UK 5G Inbound

[ShaunB-91]

Ofcom has begun the process of laying the groundwork for 5G to be available in the near future for the UK, with only a handful of us receiving 4G at present, this is quite a leap forward in mobile communication technology.

When 5G eventually arrives it is expected to be able to deliver data speeds in the range from 10 to 50Gbit/s with the average customer who can receive 4G connections, they are getting an average of 15Mbit/s, showing quite a substantial leap forward.

With connection speeds this high, we may be seeing new technological advances in mobile handsets, as Ofcom said "We might have relatives "virtually attending family occasions," via real-time holographic video. In medicine we might get specialist surgeons working remotely using 3D medical imaging over 5G".

At this point, Ofcom are considering using 5G over the 6GHz band and upwards to transmit 5G connection data with Ofcom adding "We want to explore how high frequency spectrum could potentially offer significant capacity for extremely fast 5G mobile data," said Philip Marnick, Ofcom Spectrum Group Director. "This could pave the way for innovative new mobile services for UK consumers and businesses."

The only disappointing aspect to this story is that the UK is not expected to receive 5G connections until 2020, so we have a wait of up to five years estimated at this point in time.

Source

 

[Feronix]

Weird, most people aren't even on 4G yet. I have an infinite 3G subscription that only ends at the end of the month when I want it to end and I see no reason to pay more for 4G (even though awkwardly enough, 4G is actually cheaper for the providers to bring to the consumer than 3G, but they still ask a higher price cause it's faster).

 

[ShaunB-91]

Yup, no 4G round mine but you find it in the weirdest of places in town. Getting a bit fed up of waiting to be honest, I've already had 3 4G-Ready phones and don't get the service. :\

 

[QuietOne]

I have 4G and when in a 3G area it seems like 3G is capped or something because it takes forever to load pages and I don't remember 3G being like that. Same with H and H+

 

[SPS]

4G isn't really expensive these days.

On Vodafone I pay £18 a month for unlimited texts/mins and 6GB of 4G data.

 

[vorticalbox]

just laying thr ground work probably means "have it all set up but will wait till we milk all the money from the 3g moving to 4g then drop super cheap 5g you can't buy without paying up your contract"

Even still the speeds are nice. It's there a company in London that started selling routers connected to 4g? i hope that took off as one of them connected to 5g would be beastly.