Wait wait wait, we’re talking about 5G mobile data now?! Ugh, but we just got 4G squared away. In any case, the ball is already rolling on the next generation of mobile phone technology, so we might as well figure out what in the hell IMT-Advanced is.
IMT-Advanced Is The Prototype Of What 5G Mobile Broadband Will Be…
IMT-Advanced will not be the next mobile data technology that Telsta, Optus or Vodafone try and sell you. It’s what the WiMAXs and LTEs of the world will look to when jockeying to become the next mobile data spec. IMT has been one of the most influential organisations in developing mobile broadband standards over the past couple of decades and now that they’ve put the finishing touches on their IMT-Advanced spec, that trend will continue. Think of it like those proto-cars at auto shows; you’ll see them someday, but they’ll go through some changes before hitting the road.
…Brought Into Existence By The Same People Who Created Wimax And LTE…
Two current standards are currently approved by IMT as meeting their Advanced spec: WirelessMAN-Advanced and and LTE-Advanced, which are based off the pre-existing WiMAX and LTE technologies. LTE-Advanced is the obvious front runner, but you never know what could happen between now and then.
…That Will Promise Faster Data Transfer Speeds Of 4G…
This is probably the least surprising part of 5G IMT-Advanced. It will be faster than 4G LTE and WiMAX. Both WiMAX and LTE both promise theoretical download speeds over 100Mb/s. IMT-Advance technologies will have a theoretical max of 1Gb/s. Daily Trends says you’ll theoretically be able to download a 720p TV show in 90 seconds or less. FAST.
…Fewer Dead Zones…
IMT-Advance technologies will not only to be able to allow more connections at each individual mobile hub, but will facilitate seamless handoffs when moving from one hub to another. Hopefully, that means good things for heavily-populated cities that are affected both by heavy clusters of smartphone users and signal killers that are tall buildings.
…And Could Mean The End Of Data Caps…
More bandwidth means less stress on the networks of mobile providers. Less stress on mobile networks means less of a need to impose data caps on consumers. If IMT-Advance delivers on its promise, we could see upward aspiring companies become competitive by racing to lift data caps.
…As Early As 2014.
The earliest implementations of IMT-Advanced could arrive in a couple of years, as Daily Trends points out, but it’ll be longer than that before you see national coverage and a solid ecosystem of handsets. 4G LTE just grew into its own shoes, which came roughly four years after 3G did the same. Still though, how do you not get excited about 5G?!
Image: Lifehacker.
Steven Janjic
Saturday, January 21, 2012 at 4:22 PMI thought LTE and other current ’4G’ systems didn’t even reach the required speed to be classified as 4G. Right now most LTE phones I’ve seen in overseas reviews talk of 20Mbps download speeds, while real 4G is supposed to be 5 times that
Franz
Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 12:10 AMWe just got 3g in australia
Ash
Monday, January 23, 2012 at 9:47 AM@Adrian, I think you mean “Telstra”, not “Telsta”.
The question remains, how will all the new 4G and 5G towers affect humans? We tend to focus too much on the technology and devices alone, and forget about the towers and the long term impact of the towers, if any.
Dyl
Wednesday, January 25, 2012 at 10:54 AMactually franz, australia got 3g a couple of years ago, and in 2012 moved to 4g, as the release of the wireless from telstra was a couple months ago, and there phones are currently out, and no steven. this is categorised as 4G because it CAN hit speeds of up to 100Mbps, it will range between 2 and 100, just a matter of how busy the network is and how far from the network you are, the phones can reach anything up to 40Mbps because of the set up, but i have actually used the wireless devices that hit up to 90Mbps