Tech Talk: What is 5G Advanced and what does it mean for my next phone?
Welcome to Tech Talk, a weekly column about the things we use and how they work. We try to keep it simple here so everyone can understand how and why the gadget in your hand does what it does.
Things may become a little technical at times, as that’s the nature of technology — it can be complex and intricate. Together we can break it all down and make it accessible, though!
Tech Talk
How it works, explained in a way that everyone can understand. Your weekly look into what makes your gadgets tick.
You might not care how any of this stuff happens, and that’s OK, too. Your tech gadgets are personal and should be fun. You never know though, you might just learn something …
What is 5G Advanced?
Are you ready for 5G Advanced? Do you even know if you’re ready, or if you need to be? No worries, let’s take a quick look at what the next generation of connectivity looks like, and if you need to start looking for a phone that uses it, the next time you buy.
5G Advanced is a “friendly” name given to the 3GPP Release 18 standards. It’s sometimes referred to as 5.5G, and it serves as a bridge between current technology and 6G. It offers (potentially) significant improvements to network speeds, efficiency, and even the network. Yes, that’s a thing, too.
It’s expected to be commercially deployed (that means the network equipment is ready) by the second half of 2025. Instead of focusing on mobile broadband — achieving a good connection in more places — it has been developed to enhance connectivity options for industrial IoT (Internet of Things) devices and help them become more autonomous.
You might hear people tossing the word Metaverse around, too. In theory, a connection with 10 Gbps throughput and ultra-low latency can help support immersive applications, but it cannot address the existing flaws and lack of direction. It’s better to think of the things it can fix on its own, like server-based AI applications, telemedicine, or learning through VR, than lumping everything together.
The standards put forth by the 3GPP (you know them as the people behind Mobile World Congress) provide for a few things to make this a reality: up to 10 Gbps network speeds, network latency as low as 1 millisecond, better intelligent traffic management via AI, support for 100 times more connected devices per square kilometer, and the ability to do all this while reducing energy consumption by 30%.
It’s essentially the same type of promises we see year after year from phone makers, claiming that things could be up to X% better.
How do I benefit?
Indirectly, you’ll benefit if (and that’s a big if) cities harness the tech to become “smart” with network-connected utilities, traffic signals, parking meters, etc. With these working as intended, they will be more convenient for us to use.
You could also save money on your bills. If everything uses 30% less power to do more, those savings could be passed on to consumers. Not only will 5G Advanced help companies meet green energy goals, but it should also lower operating costs.
It’s also a really big step towards a realistic fleet of self-driving vehicles. Maybe not like Waymo, but autonomous freight transport needs this kind of tech behind it if it’s ever to become a reality.
5G Advanced is a big step towards better self-driving cars and can potentially save consumers money.
More directly, it will solve problems in healthcare, especially in rural areas. A high-speed, low-latency network allows the use of AR equipment for training, as well as a clear benefit to the telemedicine industry. Since it’s not done over a wire, the equipment can also be used in emergency service vehicles for more urgent applications.
If we had this 30 years ago, I might not be in a wheelchair today. For the sake of the next generation, I hope it pans out.
I know this isn’t exactly what you’re looking for, and you’re wondering if this will improve your next phone or if it’s a specification you should look for. Seeing companies crow about their advancements, claiming how important they are without saying exactly why, doesn’t help here, either.
The sad fact is that it’s very unlikely that any of this makes a difference for consumer electronics outside of very niche cases. You’ll be able to stream games faster if you’re on a faster network with lower latency. Streaming VR won’t be so terrible. Your phone, though, isn’t going to be any faster because the current generation of hardware doesn’t need the network to be any faster. You can only process so much information, and having it come in faster won’t change anything. One day, though.
Some companies claim to have complete U.S. coverage for 5G Advanced soon, and some even claim to have it today, when in reality, they’re using numerous older standards and labeling it a “Magenta Spin.” This doesn’t help nearly as much as telling why this improvement is important, even if it’s not going to change your phone.
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