Image by: PC Case Gear (Facebook)
With the help of eSports Team – The Chiefs, Telstra Demonstrates the Future of Wireless with its new 5G Network System at Telstra’s 5G Innovation Centre on the Gold Coast.
Telstra, Intel, and Ericsson used the mmWave wireless connectivity inside Telstra’s Innovation Centre to power the demonstration, enabled through Ericsson’s 5G base station and core network. Intel provided its Intel 5G Mobile Trial Platform, which allows for quick implementation of the latest air interfaces and communication protocols.
“Latency is the time it takes for data to be sent between two points, so it is crucial in the world of gaming when milliseconds can literally mean the difference between winning and losing. Esports demonstrates how that is possible over 5G, a benefit of the new technology that will underpin a host of use cases, including autonomous cars, drones and remote control of machinery“, said Mr Channa Seneviratne – Telstra’s Executive Director of Network and Infrastructure Engineering.
“5G will enable on-demand entertainment anywhere, making it more vibrant and immersive, and esports is a prime example of a use case that gets significantly better with faster speeds, ultra-low latency, and massive capacity,” said Jonathan Wood, Intel’s Senior Director 5G Market Development and Partnerships within Intel’s Next Generation and Standards group.
“This 5G esports demonstration is just the beginning of Intel’s commitment to transform the gaming ecosystem with end-to-end technology solutions with our partners.”
Just like the transition from 3G to 4G, New phones will need to implement the new Hardware required to access 5G, meaning all current phones will not go higher than 4G and you will be left with buying a new phone that is 5G ready, if you want to keep up-to-date.
New phones will likely not see 5G until next years models. The rollout would also be slow, meaning major cities will get it first before it expands out.
Other issues include Black Spots where not even 3-4G can be picked up properly or at all, and the fact that Wireless still uses Radiowaves that many other Devices and Environmental Elements produce, then adding other disturbances, make Packet Loss still an issue.
Finally, the Demo did have restricted access of devices to show off speeds, but it does not show real world data when more than 10, 50, 100, 1000 devices connect at once.
What about costs?
It is unclear as to how monthly costs will go, but many already believe it would be likely double the cost now for 4G, not to mention the new Phones and Wireless Modems Customers will need to purchase.
Mr Seneviratne says, “Telstra is continuing to test next generation mobile technologies in Australian conditions to support the early commercial deployment of 5G mobile services in Australia. 5G has the potential to change the way we live and work, and today’s 5G gaming demonstration shows it will unleash a host of new opportunities.”
Telstra is confident with the success of 5G, but can it surpass in Costs, Reliability and Speeds that Landlines can/could provide?
Considering the broken transition from Fibre to the Premises to Fibre to the Node, 5G might save many who cannot access NBN or taking on the poorly implemented FTTP or the unreliable FTTN thanks to still using outdated, broken Copper.
Let us know what you think.
