Will the 4G network soon be turned off, forcing millions of users to buy a 5g phone? Here’s what’s true behind this urban legend
The first – experimental – antennas have been turned on in the past months and weeks, making Italy one of the first countries in the world covered by the 5G signal. To tell the truth, at the moment only some of the major Italian cities are reached by the new technology of cellular connectivity, but the goal of the various operators is to extend the network in the coming months and cover the entire country within a year or so.
The halo of mystery that, even today, surrounds the technology, however, has given rise to many false myths and legends about 5G. On social networks, for example, there are those who insist on the effects it would have on the human body, perhaps ignoring that the Italian legislation regarding SAR emissions is one of the most stringent in Europe. There are also those who are convinced that 5G will replace 4G, forcing users to throw away smartphones they use today and buy new ones.
5G instead of 4G, what’s true
It’s useless to make too many turns of phrase: it’s true that 5G is destined to supplant 4G and make it unused, but this will happen only in the long or even very long period. In any case, not before a decade, when maybe they will have also launched the 6G and the 5G will be considered old. A process that, in technology, happens periodically, as soon as a new version of some technology is launched on the market. Staying in the mobile world, for example, 4G has made 3G obsolete, but this standard is still available and used by a large chunk of smartphones. And the same will happen with 4G and 5G.
The introduction of the new cellular communication technology, however, could affect 3G. As mentioned, in fact, in our country the legislation on radio wave emissions is particularly stringent, so much so that it could slow down the spread of the 5G network in large areas of Italy. To prevent this from happening, telephone operators are considering the opportunity to decommission the 3G UMTS network and use the “space” left free by these antennas for 5G transmitters. At the moment this is merely a working hypothesis, but it is not certain that it will be implemented in a few years from now.