5G: What is it good for?

Here is a brief explanation of how 5G will be used and what it will mean for your online experience — and  your everyday life:

Existing applications: 5G, which will supplement rather than replace today’s 4G networks, will radically improve the bandwidth, capacity and reliability of mobile broadband, much more than in previous generational shifts.

The benefits to come: But the real excitement over 5G comes with new uses that simply aren’t possible with today’s networks. Many of these involve the revolution in sensors, low-cost transmitters and cloud-based software known as the Internet of Things (IoT), or “connected” or “smart” devices. As billions more things go online over the next several years, they will be using 5G networks to send and receive massive amounts of new data.

[Downes is a project director at the Georgetown Center for Business and Public Policy]