[liberationtech] 5G and digital inclusion

[Shava Nerad]

As a side note on the safety of high bandwidth/high powered 5G, we should
be tracking the eventual deployment of low power/high range 5G.

Low band 5G can traverse much greater ranges than current cell towers,
allowing areas without current infrastructure or services to join the
"internet age."

This is a coming development that should be on the radar for everyone on
this list.

Low-band and mid-band signals aren’t hampered by rain, humidity, and oxygen
molecules, so they can travel much farther than millimeter waves and still
effectively carry data. The downside is they deliver it at lower
bandwidth—30-250Mbps for low-band and 100-900Mbps for mid-band.


https://www.networkworld.com/article/3575361/vendors-lengthen-the-range-of-5g-millimeter-wave-transmissions.html

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/techtank/2019/02/05/building-inclusion-into-5g-wireless-networks/

One low band (600-700MHz) tower can cover hundreds of square miles with 5G
service that ranges in speed from 30 to 250 megabits per second (Mbps). [a
considerable difference from 300 meters for the early 5g high band, but
that and low band are seeing constant range extension]


https://venturebeat.com/2019/12/10/the-definitive-guide-to-5g-low-mid-and-high-band-speeds/

Low band is currently being treated as an afterthought, or only useful for
IoT. The focus right now is on high band 5G (with a bone thrown to urban
and rural US inclusion), but the industrialized nations will make the
equipment cheap quickly so that developing areas can deploy coverage.
225mBps is a lot better than none, or satellite access.

yrs,

Shava Nerad
shava23 at gmail.com
https://patreon.com/shava23
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