It will make 4G phones seem positively quaint
Now we're hearing about the coming of 5G. But 5G is a much bigger leap than what's come before.
Of course, 5G is much faster than 4G-in the real world, a 5G phone in a 5G city will enjoy Internet speeds between nine and 20 times as fast.
The arrival of 5G also means enormous leaps forward in capacity-so much that every cell-phone plan will offer cheap, truly unlimited Internet access.
You'll probably prefer to do your downloads when you're on cellular because 5G will be much faster than whatever service you've got at home or work.
Our phones can become radically more powerful.
Hanna says, if your phone is tied, by a 5G connection, to a much beefier computer online.
The new standard gets its speed partly by using existing transmission frequencies more efficiently and partly by harnessing the millimeter-wave spectrum.
Cell carriers not only will have to upgrade all their cell transceivers but will install a lot more of them as well.
The need to install more small cells means more rectangular boxes on lampposts, more wires on utility poles and more industrial-looking ugliness in places where local residents don't always want it.
The big cell carriers will be turning on 5G in a handful of cities by the end of 2018, and the first 5G-enabled smartphones are expected to go on sale in early 2019.