Early Criticisms of 5G Were Expected, Technologist Tells IEEE

One long-standing contention is that the odd number G’s -- 3G and 5G in particular -- aren’t as significant as the even numbered ones, Jeffrey Reed, Virginia Tech professor of electrical and computer engineering, said during an IEEE webinar Wednesday. But Reed predicted that over time 5G will start to meet expectations. “We’ve seen a lot of negative publicity about 5G lately,” but negative comments follow the introduction of every new generation of wireless technology, he said. The first generation was primitive, didn’t support data and security was “horrendous,” he said. With 2G the quality of voice calls initially was “horrible,” Reed said. 3G “promised a lot of data” but didn’t do a good job with video, and delivery was late, particularly for the European market, he said. “4G has its disappointments as well -- it brought us video, but its battery life was horrendous,” especially in the early days, he said: “There was a lot of hype behind 5G. We have yet to see the realization of low latency and massive machine-to-machine communications on a large scale.” But in all G’s, the standards eventually catch up with expectations, he said. “5G is still evolving and many of the capabilities will eventually be demonstrated,” he said. 5G will continue advancing over the next five years or longer “laying the foundation for 6G,” he said. Two advances almost universally expected for 6G are widespread use of AI in networks and greater energy savings, he said.