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Showing posts from November, 2020

5G Cellphone Upgrade

The 5G upgrade still has a long way to go.  This Wired article explains that 5G operates in three different radio frequency ranges, basically low, medium, and high.  The real, revolutionary changes expected from 5G really come from use of the high frequency ranges, in the millimeter band.  The higher the frequency, the higher the rate of data transmission, and 5G is all about fast data.  The problem is that shorter wavelengths have shorter ranges and cannot penetrate much of anything, like walls.   To get the higher speeds, there would have to be cell towers very close together, many more than we have now, and very close to the people using their phones.   According to the Wall Street Journal , the new cell towers are already running into resistance as they are installed across the US.   The Journal also reports that in one of the countries most wired for 5G, South Korea, it doesn’t work that well.   One place 5G is supposed to be available is ...