The era of 5G has begun in the United Kingdom, and as one of the biggest cities in the country, one of the best places to enjoy the newfound opportunities is in Birmingham. The technology is expected to transform not only the everyday use of smartphones but also have a significant impact on healthcare and virtual reality.
The operation has already been rolled out by EE, but that was swiftly followed by Vodafone in July. It isn’t just Birmingham; however, with Bristol, Manchester, Liverpool and London also getting the full 5G experience by the network providers.
What Is It?
Those that are tech-savvy will already be aware of the advancements made by having 4G, and from what the name suggests, this is the latest development of that. 4G has been used around the globe, and 5G is stronger and will allow quicker connections. It has been announced that 5G is ten times faster than the 4G network, and is quicker than home fibre broadband.
Ernest Doku, who is a mobiles expert at uswitch.com, was excited about the future. He said: “5G is a next-gen network technology that should deliver speeds of up to 10Gbps- on paper, that is considerably faster than 4G’s top-speed of 300Mbps.”
How Does It Work?
That technology is made up of unique radio frequencies that are broken up into bands. These frequencies in 5G are a lot higher than you would have expected to get with 4G, and that means they can support a bigger capacity.
Mr. Doku spoke at length about this. He said: “5G tech also has the capacity to handle the surge in demand for bandwidth generated by the Internet of Things boom. 5G is considered a millimetre wave technology- with a shorter wavelength than 4G, it has a higher frequency, which gives it a higher bandwidth and consequently ability to handle more data.”
The Cost
Given the speeds that you could expect with 5G, it should come as little surprise that it will be hitting your wallet a lot harder. The 5G coverage is more expensive than the current 4G, and that is highlighted in the cost that you could expect to pay on Sim-only plans. EE will now charge £37 for 40GB of 5G data. Meanwhile, 50GB of 4G data will cost £25 a month.
These prices are expected to fall considerably over the coming years, with the network becoming available to a wider audience, which means there is no great rush to snap up a deal right now. But, it is an exciting time for tech fans living in the second city.
