Two and a half years after the advent of COVID, the final disposition of where the masses of employees will work remains largely unsettled. It is not just about the desires of employers and workers. In densely packed urban business centers like New York City, it’s a matter of safety and survival. Rarely does a day go by when the news doesn’t show random killings or acts of extreme violence in the streets.
Many employees do not want to risk the subway when they have been quite productive working from home. The remote workforce concept is seemingly here to stay – as one of the options for the new hybrid working model. Therefore, the advantages of 5G are crucial to business productivity. The initial scramble for Managed IT Services and other IT support entities to establish secure and reliable networks that enabled employees to work from home may be over, but the need for fast remote networks is not.
5G is not relegated only to the realm of smart phones and mobile devices. Most major desktop, laptop and notebook manufacturers have 5G capability built into their products already, or soon will. HP, Dell, Lenovo, Mac, and some lesser brands have 5G desktops on the market. 5G Laptops and Notebooks from Dell, Lenovo and Samsung are already offered, but Mac and HP are slow to the game – but they are coming. 5G is already available on Macbooks, but only if your model has an 802.11 or 802.11a wireless network adapter. A wider, general offering is on its way.
What is 5G technology what's so special about it?
The 5 stands for Fifth and the G stands for Generation, so 5G is simply the 5th Generation of mobile network technology, which is the wireless standard worldwide. Some countries have either banned 5G or have not yet produced the infrastructure for transmitting 5G. According to IT Chronicles the reason why some countries, like Australia, India, and others have banned 5G, at least for the time being, is the technology’s reliance on the Chinese Huawei ZTE Corporation which has a checkered global reputation, with strong ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). But companies such as Ericsson are at work producing rival technologies for more countries to build sustainable 5G networks.
What makes 5G so special? In business, time is money, and 5G offers a quantum leap in sheer speed that saves a lot of time. Bandwidth capability is a key element for the success of 5G. With the number of remote workers in the world today, this poses challenges for Managed IT services and internal IT departments.
5G and Your Office Network
All of the truly top-notch IT services, specifically Managed Services Providers, operate behind the scenes, largely unseen by workers who just wants things to be fast and reliable. Just like any enterprise, IT support and services companies are eager to take advantage of the greatly increased speed of 5G network capabilities, but some of the factors involved in implementing this technology are beyond their control. Two of the main 5G challenges are:
1) Availability of higher spectrum bands
When you see the letters 5G, you often see ‘mmwave’ in conjunction with it – 5G is powered by the ‘Millimeter Wave Spectrum’ which is not available everywhere yet. 5G network operators must compete in a bidding process for these high-speed capabilities needed to expand and implement 5G networks.
It's somewhat of a ‘Mad Grab’ - reminiscent of the Oklahoma Land Rush of 1893 – get there first and homestead it. The odds are that there is no 5G network available in your area yet, but there soon will be. Stay apprised by your IT team. If anybody is on top of 5G availability, it is them.
2) Network structure modification
Once 5G is available, your network infrastructure will most likely need to undergo modifications to handle it. Your office and remote network are like cell service, in that it depends on your network traffic. Traffic falls under the guidelines of LTE (Long-Term Evolution), which is the standard for all types of wireless/mobile communications. This goes beyond the security capabilities of standard Wi-Fi. The best security is through Private LTE rather than Public. Applications such as 5G NR (New Radio) institutes more timing restraints than LTE, so it does constitute something of a challenge to weed through.
So, implementing 5G is not without its issues – which are solvable, even if you are stuck waiting a bit for 5G network availability. Have patience -it is coming.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Can 5G penetrate walls?
A: That still presents a problem. 4G wavelengths have a range of about ten miles whereas 5G has a range of only about a thousand to fifteen hundred feet. Therefore, 5G signals can be blocked by physical barriers such as walls and glass. Tech companies have been busy approaching this problem from various angles. Corning and Intel are collaborating on solutions by combining aspects of their proprietary technologies to fuse fiber and virtualization. If the 5G signal is blocked, the phone should switch back to a 4G network.
Q: How does 5G affect me?
A: The number one benefit is the sheer speed with which business can be pitched, transacted, expedited, and delivered upon. It allows a casual user to have more reliably connected devices for more interaction with the world. Once we have uniform 5G networks available, the speed may be dizzying.
No more waiting for cat videos to start!
Q: What is difference between 4G and 5G?
A: 5G is about 100 times faster than 4G, but that is not the only big plus. The transition from 3G to 4G made cloud services usable on mobile phones, and 5G ups that ante. You can use more devices, have much greater capacity, and a remote employee will have vastly enhanced access to the home business network.
Q: What are the pros and cons of having 5G?
A: There are many more pros than cons.
Pros:
1) Speed. It’s all about the speed.
2) Low latency (how quickly network devices respond to commands).
3) Capacity – 5G manages vastly larger amounts of data.
4) Advancements in AI – 5G will propel AI technology into a new world, and I don’t mean Terminators – it will provide video conferencing with augmented or virtual reality. Machines that learn will learn at least 100 times faster.
Cons:
1) Limited availability (currently).
2) Security. See the next entry in this FAQ.
Q: Can 5G track you?
A: Yes. There are vulnerabilities within the technology that not only allow pirates to track you, but to launch attacks against you, such as spoofed emergency alerts. Consumers need to contact their service providers for any available protections. For business, a good IT team will already have safeguards in place.
Q: Is 5G faster than WiFi?
A: It is much, much faster, but it isn’t really a comparison of 5G vs Wi-Fi. 5G (5Ghz) propels Wi-Fi much faster than 2.4Ghz, although the 2.4Ghz still has a longer range.
Is your network as fast and secure as it should be?
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