As reported by Quartz: Researchers
have achieved the fastest mobile wireless speed to date, managing to
reach 1 terabit per second over a 5G connection—about 65,000 times
faster than the average 4G download speed.
“This
is the same capacity as fiber optics but we are doing it wirelessly,”
Rahim Tafazolli, director of the University of Surrey’s 5G Innovation
Center, told V3. Samsung set the previous 5G speed record, 7.5 gigabits per second, in October.
Theoretically,
this major speed boost—announced at V3’s mobile conference—means the
mobile web will be able to support richer multimedia experiences. Higher
speeds will undoubtedly accelerate the mobile video market, and the increased bandwidth will be able to facilitate the streaming of larger files, such as video shot in 4K resolution.
Without tangible limitations to speed, developers can also build more
powerful cloud-based apps. (Earlier this month, Apple raised the cap on the size of apps from 2GB to 4GB.)
It’s
important to note that the fastest 5G speeds to date have been achieved
in a vacuum. Latency, a slowdown introduced by infrastructure, will
remain a problem, possibly for decades, Tafazolli told V3. Furthermore,
mobile operators have yet to agree on a single vision of 5G.
Some want it to be a blend of existing technologies (2G, 3G, 4G, Wi-Fi)
while others are pushing for a clear demarcation, with specific data
rate and latency targets.
The
recent benchmark signals potential for a more connected world, with
faster flow of information, but the real-world availability of 5G is
still years away. When it does arrive, it likely won’t be anything close
to the 1Tbps achieved. Ofcom, the UK’s communications regulator, said
in January that 5G could come to market by 2020 in Britain, with
projections for speeds as high as 50Gbps.
The US is poised to migrate to 5G in 2025, according to a 2014 report by the Congressional Research Service.
No comments:
Post a Comment