tech Insider estimates, 5G-compatible smartphones can be expected to cost about $200 to $300 more than those that do not support 5G.
Radiation
This is most likely the greatest danger of the 5G network.
A simple google search of the health effects of 5G will yield several conflicting results, all with evidence supporting their claims. So it may be difficult to know what exactly is true and what isn’t. A wise place to start will be to realize that tech experts, who are more likely to push the safety of 5G aren’t health professionals and most likely haven’t carried out any actual experiments to support their stand.
On the other hand, hundreds of scientists from all over the world who have openly opposed the claim that the high-frequency RFR which 5G emits is harmless, have done so based on results of studies they carried out themselves. More than two hundred of these scientists have made their views clear in the EMF Scientist Appeal to the United Nations. These scientists have all carried out studies on the health effects of non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation and have arrived at the same conclusions. These conclusions have been published, along with their methods and results, and have been made available to the public.
The International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) which is basically the international authority on all things Non-Ionizing Radiation, hasn’t reviewed its safety guidelines since 1998 because according to them, the scientific literature published since that time has not provided any evidence of adverse effects below the current restrictions. Meanwhile, there are more than enough scientific studies just a google search away which provide evidence of the negative effects of non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation even when it is used following these current guidelines. And unfortunately, these are the same guidelines that the WHO is working with as well as the majority of the people who do not see high-frequency radiation as a health risk.
Most of the arguments against the dangers of RFR are either based on the fact that it is non-ionizing radiation or that it is transmitted at low power or intensity. However, the same scientific methods that proved ionizing radiation as dangerous, have also begun to show that RFR, especially at high frequencies, also poses health risks although through different mechanisms than ionizing radiation. Also, scientists have shown that continuous exposure to this radiation at low power is just as dangerous, and maybe even more so, than a short-lasting exposure at high power or intensity.
For these reasons and many more, 17 countries including France and Germany are reverting to fiber-optic cables — which most telecommunications companies tend to avoid because they are the more expensive alternative — to reduce the amount of RFR people are exposed to.
For all the uncertainty that 5G presents when it comes to the effects of its radiation, it will only be sensible for more time to dedicated to research on this issue. This is however not the case because governments all over the world are in a race to lead the technology realm and so are willing to pretend the risks are non-existent, and seeing as we the extremely enthusiastic general population do not want to believe that this exciting new revolutionary technology could be harmful to us and our children, we would gladly rather listen to what suits us best.
Privacy & Security
Even with the other generations of technology, it is common knowledge that the internet presents a lot of security risks. In exchange for convenience, we regularly provide personal information to websites and Internet Service Providers, knowingly or unknowingly. This information may fall into the hands of hackers and sometimes this happens simply because the information is not encrypted or because it is outright mishandled. Other times, your personal information, which includes any information you have put on the internet, ranging from browsing history to medical information, is intentionally shared, sometimes illegally, with corporations, the government or basically anyone who is willing and has the means to pay for it.
5G internet is going to present a much higher security risk for a couple of reasons. First, a smaller coverage area of 5G means more cell towers within a smaller radius. This makes it easier for your mobile operator to determine your location with increased precision. Your movement patterns can also be tracked and recorded. This creates a huge security risk, particularly because this information can be sold or even stolen by hackers.
Also, the Internet of Things (IoT) era will be fully issued in with 5G. Almost every appliance or piece of equipment whether at home or in the office, will be manufactured with the ability to connect to the internet. This will present yet another security risk because these things aren’t likely to have in place security protocols as advanced as those found on some laptops, phones and desktop computers, so hackers can use them as a sort of backdoor to access the network in your home or office, making it easier for them to get information from other devices connected to that network. It is also possible for these devices to be designed such that they send personal information, such as your preferences and habits to the manufacturer. This data may end up being misused, sold or stolen. Consider what this could mean for wearables which constantly transmit sensitive information about your health (e.g. blood pressure, heart rate) and location.
5G Benefits
The high points of 5G are incredibly fast internet speed, low latency, and high connection density. Basically, all the benefits of this ground-breaking technology are built around these factors. This gives us a wide range of possibilities when it comes to the potential advantages of 5G. A few of these benefits are listed below.
Improved Healthcare
The healthcare sector is characterized by emergencies which are literally matters of life or death. Every second counts when it comes to Medicine, so the low latency and high speeds of 5G could come in very handy in healthcare. Online video consultations and even remote surgeries using robots will thrive on 5G networks; Large imaging files such as MRI’s or PET scans can quickly be sent to specialists for analysis, and doctor-to-doctor consultations can happen much faster and with more convenience, consequently reducing the time a patient has to wait to receive treatment.
Remote patient monitoring, particularly through the use of wearables, will be transformed and the quality of healthcare provided is bound to improve significantly.
Internet of Things (IoT)
The concept of IoT has been around for at least 2 decades now, but really, up until relatively recent times, it has remained just that — a concept. The core idea of IoT is for objects to be connected within a network such that they can collect or “sense”, store and exchange data over the internet with little or no human input required. A major setback to the progress of IoT has been the high latency of the previous generations. This has caused a time lag between when a message is sent by one object and when it is received by another. This lag has caused communication between objects to be largely inefficient. 5G presents the solution to this problem.
IoT encompasses several objects including fridges, alarm clocks, and even toothbrushes. Its low latency is particularly perfect for self-driving cars, which will need to make split-second decisions to avoid collisions, so you can comfortably read a book or even take a nap on your way to work or wherever.
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Unlike the shift from 2G to 3G and then to 4G, the shift from 4G to 5G means far more than just faster internet speeds and higher connection density. You thought the world was a global village before? Wait till 5G becomes commonplace. The world becomes a street. Interactivity between devices and people will improve in ways that up till now, we have only imagined. It will definitely bring about a lot of good, but we also can’t ignore the side-effects; the possibilities are endless on both ends of the spectrum. 5G really is the future and, in one way or the other, the spread of 5G and its integration into the global society is definitely going to cause the world that we know today to be transformed almost beyond recognition.
Written by:
Esosa Uwabor
