文/卡麗莎·貝爾 譯/楊慧敏 許建忠

Slowly but surely, we’re moving closer and closer to the superconnected, ultra-fast, 5G world tech companies have been promising us for years.

Here’s what you need to know about the state of 5G right now.

1. It’s really, really fast

Okay, it sounds obvious, but it’s important to understand just how much faster 5G is compared to current 4G LTE speeds. 5G will not only be many,many times faster than your existing LTE connection, it will be signi ficantly faster than the broadband connection you have at home.

To put that in perspective, the fastest 4G download speeds in the U.S. top out at an average of 19.42 Mbps, according to OpenSignal. 5G, by comparison,promises gigabit speeds.

Qualcomm’s first 5G modem, the Snapdragon X50, supports speeds up to 5 gigabits per second. That’s more than 257 times faster than the average speed of the fastest LTE network in the United States.

眾多科技公司多年來為我們所描繪的超互聯(lián)、超快速的5G時代正一步一步向我們走近，雖然速度緩慢，但它終將到來。

接下來就談談你需要了解的5G時代。

1.它的確超快

這樣說似乎是老生常談，但我們非常有必要了解，與現(xiàn)行的4G的LTE網(wǎng)絡(luò)制式相比，5G到底有多快。5G不僅比你現(xiàn)在的LTE連接快很多很多倍，而且它還會大大超過家里的寬帶連接速度。

客觀地說，據(jù)全球移動網(wǎng)絡(luò)質(zhì)量測評機構(gòu)開信的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，美國最快的4G平均下載速度高達19.42Mbps。相比之下，5G將會達到千兆速度。

美國高通公司的首款5G調(diào)制解調(diào)器驍龍X50支持每秒5千兆速度。這比美國最快的LTE網(wǎng)絡(luò)的平均速度還要快257倍。

Most of us have never experienced anything close to speeds that fast—even Google Fiber tops out at 1 Gbps.And we’re only talking about the first generation of 5G modems. Future chips will likely be even faster.

2. But ... it’s not just about speed

It’s not all about speed though. Yes,5G networks will bring blazing fast data connections, but they also enable much more than that.

Part of the appeal of 5G is that it also brings much higher capacity to mobile networks, meaning that networks will be able to support many more data connections than what was previously possible. Have you ever been to a large event where your data connection slowed down or stopped working?That’s because 4G networks can only support so many devices before being overloaded.

But 5G networks have a much higher capacity. They’re required to be able to support up to a million devices per square kilometer, according to the International Telecommunications Union’s standards.

In addition, 5G is a huge upgrade over 4G when it comes to latency, or the amount of time it takes for data to be transmitted. Because 5G networks support extremely low-latency connections,devices will be able to communicate much faster than previously possible.Which brings us to…

我們大多數(shù)人還從未真正體驗過這種速度，因為谷歌光纖最快也只不過1Gbps。而我們談論的僅僅是第一代5G調(diào)制解調(diào)器，未來的芯片很可能會更快。

2.但它不只是速度超快

5G并非只是速度超快而已。的確，5G網(wǎng)絡(luò)將帶來極速的數(shù)據(jù)連接，但其功能還遠不止于此。

5G的部分吸引力在于它還為移動網(wǎng)絡(luò)帶來了更大的容量，這意味著網(wǎng)絡(luò)將能支持比以前多數(shù)倍的數(shù)據(jù)連接。你是否遭遇過數(shù)據(jù)連接遲緩或斷網(wǎng)等煩心事？那是因為4G網(wǎng)絡(luò)超載了，因為其能夠支持的數(shù)據(jù)設(shè)備有限。

但5G網(wǎng)絡(luò)的容量更大。根據(jù)國際電信聯(lián)盟的標準，它每平方公里能夠支持100萬臺設(shè)備。

3. 5G isn’t just for phones

Put all this together and you begin to understand why 5G is such a big deal—and not just for the smartphone industry.It has huge implications for just about every connected device.

