Speed is one of the most highly anticipated elements of the next generation network.
5G is expected to be nearly 100 times faster than 4G. With speeds like that, you could download a two-hour film in fewer than 10 seconds, a task that takes about seven minutes on 4G (no more panicking while trying to download your in-flight entertainment on the tarmac before the plane takes off).
Rapid speeds have obvious consumer applications, including movie streaming and app downloads, but they'll also be important in many other settings. Manufacturing experts talk about the possibility of putting video cameras throughout a factory, and very quickly gathering and analyzing massive amounts of footage to monitor product quality in real-time.
Those speeds are possible because most 5G networks are built on super-high-frequency airwaves, also known as high-band spectrum. The higher frequencies can transmit much more data, much faster than on 4G.
But signals traveling on high-band spectrum can't travel very far and have a hard time getting through walls, windows, lampposts and other hard surfaces. That's not very convenient when we want the tiny computers we carry around everywhere to continue working as we walk out of the subway station, down the street and into the office.
