5G internet is the next big thing that tech companies around the world have been adjusting to and preparing for. The improved system will have a greater capacity to transfer data, allowing for a faster internet experience than we’ve ever known with current 4G speeds. By using 5G, we can expect internet access to be between 10x and even 100x faster than the average 4G provides. And while that’s an important development for most areas, it may have the biggest impact in a very unexpected and unrecognized area: rural American communities.
While it may seem like we live in a completely digital age, it’s only because we’ve surrounded ourselves with those elements. For a staggering number of rural Americans, the internet isn’t as common place. Recent estimates from the Federal Communications Commission suggest that 39% of citizens in rural areas do not currently have access to any form of high-speed broadband internet. This helps foster a greater disconnect between these communities and the rest of the country and world at large. But new developments in the world of wireless advancements – namely the advancement of 5G – has been increasing our ability to bring high speed internet to these areas.
FCC chairman Ajit Pai has made it a priority to set these areas up with significantly stronger internet access. He’s been pushing the Digital Empowerment Agenda & Phase II of the Mobility Fund, which should help provide the adequate funding and man power to push the initiative forward. At the open commission meeting earlier this year, Pai related his thoughts on the matter, commenting that…
“For far too long … the commission has not kept its promise to rural America to hold an MF-II auction. While urban and suburban America continue to see improvements in mobile service, many rural areas continue to be dead zones. We cannot leave these areas behind. From precision agriculture to the sharing economy, mobile broadband is critical to rural America.”
While fiber-based broadband deployment is and will continue to be important for certain communities and areas, 5G mobile networks offer the easiest means to give rural areas the same connectivity that their urban and suburban peers sometimes take for granted. Thanks to the increased power of the connection when using 5G technology, data can be moved at a more accelerated rate than what we’ve become accustomed to. This is done by improving on the current network infrastructure and increasing the number of towers that support that improved system – a process that many wireless services are currently planning on and in the early stages of implementation. The increase in power and spread available with 5G technology promises to help expand that power to places where high speed connectivity had only been a dream even a year ago.
The wireless industry may change substantially from the advancement to 5G, but those changes mean more than just speed boosts for the average user: it will also provide citizens in smaller areas the same access to the knowledge, entertainment, and sheer communication that urban and suburban environments already enjoy. People who would otherwise be forced to drive for hours to even reach their nearest qualified doctor will now be able to communicate and consult with a physician within seconds. Where people were limited to whatever news, literature, and entertainment from traditional means (from local television and businesses) for decades, they soon could have the opportunity to see and read and learn anything and everything the world has to offer, at the touch of a button and in a matter of seconds. 5G means a restructuring of the current climate of digital trends, improving and increasing the amount and power of towers, and an entirely new world for a shockingly large amount of our fellow citizens.
Source: 5G mobile networks will bring healthcare closer to rural communities