The technology will be essential for self-driving cars, which will need to be able to communicate with the world around them as quickly as possible.Lower latency and higher capacity means that cars will actually be able to communicate with their surrounding environment fast enough to enable them to actually be fully autonomous.

Consumer tech like wearables, virtual reality headsets, PCs, and smart home devices will all dramatically improve as well, thanks to 5G. Even day-today tasks like checking social media or initiating a video call could drastically change.

4. It won’t be cheap

The downside of all this, at least initially, will be all that extra speed is likely to come at a higher cost. Sprint’s CEO expects to jack up the price of unlimited data plans by as much as $20 to$30 for 5G.

此外，相比4G, 5G在減少數(shù)據(jù)傳輸?shù)难舆t或耗時方面也有重大升級。由于5G網(wǎng)絡(luò)支持極低延遲的連接，這將大大加快設(shè)備的通信速度。

這將帶給我們……

3. 5G不光適用于手機

結(jié)合以上這些因素，你就會逐步明白5G為何如此重要，不但對智能手機行業(yè)，而且對所有連接設(shè)備都會產(chǎn)生巨大影響。

這項技術(shù)對于自動駕駛汽車尤為重要，因為它需要在最短的時間內(nèi)了解其周圍環(huán)境。較低的延遲和較高的容量意味著汽車能夠超快地了解四周環(huán)境，從而實現(xiàn)完完全全的自動駕駛。

借助5G，可穿戴設(shè)備、虛擬現(xiàn)實耳機、電腦和智能家居設(shè)備等消費類技術(shù)也將大幅改善。即使是查看社交媒體或發(fā)起視頻通話這類日常行為也可能發(fā)生巨大變化。

4.其價格不會便宜

至少在初始，5G的缺點會是其超快的速度可能伴隨著更高的成本。美國斯普瑞特公司的首席執(zhí)行官表示，預計5G無限流量套餐的價格將上漲20至30美元。

Other carriers haven’t commented on specific pricing yet, but, as others have pointed out, data costs have historically climbed as network speeds increase and there’s little reason to think that trend won’t continue for the foreseeable future.

It’s not all bad news, though. Companies like Qualcomm say they’re optimistic data prices will come down in the long run due to the sheer number of new devices that will be coming online once 5G starts to roll out. But it’s impossible to say how long that transition could take.

5. We’re not quite there yet

Though we’ve seen a lot of positive progress just in the last year, we still have a long way to go before 5G is anywhere near as pervasive as 4G is right now. Carriers and hardware companies are only just beginning to make commitments for 2019.

But most in the industry agree that 2020 is the earliest 5G will even begin to touch most consumers. And even then, early 5G networks could come with their fair share of growing pains—like inconsistent coverage or negative effects on battery life. ■

其他運營商尚未對具體價格提出定論，但正如其他運營商所指出的那樣，隨著網(wǎng)速的提升，數(shù)據(jù)成本也一直在大幅攀升，所以有理由相信這種趨勢在可預見的未來還會持續(xù)。

但也并非只有壞消息。高通等公司則樂觀地表示，從長遠看，數(shù)據(jù)價格將呈現(xiàn)下降趨勢，原因就在于一旦5G技術(shù)推出，將有大量新型設(shè)備上線。但是這一轉(zhuǎn)變過程到底需要多長時間則難以預計。

5. 5G的到來還需要時日

盡管去年我們看到了許多積極進展，但要使5G像當下的4G一樣普及，還有很長的一段路要走。運營商和硬件公司剛剛承諾，5G將于2019年推出。

但多數(shù)業(yè)內(nèi)人士一致認為，5G向大多數(shù)消費者普及的時間最早也要到2020年。即便如此，早期的5G網(wǎng)絡(luò)也可能會遭遇發(fā)展中的困難，如連接中斷或?qū)﹄姵貕勖斐傻呢撁嬗绊懙取?□