2016-09-12

5G Wireless ... perhaps not !

Cell Phone Tower
I was reading a thought provoking tidbit in CIO from IDG saying that the upcoming 5G wireless networks were touting a 10x increase in capacity over the present 4G networks at the cost of "millions of new cell phone towers".

This next generation mobile monstrosity is likely to require much more tower infrastructure to handle the traffic according to the FCC.

This tower density would support various cells in the network ... and the requirement would be for a lot more of them dotting the landscape.

A number of communities have already blocked the construction of cell phone towers in their neighborhood ... many touting concerns regarding the health problems associated with the proximity to ionizing radiation.

Others simply hate this monster which is verizon and therein the proliferation which is likely from the 5G implementation some decade or so away.

So. The robust connectivity of 5G may be a pipe dream for most depending on how tower friendly your area happens to be. Me, I don't require much from a cell phone as I don't live and breathe wireless internet like so many of the others in my midst.

Call me old fashioned, but give me a full sized small form factor desktop, a server cluster (or two ... or four) and high bandwidth fiber/copper hybrid wiring topology any old day.