The fifth generation of mobile internet, 5G, which has recently been in operation in some UK cities, has raised many questions about the possible health risks of radiation.
The new technology – which has been running since April in South Korea and some parts of the United States – is still in the testing phase in Brazil, where it should be available by 2023.
The myth: 5G can be harmful to the health of people and animals (even birds)
There is no indication that electromagnetic waves, also known as non-ionizing radiation, cause any harm to human or animal health. The World Health Organization (WHO) claims that the waves generated by cell phones are safe. Information that birds had died from 5g appeared in November 2018 on the “alternative” medicine website Health Nut News, which reported that during a 5G experiment in The Hague, The Netherlands, 150 birds died. suddenly. It was later confirmed that the death of the birds was natural and that there was no test there.
What exactly is 5G?
It is the next generation mobile internet network that promises faster data download and upload speeds, broader coverage and more stable connections.
It is about making better use of the radio spectrum and allowing more devices to access the mobile internet at the same time.
What will allow us to do?
“Whatever we do now with our smartphones, we can do it faster and better,” says Ian Fogg of OpenSignal, a mobile data analytics firm.
“Think of augmented reality glasses, mobile virtual reality, much higher quality videos, the IoT making cities smarter.”
“But what’s really exciting is all the new services that will be created that we can’t predict,” he adds.
Imagine a profusion of drones contributing search and rescue, fire assessment and traffic monitoring missions, all communicating wirelessly with each other and with ground bases via 5G networks.
Similarly, many people believe the new technology will be crucial for autonomous vehicles to “talk” to each other, read maps and traffic data in real time.
Mobile game players should notice less delay – or latency – when pressing a command and seeing the effect on the screen. Mobile videos promise to be almost instant and flawless.
Video calls, in turn, should become clearer and less irregular, while exercise devices can be used to monitor your health in real time, notifying physicians as soon as there is any emergency.
Higher speed
The speed of 4G, which is probably within your grasp right now, is 1 Gbps per second. The new network, at its full potential, will be able to deliver a standard speed of 20 Gbps per second, according to UK regulator Ofcom.
What does this mean in practice? How long does it take to download a 5G video? And watch a movie in streaming?
According to The Wall Street Journal, downloading a 1-hour playlist on Spotfy took about 7 minutes with 3G, 20 seconds with 4G, and with 5G that time would be 0.6 seconds.
If you want to take a movie to watch while traveling while offline – a service offered by platforms like Amazon Premium or Netflix – it will take you 3.7 seconds to download it while spending about 2 minutes on 4G .
The popular Fortnite game takes 14 minutes to download using 4G technology and the expectation is that with 5G it will take 24 seconds.
Battery saving
Qalcomm, the chipmaker, promised that the battery of the first 5G modems would last all day.
Second and third generation models would inevitably be more energy efficient.
This will allow mobile phones with a longer life or thinner handsets.
Battery saving is because 5G technology lets the 4G infrastructure work, remaining inactive until the user requests procedures that require faster speeds.
Roof
It is no coincidence that Japan wants to have its 5G network ready before the start of the Tokyo Olympics in 2020.
The 5G infrastructure allows more devices to be connected at the same time. It has more power and this will help completely eliminate or greatly reduce the electromagnetic bottleneck so common in large agglomerations, especially urban ones.
Major events such as concerts and holiday celebrations, which bring together thousands of people, will have guaranteed coverage and access to the Internet, unlike what happens today with flaws and difficulties in accessing the Internet.
In theory, the 5G could simultaneously support more than 1 million sets per square kilometer. But for this to be possible, experts say, it will be necessary to rent small antennas in many different places.
According to the International Telecommunication Union, the United Nations (UN) agency specializing in information and communication technologies, the new infrastructure is expected to support smart buildings, homes and cities, as well as expand the use of virtual reality, 3D videos, as well as work and games in the cloud or remote surgery.
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