As sure as night turns to day, the networking industry is working on yet another wireless standard. While it’s still many years away, 6G mobile networks are already on the tip of tech tongues, with companies and governments rapidly investing and preparing the regulatory frameworks to make next-gen networks a reality. The global race for 6G is slowly getting underway.
But after 5G has so far failed to deliver on the truly next-gen experiences used to hype up its development cycle, the real question isn’t whether 6G can provide speeds in a lab — it’s whether it will meaningfully improve battery life, coverage, reliability, or monthly bills. On those fronts, the case for excitement is far less clear. Here’s everything that you need to know.
Are you already thinking about 6G networking? 0 votes No, I didn't know it was a thing. NaN % No, I really don't care about it. NaN % It's early, but yes, I'm interested. NaN %
Checking the headline claims
David Imel / Android Authority
The 6G specification is still under active development, but some of its preliminary objectives have already been publicly disclosed. In practice, this means that many of 6G’s headline features are not entirely new ideas, but long-promised capabilities that were delayed or only partially realized during the 5G era. Ultra-low latency, massive IoT support, advanced positioning, and AI-assisted networking are all part of the modern 5G vision; 6G’s goal is to make these features native and interoperable from day one, rather than layering them on through years of revisions.
Still, the fledgling specification has some lofty plans for peak data capabilities, ranging up to hundreds of Gigabits per second and microsecond (<1ms) latency capabilities. Claims like these are worryingly familiar, and history suggests they will apply primarily to controlled demonstrations rather than everyday consumer connections. For instance, modern networking speeds are likely 3x to 5x faster than 4G/LTE, but we’re still a long way from the 10x or greater speed boosts we were promised with 5G. As such, I don’t expect consumer 6G to be anywhere near as fast as these early promises — at least not for consumer applications.
Faster, more efficient, and brand new use cases. Does 6G sound familiar?
Still, if there’s one thing that 6G has going for it, it’s that it will build upon networking technologies that have proven useful in recent years. Supporting data from low-Earth orbit satellites, for instance, will help provide superior coverage in rural and hard-to-reach areas, while fixed wireless access will cover homes and businesses without the need for fibre, all under the umbrella of a single specification.
Much like the drive for 5G, 6G is aimed at boosting overall network capacity — allowing not just for higher bandwidth but also supporting far more devices online at any given time. Those claims about mass internet-of-things connectivity remain, with early 6G planning to accommodate narrow-band IoT, Reduced Capacity, and Ambient IoT under a single standard. The idea being that 6G networks can support a much wider range of devices without the bolt-ons and revisions that crept in under 4G and 5G.
... continue reading