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The Promise of 5G

Posted by samzenpus on from the in-the-future dept.

An anonymous reader writes: From instant monitoring of leaking pipelines, to real-time worldwide collaboration, the increase in machine-to-machine communications that 5G allows will change the way we live. This TechCrunch article takes a look at the promise that 5G holds and its possibilities. From the article: "By 2030, 5G will transform and create many uses that we cannot even think of yet. We will live in a world that will have 10-100 times more Internet-connected devices than there are humans. Hundreds of billions of machines will be sensing, processing and transmitting data without direct human control and intervention."

7 of 158 comments (clear)

  1. What could possibly go wrong? by Assmasher · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I mean, afterall, we're all so good at network security now...

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  2. Thoughts by DaMattster · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I just cannot get excited about 5G because there are still large gaps in 4G coverage. I'd like to see the telecoms finish what they started.

    1. Re:Thoughts by mjwx · · Score: 5, Interesting

      I just cannot get excited about 5G because there are still large gaps in 4G coverage. I'd like to see the telecoms finish what they started.

      I can't get excited over 4G because we haven't actually got it yet. LTE is still a 3.9G tech, LTE Advanced was supposed to be the first 4G technology according to the ITU definitions.

      But then the marketing trolls decided that they could just re-define words to mean whatever the hell they wanted to and 4G went from a well defined standard to arbitrary marketspeak. Some telco's had rebranded HSPA+ as 4G, because of this 5G has no real meaning and it will just lead to marking one-upmanship. "Our competitors are still on 6G, we've gone to 11G" without actually telling you they haven't changed technology at all.

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      Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
  3. Article is completely meaningless by jonnythan · · Score: 5, Insightful

    5G will turn this one-way interaction we have today with data into something new. Imagine a new network that will enable machines to communicate instantly without any human intervention, and to do things on our behalf and for our benefit without our active engagement.

    ... What? Is 4G too slow for "machines to communicate instantly without any human intervention"?

    And speaking of 4G vs 5G... I can burn through my 5 GB/month data allowance in about 45 minutes by maxing out my 4G connection. Not in any hurry to do it in 45 seconds via 5G.

    Our cars will download real-time traffic information and use it to avoid congestion and accidents, getting us safely and quickly where we need to go.

    O RLY? 4G is way too slow for real-time traffic.

  4. Re:Waste of time by Gavagai80 · · Score: 5, Funny

    Oh, is that what those underlined phrases do? Never clicked one.

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  5. 5G to the rescue! by swell · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Statistics show that 20 percent of our water supply is lost every single day because of leaks in the pipes that make up the national infrastructure...
    Monitoring every pipe in real time would require the ability to gather and analyze huge volumes of data at speeds that are just not possible today. "

    I'm not sure how 5G is going to help our 100 year old supply pipes that we can't even afford to repair. Perhaps we can plug the cracks with 5G Nokia phones.

    This appears to be a promo aimed at ignorant investors. It's hard to believe that the Nokia CTO would write such nonsense to the tech savvy.

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    ...omphaloskepsis often...
  6. The history of stupid by holophrastic · · Score: 5, Insightful

    First, an inventor invented invented a pipe, and installed it, and it was found to leak. Then a plumber improved the pipe and re-installed it, and would never leak again.

    Then a new-age company said they could build a cheaper pipe to save costs. It was installed, and it leaked only sometimes. Then a plumber figured out precisely how often it would leak, and designed a maintenance plan to prevent it from leaking, so the leaking would never be a problem again.

    Then an accountant saw the money being spent on maintenance of a pipe that didn't leak, and reduced the maintenance until it started to leak.

    Now, a new-age company is offering to invent and build and install billions of sensors on the pipe, to see when it's leaking, so we'll know when to perform the maintenance.

    It'll work great. Not only will we know exactly when to send out the maintenance crew -- i.e. pretty close to the same rate as when the plumber designed the maintenance plan the first time, because he wasn't stupid -- but we'll spend more money on the sensors than we will on the pipe.

    As my mother's always said. You can pay me now, or you can pay me later. So the pipe will be cheap, and the maintenance will be occasional, and the sensors will be amazing.

    And then we'll save money on the sensors.

    And then we'll have a maintenance plan for the sensors.

    And then we'll start monitoring the sensors.

    It's turtles all the way down.

    Anyone remember how much the high quality pipe that didn't leak in the first place cost? I didn't think so.