back to article 5G is looming, but network innovations are needed far more urgently

In all the excitement about 5G, it is easy to forget that the most intensive innovations of 2016-2020 will go on in "4.5G" – in Release 13 and 14, of course, but more importantly in the way the carriers and their vendors reinvent their cellular networks with new approaches like virtualization and HetNet, in the desperate bid to …

  1. Gavin Chester

    5G? Be nice if I could get a reliable 3G signal everywhere before the networks move on. And I'm not talking the remote area of Scotland I'm talking big swathes of East Anglia...

    Course that may just be down to 02, but you get the idea...

    1. AndrueC Silver badge
      Unhappy

      I'd like reliable 2G inside my house. A couple of weeks ago while Vodafone worked out how to bring their SureSignal booster system back online I was struggling to send and receive SMS texts. And I'm not remote either. I'm two miles from the M40 and an hour from both London and Birmingham.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        I couldn't agree more but I would also add that they should provide a reliable service in all of the country first.

    2. Ryan Clark

      Vodafone too

      We got txts a few weeks ago from Vodafone saying there may be some network disruption as they upgraded the masts in the area. Got txt last week to say the work was completed. Still no 3G here and I will lose network on the ground floor in our house. Only a few miles from Birmingham and less that 5 miles from 2 large towns.

  2. AndrueC Silver badge
    Childcatcher

    At this point, the world will be moving towards “life automation” with billions of interconnected smart objects, robots and sensors exchanging data in real time

    Please don't, you're scaring me.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    TDD is Test Driven Development to me

    RAN is a completely new one to me.

    Any chance of adding a bit of context for those of us who aren't mobile phone engineers.

    1. SimonAldrich

      Re: TDD is Test Driven Development to me

      RAN == Radio Access Network == Cell towers & backhaul to the network

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: TDD is Test Driven Development to me

        Thank you for that. But I suspect that the OP was thinking about the whole article, which seemed to me over-burdened with acronyms and jargon at the expense of clarity. I suspect the content is very good, but it seems the author needs a journalist between him and even reasonably interested lay people.

  4. jms222

    Can I first have some 3G data that works a few miles out of the city (Cambridge) please ?

    It is incredibly patchy. Pretty good in places like Westwick (a hamlet) but Cottenham (nearby large village) and Tesco Milton useless.

    The problem with 5G is they're going to rely on even smaller cells.

  5. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    6000 simultaneous wifi connections at 12MBps

    Sounds great. Any word on security ? Is a single malware going to be able to take over 6000 handsets at that speed ?

    No mistake, we are going to need to improve bandwidth, if only because of all the stupid doodads IoT is trying to make us wear (before we grow bored of them). Still, I'd like a modicum of attention paid to keeping things all nice and secure.

  6. DerekCurrie
    WTF?

    Yawn. Let me know when REAL 4G hits mobile, then I'll care

    REAL 4G is known as LTE Advanced.

    What marketing morons call '4G' these days is nothing more than fast 3G. All this chat-chat-chatter about '5G' is merely more marketing hype. That particular technology is YEARS away. Meanwhile, REAL 4G is here; It's been ready to go for YEARS; The lazy ass mobile phone companies haven't bothered to deploy it for gawd knows what reasons. But here they are hyping 5G. Ludicrous.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTE_Advanced

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_devices_with_LTE_Advanced

    1. Roland6 Silver badge

      Re: Yawn. Let me know when REAL 4G hits mobile, then I'll care

      "The lazy ass mobile phone companies haven't bothered to deploy it for gawd knows what reasons. But here they are hyping 5G. Ludicrous."

      I think you'll find it's the equipment vendors who are hyping 5G, the mobile networks are currently happily selling 2G (basic GSM connectivity), 3G (majority of existing handsets and dongles) & 4G (newer handsets).

      I like the fact that there is little real agreement as to what 5G actually is other than at the ISS level (ie. much higher than the 10,000ft view), namely it will be a lot faster than what has gone before. So currently, it seems that any cellular network equipment capable of delivering speeds in excess of 4G, using whatever proprietary technology can call itself 5G.

      Given the shenanigans over 3G patents - I'm looking at you Qualcomm, I hope that those responsible for defining a 5G standard, do a better job on the IPR front - something like the Sewing Machine Co-operative wouldn't go amiss (ie. all patent holders placed their patents into the pot and users merely obtained a single licence to use from the co-operative).

  7. Leeroy

    Can't see this happening

    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accelerando

    Bloody awesome read if you like coke can space ships though !

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