5G is destined to change many aspects of our day-to-day lives. How will our home connections evolve?
Italy is preparing for what is already called the 5G revolution. 5G means the set of next-gen mobile communication standards. What is 5G? One of the main features will be allowing many more high-speed connections at the same time, with quick response times.
How does 5G work? Here are the details
5G will reach a speed of 10 gigabit per second. Compared to 4g, its performance will be higher, especially in terms of latency, with an estimated response time of 1-10 milliseconds, about ten times less than the current 50-100.
In 5G networks, most of the work is done by antennas, rather than by the device hardware, and this will entail significant energy savings and longer lasting batteries.
However, the true innovation for people will be the new services available thanks to this technology: we are talking about road infrastructure digitalization, self-driving and smart city and smart home developments.
5G and smart home benefits
In a connected home, for smart devices, having a less-than-stable connection can cause serious issues, both for product use and effectiveness perceived by the user. Smart refrigerators connect to the Wi-Fi network, and even smart air purifiers will loose all their smart functions if the Internet network is unstable.
Current smart appliances require a connection to the home network: however, there is not much you can do to improve the capacity and speed of your Wi-Fi.
Thanks to the 5G characteristics, many more devices can be connected compared to the network use. What are the other benefits?
- Interoperability: when all the devices use the same protocol to communicate, their interaction will improve. This is a general benefit for the smart home ecosystem.
- Home security: current smart devices can take a few seconds to react to a command, which can make a difference for connected safety devices. The quicker the reaction and the alarm for the presence of an intruder in our home, for instance, the more likely the intruder will get scared.
5G in Italy: when?
These benefits can be truly implemented only when 5G will be widespread, and it is just a matter of time.
2021 will be the year of 5G in Italy. Actually, the 5G has already started being implemented on 5 June 2019. Currently, the only Italian city that can boast a 90% 5G coverage is Milan: the network is being developed and other cities will be reached by the end of this year, even if, for the national coverage, we will have to wait a little longer (hopefully within 2025).
