Is 5G technology really here?

Smart Communications recently announced its new LTE-A5G’ service which got a lot of people talking. Instead of it being good news, many took it in a negative way saying that it’s all just a marketing hype. But what exactly is 5G? Is it really here?

Smart5G

5G describes the upcoming generation of wireless networking. It is not a set of standard specifications that determine if the technology qualifies to be called 5G or not. As of now it is just used to describe the next-gen connectivity since there’s still no solid definition or formal agreement between companies of what it really is. Though this may be the case, 5G is expected to be 100 times faster and 1,000 times the capacity of LTE, faster streaming, and most importantly has the capability to cover wider range.

It is also important to note that experts see this technology being operational on 2020 at the earliest. This is due to the amount of time and money still needed to successfully finish the project.

One of the few handsets today with support for LTE-A is the Singapore-launched Samsung Galaxy S5 4G+ and there are no news of its local availability yet. Because of this, a lot of Filipinos still can’t make use of this new technology here in the country. The announcement of this service in the Philippines also reached overseas and attracted attention from an international site calling it a “bogus 5G technology.”

In Smart’s defense, one of the entries on their website’s FAQs section asks this:

“I heard that LTE-A is not 5G – is this true?”

To which Smart answers:

“LTE-Advanced is the next stage of development of LTE that offers significantly higher data speeds. It has been referred to, in some markets like the United States, as 5G. This means faster Internet downloading and video streaming, among other capabilities.”

What we’re seeing here is that the term 5G, as of now, still has a wide scope of definition making it easy to use loosely.

For us, having LTE-A or “5G” is still good news. The thing is, if there will still be Fair Usage Policy (and we’re pretty sure data capping will still be implemented) for its subscribers, having faster-than-average connection won’t do much good as it cannot be maximized – it’s just like being handed a key to a nice house that you can only live in for once a month.

Besides, many subscribers have yet to even taste the actual speed of LTE/4G in the country because of the limited coverage so the talk for 5G could only add salt to injury.

What do you think of Smart’s 5G technology? We put up a poll below just in case you want to share your thoughts on the subject. Do you believe Smart’s claim about their 5G connectivity?

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.
{Sources: 1, 2}

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Smart officially brings LTE-Advanced 5G Internet in PH

Smart is proud to announce that today marks the beginning of the 5G era in the Philippines as they officially bring and activate their LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) technology for mobile subscribers.

credit: wonderfulengineering.com

Smart ushers in a new era of Internet connectivity in the Philippines | credit: wonderfulengineering.com

LTE-A or 5G connectivity is reported to deliver data between 100Mbps to 1Gbps which is 10 times faster than 3G and more than double the speed of 4G. With it, a 10MB file downloads for less than a second, buffering is no longer needed for loading YouTube videos, but more importantly it is capable to allocate more network resources to users if ever the situation calls for it.

The company did a test of its services last year which, according to them, resulted to over 100Mbps of speed in areas like Makati City, Davao City, and even in Boracay.

Co-founder and Chief Wireless Advisor of Smart Orlando B. Vea (first from left) during the tests of 5G LTE-A in Smart last year, where speeds reaching 209.66 mbps were recorded.

Co-founder and Chief Wireless Advisor of Smart Orlando B. Vea (first from left) during the tests of 5G LTE-A in Smart last year, where speeds reaching 209.66 mbps were recorded.

“Even as our 3G and 4G networks continue to be unrivalled, Smart becomes the first operator to leap into the future and put the Philippines at par with the world’s most advanced countries in terms of mobile communications technology,” said Orlando B Vea, founder and Chief Wireless Advisor of Smart.

As mentioned earlier, the service rolls out today so let us know in the comments section below if you already got the next-gen Internet connectivity.

{Smart}

The post Smart officially brings LTE-Advanced 5G Internet in PH appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.

Smart officially brings LTE-Advanced 5G Internet in PH

Smart is proud to announce that today marks the beginning of the 5G era in the Philippines as they officially bring and activate their LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) technology for mobile subscribers.

credit: wonderfulengineering.com

Smart ushers in a new era of Internet connectivity in the Philippines | credit: wonderfulengineering.com

LTE-A or 5G connectivity is reported to deliver data between 100Mbps to 1Gbps which is 10 times faster than 3G and more than double the speed of 4G. With it, a 10MB file downloads for less than a second, buffering is no longer needed for loading YouTube videos, but more importantly it is capable to allocate more network resources to users if ever the situation calls for it.

The company did a test of its services last year which, according to them, resulted to over 100Mbps of speed in areas like Makati City, Davao City, and even in Boracay.

Co-founder and Chief Wireless Advisor of Smart Orlando B. Vea (first from left) during the tests of 5G LTE-A in Smart last year, where speeds reaching 209.66 mbps were recorded.

Co-founder and Chief Wireless Advisor of Smart Orlando B. Vea (first from left) during the tests of 5G LTE-A in Smart last year, where speeds reaching 209.66 mbps were recorded.

“Even as our 3G and 4G networks continue to be unrivalled, Smart becomes the first operator to leap into the future and put the Philippines at par with the world’s most advanced countries in terms of mobile communications technology,” said Orlando B Vea, founder and Chief Wireless Advisor of Smart.

As mentioned earlier, the service rolls out today so let us know in the comments section below if you already got the next-gen Internet connectivity.

{Smart}

The post Smart officially brings LTE-Advanced 5G Internet in PH appeared first on YugaTech | Philippines, Tech News & Reviews.