It’s only been about five years since the fifth generation of cellular technology, or “5G,” connectivity became the network standard, but 6G is already on the horizon, and developers are exploring how to make the most of the next generation’s expansive bandwidth.
A tech demo in Japan showed a prototype wireless device reaching data speeds of 100Gbps — 10 times faster than peak 5G and 500 times faster than the average 5G smartphone.
A two-hour medium-quality Netflix movie streamed to your phone is about 1.5GB in size, so that effectively translates to eight or nine movies being transferred every second.
The device is the result of extensive research and development by Japanese telecommunications company NTT, mobile phone operator Docomo and electronics companies NEC and Fujitsu, and can utilise high-frequency bands in the 100GHz and 300GHz ranges to pack in far more data than previous generation standards.
This is an ongoing project and there are trade-offs when it comes to range, but experiments have shown a stable connection of over 100 meters (328 feet). Advances in communications technology will in fact require different forms of transmitters and receivers as 6G networks are eventually built out, many of which will depend on innovations like this one.
Speaking of hardware, it’s worth noting that this demo required a lot of cutting-edge equipment, although as technology improves, the size and cost of that equipment will gradually decrease.
It’s also important to remember that 5G’s top speed of 10 Gbps is a technical limit under perfect conditions with the most powerful and optimized hardware. According to Opensignal, the average 5G speed on a smartphone from T-Mobile, the carrier with the fastest 5G speeds in the US, is currently 186.3 Mbps.
In other words, 6G promises to deliver vastly improved speeds that researchers say will be useful for everything from downloading high-definition movies to communicating between self-driving cars.
Like 5G, there’s also expected to be a quantum leap in bandwidth, or network capacity, allowing more devices to connect at the same time. If you’ve ever lost cell service at a packed concert or sports game, you’re probably familiar with network congestion, which 6G should all but eliminate.
In certain situations, 6G could potentially make Wi-Fi almost unnecessary, which is already starting to happen with 5G, and it may even eliminate the need for physical cables running to the front door of your home or office.
Looking at the bigger picture, imagine more devices coming online, faster, and equipped with more components and sensors that can communicate with the web (and with each other). Nokia predicts that 6G could be commercially available by 2030.
In the meantime, we’ll have to make do with the “new” 5G networks, which already seem pretty slow compared to what’s coming.
