Billions of people are now able to access the Web through various means. Before, one can use the Internet using a desktop. Today, anyone who has a mobile device such as smartphone and tablet can access the Web anywhere and anytime. This resulted to the explosion of mobile data traffic. Aside from the number of mobile data users, huge communication companies such as T-Mobile and Verizon are geared towards using Wi-Fi to broadcast their respective cellular signals. This spells more congestion in of the airwaves as more companies are competing for frequencies. So, how do these will affect the future of mobile network? What are the possible changes in mobile networks? What is in store for us in the next decade?
Mobile Network History
The mobile technology offers us something big every decade. If we review each decade since the Internet was invented, we can see that there had been continuous significant changes in the way mobile networks function. There are newer capabilities and advancements that were presented each decade. In the 1980s, the first mobile networks became available to the public. In the 1990s, the GSM became the next big thing. In the 2000s, the world saw the arrival of 3G, which was followed by 4G. In 2010, LTE is the new mobile technology that we still use until today. What is apparent in each of the mobile network generation is that a new generation is born to offer something that the previous one lacks. The new one also fixes a problem that the previous generation cannot solve.
Emergence of 5G
As we near the end of the current decade, a new advancement in mobile network is emerging. Like the previous networks, 5G is in the process of creating a new standard in the way we use mobile data. This means that each generation, based on history, had gone through almost a decade of building itself before it was made available to users. With 5G, we are on the stage of building it. Experts predict that it will be made available in 2030.
The current problems of data users now are the price and coverage. But now, based on the plans of mobile communication companies, the world is expecting very congested airwaves. This can translate to a 1000 times increase in mobile data traffic. One can just imagine how data speed will be affected. Aside from the increasing number of users, the increasing competition among tier 1 operators is a highly possible problem the next generation may be able to address and fix.
Aside from Verizon, the other tier 1 networks that can contribute to the slow-down of mobile data traffic include AT&T, Cogent, GTT, NTT Communications, Sprint, and others.
Solutions to Meet Future Mobile Networks Demand
The challenge now for experts is to think of ways to make mobile networks more efficient than it is today, given the expected huge increase in future demand in mobile networks. There are three ways by which the current traffic problems can be solved. These are through the use of more ad-hoc small cells, more spectrum and more small cells. The small cells, for example, seem to be a viable solution because it involves shrinking down of base stations. If these materialize, we can expect a huge increase in cloud-based apps and real-time data apps. There will also be a huge demand for smart glasses that allow live video feeds broadcast to other users. One example is the SMART Pivot head sunglasses, which became available in 2014. The future of mobile networks looks promising. Well, if all of the solutions work successfully to set a higher standard for the next generation of mobile networks.
