News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Tues. Sept. 6, 2022: While 4G remains the dominant broadband cellular network technology in the Caribbean, it can only be a matter of time before 5G comes in to replace the current technology. 4G will eventually be phased out. There’s no doubt about that.
However, it’s unlikely to happen any time soon. Realistically speaking, 4G will not be completely replaced for at least another decade, possibly longer.
There has been a lot of talk about 5G technology in recent years; some of it good and some of it bad, and this has got a lot of people asking the question, when will 4G no longer be relevant? Like many places around the world, in the Caribbean, 4G still reigns supreme, but exactly how long will it be until 5G takes over?
What Exactly Is 4G And 5G Technology?
When people are discussing the connectivity of devices to the internet, the term used to describe the system in terms of frequency and speed is 4G or 5G (or even earlier versions, such as 2G and 3G). Each different generation is more advanced than the previous version, and they are defined by the different technologies involved.
5G technology will benefit people in a number of ways. Not only will it provide higher speeds, but it will also provide lower latency and greater capacity for remote execution, plus it will also make average download times much faster. 5G is, therefore, great for online gamers who will then be able to experience their android games from their mobile device like never before.
When Will We See An End To 4G?
It’s still a long way off yet, with many people saying it will be at least ten years before 4G is switched off for good and replaced with 5G. The arrival of 5G will mean that 4G will become obsolete. 4G is the fourth generation of mobile networks, and 5G is the next, more advanced version. Although 5G networks are just starting to come into use on a global scale, there are still a lot of networks that heavily rely on 4G.
There would be a lot of upgrades and developments needed for a seamless transition from 4G to 5G in most places, so it’s not going to happen in the coming months. 2G and 3G services are rapidly on the decline in terms of the number of people using this network technology, which has led to more of a demand for 4G technology. In short, 4G is the only option for customers because 5G is still not yet an option for them. 5G is still only starting to become dominant in a handful of countries. For example, in China, it’s used in approximately 356 cities, and in the United States, in around 296 cities.
5G is also available in almost 100 cities in the Philippines, around 80 cities in South Korea, and a similar number of cities in Canada. In comparison, 5G is also now being used in Spain (in more than 70 cities), Italy (more than 60 cities), Germany (more than 50 cities), the United Kingdom (also in more than 50 cities), and Saudi Arabia (in more than 40 cities).
What Does The Future Look Like For The Caribbean?
There are currently around ten Caribbean and Latin American nations that have already started the initial roll-out of 5G network technology. This means that Caribbean nations won’t have to wait for ten years until 5G first arrives. Instead, it may take this long until 4G is completely phased out by 5G. The Caribbean is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea and more than ten nations, some of which include Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, Cayman Islands, Curaçao, Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Jamaica.
What Comes After 5G?
We still haven’t seen the complete roll-out of 5G, and people are already talking about 6G. What exactly will 6G involve? It could be here sooner than expected, and it will see the birth of a new technology revolution. Some of the devices that may end up using this 6G technology are advanced robotics, computing devices, cars, AI, and many other technological devices that haven’t even been invented yet.
The future of technology is anybody’s guess, and the use of 6G tech is also something that we still cannot yet fully comprehend. It could be twenty years at least before 6G becomes anywhere near as mainstream as 4G technology currently is. For now, the best thing to do would be to leave ideas about 6G to the people who write science fiction novels.
