[Summary: As the world is heading to a 5G network, low latency turns out to be a very important aspect of the picture. Though common smartphone users won’t experience much difference, high-end devices are going to get the benefits. And seamless operation.
CSPs & cloud companies are pushing hard to make it to- Robotic surgery & automated vehicle system]
The background story:
5G is all about ultra-low-latency, high-speed Internet, & very high uploads & download speed. This is the crisp USP that the telco will offer over 4G. But this also demands an upgraded system.
Further, as Verizon reported- the new 5G network achieves a latency of 30 ms which is greater than 53 ms in the current 4G network- defining an improvement of 23 ms. Though the aim is to reach single digits.
Latency in 5G networks: what’s the impact on telecom operators
Oh! There’s so- latency rant in 5G. So, let’s understand it first.
It’s the time required for a signal to propagate through that medium. It is measured in milliseconds (ms). With both values possible: positive or negative. Latency is a physical property of a medium.
- The latency in 5G infrastructure depends on the distance from the base station & also the number of hops from the base station to the user. The closer a device is to a base station, the lower its latency will be.
Let’s be even more simple- it’s the delay between sending & receiving information.
What does 5G say?
5G technology offers an ultra-low-latency rate. From 200 ms in 4G to 1 ms in 5G- guess the improvement it requires.
- So, one of the ways telcos can reduce latency is by reducing hops between mobile devices and base stations, but this would mean spending more money on network infrastructure and deploying more base stations closer to customers’ homes.
- This highly impacts their network design & how they are going to price their 5G services.
Issues that telcos face in network latency in 5G
Telco faces many issues with network latency. The first challenge is that the telcos need to upgrade their entire infrastructure from 4G to 5G.
One, This is because 5G will be much faster than 4G (100X of 4G speed) and will be able to handle more data.
Second, The second challenge is that telcos are struggling with the high demand for data and they need to find a way to provide more data at a lower cost.
& third, The third challenge is that telcos are trying to make sure that they deliver the best service possible even if there is an outage or there are crowds in certain areas.
In several speed tests (including Ookla’s speed testing app), 5G had hardly shown a latency rate of greater than 50 ms.
Why telcos should care about latency in 5G?
Low-latency 5G network opens loads of new opportunities/possibilities, especially for services that work in a rush. Or emergency services or services with instant response. Examples- healthcare, telemedicine, AR/VR, or EVs.
Or, let’s take a very common example, live gaming with your friends on your PC.
Note: Some applications are possible that are yet to be tapped at least in the coming few months/years. For example, robotic surgery or autonomous vehicles talk.
Because a local surgeon is much cheaper than high-end robotic devices operated by a remote surgeon. Again, cars, for now, can communicate normally as networks are not appropriately fast for this.
The good news is that with the right router, you can reduce the latencies down to appreciable levels. That’ll make your customers load the pages & processes quickly- smooth network performance & Skype call experience.
- Internet interaction speed are highly affected by latency. So, it’s important to analyze the line & adapt to it to deliver the lowest latency rate. This would further convey quality results in less time.
- Some businesses that are operated by manufacturers, construction companies, logistics, & transportation can get an edge. They can monitor, identify, and fix technicalities much before they affect the processes.
This will help in avoiding expensive downtime.
- Depending on the size & business type, real-time data & the capacity to process & respond to it instantaneously boosts. This increases its efficiency manifold.
- Moreover, The problem of latency is being solved for machines & not humans. As we, humans are just not capable of experiencing the difference between 40 ms and 60 ms but machines are. The devices used in time-critical communication can definitely sense the difference of 10 ms quickly.
Regardless of which innovative products/services make the headline next as the 5G use case, latency would be there. So, now is the time to consider its characteristics & deploy a more productive infrastructure.
Conclusion
Though the complete potential of an ultra-low-latency network is yet to be defined, enterprises are working day in & day out. This demands an all in all change of the whole infrastructure. The network companies are trying to make it to tactile internet i.e., exploring human senses through it.
For now, at Echelon Edge, our task is to reach single-digit latency & provide the highest 5G network quality possible.