back to article What's 5G? Who knows, but Qualcomm's designed a modem for it

Qualcomm's stuck its flag into the desert island labelled “5G”, hoping to turn it into a lush paradise. 5G today is mostly a feature list awaiting the conclusion of a standards processes in coming years. In the meantime, carriers and vendors want their work to land in the standards – and their patents to generate luscious …

  1. Mage Silver badge
    Coat

    fool around with 28 GHz

    Yes, in open plan offices. Or rooftops.

    1. Tom 64
      Headmaster

      Re: fool around with 28 GHz

      Indeed. At that frequency a base station is going to be required on every wall. The signal wont travel for crap and wont even get through a sheet of paper, let alone a wall!

      1. A Non e-mouse Silver badge

        Re: fool around with 28 GHz

        You start to wonder why they're bothering, and why they just don't use WiFi, if range is so bad.

      2. Anna Logg

        Re: fool around with 28 GHz

        This is what I've found baffling about 5G from an RF hardware perspective; these mm wave frequencies are expensive to generate and don't go anywhere. OK there really aren't any easy options for providing an RF channel 800MHz or more wide, but how the heck this can be turned into a commercially viable cellular system eludes me.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: fool around with 28 GHz

          I don't believe that it can be turned into a viable mobile network. At best, it could be used to supplement microwave point-to-point backhaul links where there is clear line-of-sight.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like