Wed. Jan 5, 2022 | By Carly Olson – The Guardian |
The telecom companies have agreed to push back the rollout of their 5G services over concerns it will affect airplane security
Late Monday, Verizon and AT&T agreed to a two-week delay rolling out their new 5G technology.
The technology was slated to launch on Wednesday, but in response to fears that the 5G service will impair airline safety – and amid threats from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to ground or divert flights at a time when the travel industry is already playing catch-up from recent weather and Covid-related flight disruptions – the telecom companies agreed to a pause.
Here’s what you need to know about the controversy:
What is 5G?
5G is the newest generation of cellular network, following 4G, which was introduced in late 2009 and is used on most US cellphones today. Nearly every 10 years since 1980, a new generation network has arrived, offering faster speeds and expanded capabilities. At the simplest level, 1G allowed for phone calls, 2G brought messaging, and 3G provided internet access. Today, on 4G, users can download apps, stream video, and more, with relative ease and speed.
The fifth generation is expected to offer new levels of speed – making it possible, for example, to download a movie to one’s phone in seconds – and allow more devices to be connected to a network at once. The latter is increasingly important in our crowded cellular landscape. (Ever been in a concert or stadium unable to send messages?)
“Those types of data rates could enable virtual reality applications or autonomous driving cars,” Harish Krishnaswamy, an associate professor of electrical engineering at Columbia University, told Live Science.
Why is the US airline industry concerned about 5G?
Read more here
