“5G is the cause of the current coronavirus pandemic, 5G is weakening the human immune system and leading to a lot of diseases, 5G is a plan for China to take over the world by killing everyone, 5G is wrong”. I have heard all this from different unproven theories, stories and tales about the 5G Network and the most absurd thing about this whole situation is that people are now destroying and burning down valuable infrastructure based on this believe and the fear for their health and that of their loved once. They are taking laws into their hands making the entire issue more complicated and you know one thing, convincing people can be one of the most difficult thing to do so I will just be talking about the 5G Network without trying to convince anyone. If you are going to face a crowd of people against the 5G network, please do wear a helmet, a fire and bullet proof cover coat as well as make sure you stay in an armored car. You do not want to be a victim of an angry mob.
What is 5G Network?
Different wavelength of electromagnetic radiation has been used for decades to transmit data and/or information from one region to another even as far back as when fire was used to transmit information and send signals to warriors to today when light and optic fibers are used to send data from one place to another. With the need for wireless connectivity and means of transmitting data, soon the Cellular network or 1G was created in Japan in 1979 where high power radio were used as means of transmissions from mobile phone. It utilizes radioactive waves with a wavelength of 104to 1016. Frequency band or bandwidth became a very big issue for the 1G network as if a user was on a frequency band another user couldn’t use it, instead they had to be use another frequency band. The more bandwidth available determines the numbers of data/information that a mast/tower can handle. 1G could only transmit 2.4kbps.
2G came in with digital data and the ability to text message. 2G was able to achieve 9.2kbps and could take up to 1000 messages with ease. As time went, 2G was able to take up to 200kbps and the 2G existed till the first generation of the iPhone.
3G came with additional frequency bands and made utilized data packet switching which allowed people to share different frequency easily. Data were divided into chunks and sent through different frequency bands so instead of sending a single large data through a single frequency band, it had to be splitted into smaller data packets which made it faster to send data. This allowed the efficiency of the frequency bands and allowed the use of more data. High speed packet access (HSPA) was able to increase speed to 42mbps or 42000kbps. The HSPA was regarded as 3.5G in some cases.
With data usage on the increase the 4G or LTE was introduced which could carry a frequency of 700 MHz band to 1 GHz. We have been trying to increase speed without adding new frequencies to the already available ones. With high frequency millimeter waves, there are still network problems. The waves get blocked by almost everything and get disturbed by rain.
5G is the talk of the town but this technology is 100 times faster than the 4G network, its response time is as fast as 1 milliseconds. The technology works as a foundation to virtual reality, internet of things, and autonomous driving. 5G uses millimeter waves, small cells, massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), Beam forming, and full duplex. 5G uses a frequency up to 70 GHz.
Is 5G Safe
The FCC requires that every phone in the market be tested and given a value on the amount radiation it emits and the value is below the point where adverse health effect could occur. WHO International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) said that radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation in phone as possible carcinogenic to humans but it has not been proven fully. The thing about laymen is that they just decide on the word Carcinogenic to humans and started drawing conclusion. On a plain note, 5G is possible not probable and the next line to show that it is dangerous is probable before getting to definite. Also a few things are carcinogens like coffee, vegetable and so many other things but people still order for Starbucks.
Like I said, I am not in the business of telling someone that 5G is good or bad so I am leaving it to you to judge the radiofrequency electromagnetic radiation of 5G.