How will 5G change our lives? 1G of data may only cost a few cents

Chinanews.com Beijing, July 6 (Reporter Wu Tao) Recently, the communications industry has been hearing about 5G. The 5G standard was recently released and will be put into trial commercial use next year, changing people's lives in many ways. Let's take a sneak peek!

Some basic features of 5G are fast speed, low latency, high reliability, and large connections.

The 5G Terminal Guide released by China Mobile shows that the 5G experience rate exceeds 100M, which is about 10 times that of 4G. China Telecom conducted a 5G pilot field test in Xiongan New Area at the end of last year. Compared with the current peak experience of 4G users, 5G can be improved by about 20 times.

What can it bring to users?

China Mobile said that one intuitive change is that the mobile Internet service experience is significantly enhanced. For example, you can simulate skiing at home without leaving your home, but it feels like you are at a ski resort.

Some ultra-high-definition blockbusters can now be watched online without any lags.

Video live streaming, in particular, is likely to see a second explosion. Some telecom operators said that industry scenarios such as video live streaming and remote medical consultations have basic access requirements for 5G networks.

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Interface diagram of a remote-driving car over a 5G link.

By then, video presentation will be more diverse. It is understood that 4K video requires a network speed of about 25Mbps, and 3D video requires about 50Mbps. With 5G, all of these are no problem.

Some companies also said that they are studying 8K video under the background of 5G technology. 8K is still something that people have never seen before, but in the 5G era, it may become a reality.

In addition, VR/AR, drones and other technologies that seem to be cutting-edge now are considered basic services in the 5G era, applied in multiple scenarios and are general applications.

Looking into the future, the Internet of Things may explode

The Internet of Everything will truly come. A telecom operator told Chinanews.com that real-time monitoring of autonomous driving requires millisecond-level latency, while automobile production and industrial machinery and equipment processing and manufacturing require latency of ten milliseconds and availability of nearly 100%, which can only be met by 5G networks.

According to relevant statistics cited by China Mobile, the number of connections between things worldwide reached 8.7 billion at the end of 2017, exceeding the 8 billion connections between people.

GSMA think tank predicts that by 2025, China will have 430 million 5G connections, accounting for one-third of the global total, becoming the world's largest 5G market; the number of 5G connections in Asia will reach 675 million, which will exceed half of the global expected 5G total.

Telecom operators may also usher in another historic development opportunity after voice and data consumption. The three major operators have stated that they will look for opportunities in 5G and vertical industry IoT applications.

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5G drone smart security. Image provided

What will the price of 5G traffic be?

In 2013, when 4G was first introduced, netizens had a joke that "If you don't turn off 4G overnight, your house will belong to the telecom operator." So with the advent of 5G, will data traffic be very expensive? After all, this is a mobile Internet society, and all mobile Internet users will be concerned about this issue.

Xiang Ligang, a communications industry expert, believes that traffic prices are measured according to the technical level of base stations. In the 2G era, a base station only had 2MB of traffic, so the cost of 1G of traffic was 10,000 yuan; in the 3G era, 1G of traffic was 500 yuan, and it dropped to more than 100 yuan in 2014; 4G traffic was basically around 30 yuan, and now it has been reduced to 23 yuan, and there is still room for decline.

"In the 5G era, the price of 1G of traffic may be 1 yuan or 50 cents," said Xiang Ligang.

If this is the case, traffic is really cheap.

According to the latest data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the average mobile Internet access traffic (DOU) per household reached 3.97GB in May 2018. If 0.5 yuan per GB is used, the monthly traffic fee per person is only 2 yuan. However, the average monthly traffic consumption per person may be calculated at hundreds of GB at that time, so your phone bill will still be several dozen yuan.

Independent telecom analyst Fu Liang said in an interview with Chinanews.com that the costs of 5G equipment, frequency bands, terminals, etc. are uncertain, and it is difficult to accurately predict the price of 5G traffic. "5 cents per GB is expensive. On average, it should be cheaper than this."

"The 5G era is likely to be different from the 4G era in terms of billing. There will be a completely new billing method," said Fu Liang. "For example, for smart watches, the Internet service fee may be included in the price of the watch, or a service fee of 10 yuan per year, or a two-year service fee may be included after the watch is purchased."

"Operators may develop a scenario-based targeted traffic charging model, which only requires application manufacturers and telecom operators to negotiate, and operators will vigorously support rich media, such as online high-definition video applications," said Fu Liang.

Data map: The booth marked "5G is here". Photo by Wu Tao, China News Service

When will 5G mobile phones be available?

As long as the service is good enough and the data charges are a bit higher, there will always be a group of people who want to be the first to try it out.

The reporter noticed that anxious netizens are already asking when they can use 5G mobile phones. According to *** news, this may have to wait until the third quarter of next year at the earliest.

After the 5G global standard was determined, mobile phone manufacturers announced that they would launch 5G mobile phones next year. According to incomplete statistics, vivo, OPPO, and Huawei have all stated that they will launch 5G mobile phones in 2019. Some chip manufacturers have also stated that they are already developing chips that meet 5G standards.

In fact, any mobile phone manufacturer with a little bit of ambition will not miss the 5G opportunity. The subsequent release of 5G mobile phones is almost inevitable. The key is who can seize the market first.

China Mobile revealed that the first batch of 5G chips will arrive at the end of 2018, the first batch of 5G terminals will appear in the first quarter of 2019, and 5G smartphones will be released in the third quarter of 2019.

What about the price of 5G mobile phones? According to China Mobile, this depends on the cost of 5G terminal chips, R&D costs, and product form.

From historical experience, 5G mobile phones will definitely be expensive in the early stage. Want a 5G mobile phone? Prepare your money first.

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Data map: Ordinary consumers are visiting the 5G technology display. Photo by Wu Tao, China News Service

Which cities will be the first to experience 5G?

The reporter learned from the three major operators that these cities have launched or will conduct 5G trials this year.

China Mobile will conduct field tests in five cities, namely Hangzhou, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Suzhou and Wuhan, and will build more than 100 5G base stations in each city; it will also demonstrate 5G services and applications in 12 cities including Beijing, Chengdu and Shenzhen.

China Telecom has launched 5G pilot projects in Xiongan, Shenzhen, Shanghai, Suzhou, Chengdu and Lanzhou.

China Unicom has carried out large-scale 5G trials in Beijing, Xiongan, Shanghai, Shenzhen, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Chongqing, Wuhan, Shenyang, Qingdao, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Fuzhou, Guiyang and Zhengzhou.

If we have to find a flaw, it is that in the 5G era, you still have to use the 4G network to make calls, just like even though it is the 4G era now, you may still use the 2G or 3G network when making calls. Therefore, some operators have stated that 4G and 5G networks will coexist in the future.