Changes

==How it works==

==How it works==

High frequency radio waves cycle more rapidly, thus giving more opportunities to transmit [[Binary bit|bit]]s of data each second. The functional problem with high frequency radio waves is that they are more easily dissipated or absorbed, so they do not travel as far and are more easily blocked by structures and landscape. To deal with this issue, 5G actually utilizes three bands.<ref name="PCmag 5G">https://www.pcmag.com/news/what-is-5g</ref>

High frequency radio waves cycle more rapidly, thus giving more opportunities to transmit [[Binary bit|bit]]s of data each second. The functional problem with high frequency radio waves is that they are more easily dissipated or absorbed, so they do not travel as far and are more easily blocked by structures and landscape. To deal with this issue, 5G actually utilizes three bands.<ref name="PCmag 5G">https://www.pcmag.com/news/what-is-5g</ref>

*Low-band 5G: Uses frequencies lower than 1GHz, which are durable but slow for communication. This is likely to be useful inside buildings, and are long distances from cellular towers. Communications speeds using this band will be similar to the speed of 4G.<ref name="PCmag 5G">https://www.pcmag.com/news/what-is-5g</ref>

*Low-band 5G: Uses frequencies lower than 1GHz, which are durable but slow for communication. This is likely to be useful inside buildings, and at long distances from cellular towers. Communications speeds using this band will be similar to the speed of 4G.<ref name="PCmag 5G">https://www.pcmag.com/news/what-is-5g</ref>

*Mid-band 5G: Uses frequencies in the 1-10GHz range. This frequency range offers greater speed, and a practical range of around a half mile. In the U.S., only Sprint had available frequencies in this band which it could utilize at the time 5G was released.<ref name="PCmag 5G">https://www.pcmag.com/news/what-is-5g</ref> Multiple antennas on the same cell tower are grouped together using "Massive MIMO" to improve penetration and coverage area. Some companies such as Sprint are also using a process called Beamforming, which sends a single focused signal to each individual user in the service cell.<ref name= "digitaltrends.com 5G">https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/what-is-5g/</ref>

*Mid-band 5G: Uses frequencies in the 1-10GHz range. This frequency range offers greater speed, and a practical range of around a half mile. In the U.S., only Sprint had available frequencies in this band which it could utilize at the time 5G was released.<ref name="PCmag 5G">https://www.pcmag.com/news/what-is-5g</ref> Multiple antennas on the same cell tower are grouped together using "Massive MIMO" to improve penetration and coverage area. Some companies such as Sprint are also using a process called Beamforming, which sends a single focused signal to each individual user in the service cell.<ref name= "digitaltrends.com 5G">https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/what-is-5g/</ref>

*High-band 5G (also know as millimeter-wave or "mmWave"):<ref name= "digitaltrends.com 5G">https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/what-is-5g/</ref> Uses frequencies in the 20-100GHz range.  This offers high speed communication, but a range of only about 800 feet. Cell carriers are expected to deploy a large number of "microcells," which are low-power base stations (transmitting at only 2-10 watts), and a smaller number of higher power "macrocells" (transmitting at 20-40 watts) to deal with this problem.<ref name="PCmag 5G">https://www.pcmag.com/news/what-is-5g</ref>

*High-band 5G (also know as millimeter-wave or "mmWave"):<ref name= "digitaltrends.com 5G">https://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/what-is-5g/</ref> Uses frequencies in the 20-100GHz range.  This offers high speed communication, but a range of only about 800 feet. Cell carriers are expected to deploy a large number of "microcells," which are low-power base stations (transmitting at only 2-10 watts), and a smaller number of higher power "macrocells" (transmitting at 20-40 watts) to deal with this problem.<ref name="PCmag 5G">https://www.pcmag.com/news/what-is-5g</ref>