5G
iis still in the future — 2020 is the target. “The 5G revolution will cast a much wider net. It’s an information conduit being built to connect self-driving cars, VR headsets, delivery drones, and billions of interconnected devices inside the home.”
What is 5G and When Do I Get It?
Low Earth Orbit Satellites
Another broadband technology on the horizon that holds promise for geographically challenged areas is low earth orbit satellites. Two companies, OneWeb and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, are making strides in bringing this technology to the near future. Both plan an array of high-speed, low-latency, lower cost satellites to bring broadband to the masses at an affordable price. Both are optimistic about an aggressive schedule.
SpaceX Plans Worldwide Satellite Internet With Low Latency Gigabit Speed
Existing Technologies
DSL is a wireline service provided by the telephone company much faster than dial-up. It’s an older technology based on copper phone wires. It’s available in some rural areas.
Cable is a wireline service provided by cable operators. It is capable of higher speeds than DSL. Cable is usually available only in higher-density areas of population.
Fixed wireless uses a tower to broadcast a signal to a receiving antenna. It is a point-to-point (P2P) transmission that uses radio waves or a laser bridge for relatively short distances.
3G/4G/4G LTE – The first generation cell phones were voice only. Nobody used the term 1G, but that’s where it started. The second generation allowed data transmission, too, albeit at about the same speed as dial-up, about 35-50 Kbps.
A variety of technological improvements and the adoption of an industry-wide specification for networking was the basis for 3G.
4g came about with requirements for mobile networks including mandating the use of Internet Protocol (IP) for data traffic and minimum data rates of 100 Mbps.
LTE is based on IP technology to support internet connections, not voice calls. LTE is a high-speed connection that supports browsing websites, Voice over Internet Phone (VoIP), and other IP-based services. In theory downloads at 300 Mbps or more are possible, but the actual network bandwidth is affected by the number of subscribers sharing the network.
Satellite internet is sometimes the only existing option to dial-up. It requires a dish to receive the signal from space. Satellite speeds have improved but issues like signal delay (latency), cost, and bandwidth allowances exist.