5G: Are we there yet?

In 2019, hype meets reality for 5G devices and services.  After several years of discussions on use cases and exotic technologies, “real” 5G products will start to scale on 3GPP Release 15 5G NR networks.  On the use-case front, the focus will be on enhanced mobile broadband (eMMB) with both fixed and mobile 5G wireless services becoming available to more consumers. The much talked-about ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC) corner of the 5G use-case triangle will continue to aspire to deliver unique capability as 3GPP Release 16 marches along towards adoption.  More on that next year.

5G in 2019 will be all about delivering a bigger, fatter data pipe for our mobile devices, as the insatiable consumption of data (primarily driven by video) is predicted to grow by a factor of nearly seven times between now and 2024.   While 5G is casually talked about as a specific technology, and of course it does have a technology component, we should not forget that 5G was originally conceived a harmonious interworking of multiple technologies forming a configurable network.   A crucial component to this is 4G LTE, which provides the anchoring launch point for 3GPP 5G non-standalone (NSA) networks.  Additionally, Wi-Fi will be the primary method in which many users will directly interact with 5G in 2019.  Some initial deployments of 5G require a “technology translator” to convert 5G signals to something that our existing devices can use… hello Wi-Fi!

Let’s talk 5G devices!

We had some exciting 5G product announcements in 2018 – expect this to continue through the Consumer Electronics Show and Mobile World Congress in 2019 as device makers and wireless service providers reveal additional detail on their near-term 5G deployment plans.  We are starting to see mobile 5G products in the form of mobile hotspots (also called “pocket routers”) as well as sleek smartphone concepts that incorporate millimeter-wave 5G technology.  The innovation of the 5G mobile form factor has advanced at a surprising pace, when you compare it to the clunky 5G tablets demonstrated at the Korean Olympics earlier in 2018.

Sometimes, technology advancements are like a dog chasing its tail.  The deployment of 5G hotspots, for example, open up the possibility of streaming incredibly fast (up to Gbps) data rates to other devices.  However, on the other side of that 5G hotspot, you don’t want a legacy Wi-Fi technology choking the effective speed on the user’s side.  A new Wi-Fi technology (IEEE: 802.11ax), recently branded as “Wi-Fi 6” by the Wi-Fi Alliance, is on its way to help make sure that this bottleneck doesn’t happen.  Fundamentally, Wi-Fi 6 not only enables fast data speeds, but it also enables simultaneous, high-bandwidth operation to multiple users, making it ideal for hotspot applications.

A dirty little secret about previous generations of Wi-Fi is that all communication is implemented in an entirely serial fashion.  The bandwidth in Wi-Fi 5 (and earlier generations) is divided by the number of users in the network.  This means that that you have to wait your turn in line, making it problematic in a crowded environment when you REALLY want to watch that cat video!  This is the reason why you have probably experienced poor wireless connectivity at an airport.  Expect many mobile device companies to announce products incorporating Wi-Fi 6 technology in 2019.