Moving Beyond 4G
We currently live in the age of 4G, or fourth generation wireless communication. Every ten years or so, the technology goes through a serious speed upgrade and adds a few new capabilities, so while 4G is good enough for now, tech experts are already looking ahead to try and understand what the networks will look like in five or ten years. That includes defining the speed of 5G and figuring out how we can reach those speeds.
The Realities of 5G
5G will rival modern wired connections in terms of speed, and it’ll do so by tapping into the ultra-high frequency band. The reason no one uses it for cell towers is because it’s easy to block: all you need is a large building or a small hill between you and the broadcast tower and you’ll lose the signal.
That’s why tapping into these frequencies will mean placing a large number of small towers all throughout cities and towns. That’s a large cost, but it will make it easy to stream and upload HD video from anywhere. 5G will also have an impact on credit card processing and other online payment methods.
5G and Payment Processing
Payment processing doesn’t demand the level of bandwidth of streaming video, but the faster turnaround will make wireless processing more appealing than it already is, which is good news for mobile businesses like towing services and food trucks.
On the other hand, the extra towers will create more access points that may be easier for a hacker to locate and compromise. This means it will become even more important than it already is to deal with a processing company or service whose network security you can completely trust.
After all, even if a credit card theft doesn’t directly affect your business accounts, it can impact your reputation. 5G is the next phase in wireless communication, and just like all the earlier generations, it will bring on new benefits you can use and new challenges you’ll have to address.
It’s important to stay ahead of the curve if you want to get the most out of a new technology, so make sure your business partners and service providers are equally up to the task.
