5G Network Speed Defined As 20 Gbps By the International Telecommunication Union

An anonymous reader writes with a report at Mobipicker (linking to a Korea Times story) that a 12-member committee from the International Telecommunication Union has hashed out a formal definition of the speed requirements for 5G mobile networking; the result has been designated IMT-2020, and it specifies that 5G networks should provide data speeds of up to 20Gbps -- 20 times faster than 4G. From the Korea Times story: The 5G network will also have a capacity to provide more than 100 megabits-per-second average data transmission to over one million Internet of Things devices within 1 square kilometer. Video content services, including ones that use holography technology, will also be available thanks to the expanded data transmit capacity, the ministry said. ... The union also decided to target commercializing the 5G network worldwide by 2020. To do so, it will start receiving applications for technology which can be candidates to become the standard for the new network. Consequently, the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympic Games will be the world's first international event to showcase and demonstrate 5G technology.

Comments

caps

[Lehk228]

so, fast enough to exhaust my data plan in 100ms.

So here in the USA

[burtosis]

5g will actually be around 2-3Gbps in every day use then. I wonder when companies in the USA will pull their heads outta their asses and we will have an infrastructure nearly as good as the top half of developed countries.

Re:So here in the USA

[geekmux]

I don't want 2-3Gps. I have to pay $10 per gigabyte. I don't want to lose thousands of dollars a few minutes of some app going haywire.

Well, thank you for pointing out the two main issues here. Greedy providers that abuse caps for revenue, and apps that suck your data plan dry not by going "haywire" but by design.

This is also why competition is absolutely essential, and enough of it. Otherwise, you merely end up with a price fixing consortium hell-bent on raping every consumer.

Up to

[asylumx]

it specifies that 5G networks should provide data speeds of up to 20Gbps -- 20 times faster than 4G

I just get so sick of marketing speak. "Up to" could mean anything here -- setting an upper limit of 20gbps is useless. Tell me what the average speed I can expect will be, at least then I can have some idea what I'll actually get.

Re:Up to

[v1]

"up to", that means "as long as our system is theoretically capable of 20gps, we can give you 1gbps without breaking any of the rules. enjoy your bits through our straw!"

That's one thing I'd change if I had the authority... new consumer protection law... "when advertising, you're not allowed to state any maximum possible customer value without also stating the minimum possible value using equal authority"

"Up To..."

[JohnPerkins]

"Up To" is a weasel word/expression. It doesn't actually mean anything, or at least nothing useful to the consumer. It means marketing can claim pretty much whatever they like. I can have a store with thousands of items, with a single item that is 90% off, and I can truthfully say that my products are "up to 90% off." A carrier can offer terrible data speed accept for a customer standing right next to one of their towers and marketing can still truthfully say "up to 20 Gbps." It's only meaningful/useful if it's "At Least..." instead of "Up To..."

But then a competitor would only have to find one place, anywhere, just on the outer edge of a carrier's range, where the data connection is intermittent, dipping under 20 Gbps, then the competitor could show that the carrier does not offer at least 20 Gbps.

Re:"Up To..."

[TeknoHog]

"Up To" is a weasel word/expression. It doesn't actually mean anything, or at least nothing useful to the consumer.

To a mathematician, knowing that something is "up to" a number is very valuable. Not only does it guarantee that a value is bounded, it also gives an explicit upper bound. In this case, when the rate of bits per second is bounded, we know that the amount of data as a function of time is Lipschitz continuous, which enables all kinds of cool theora to be applied. So while it may not seem much to a mere mortal consumer, mathematicians all over the world are overjoyed.

Up to 20Gbps

[bistromath007]

Well, it's not a fucking requirement then, is it? A standard needs to specify a MINIMUM.

Re:Up to 20Gbps

[SumDog]

Well minimum could be 0 if the conditions are bad. Usually the maximum include "ideal conditions" which may or may not be defined.

To set a minimum, you need to set a range, conditions and if the devices are in line of sight....plus probably other things I'm missing.

4G x 5G = 20Gbps

[hduff]

Simple maths, really.

Re:4G x 5G = 20Gbps

[Archimonde]

Should't that be 20G^2 ?;)

They think they will have it working by 2020?

[sims 2]

Bwahahahaaha no freaking way they get this figured out in 5 years. my entire town only has about 2gbps of backhaul to it

the fiber isp here offering 50/50mbps service only has a 500mbps link to the net

LTE is not 4G

[hypertex]

Hope the standard doesn't cave to pressure as when 4G was deployed.
Let's not do this again with 5G