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WIRELESS NETWORKS
A further consideration is that Wi-Fi itself is also evolving.
The next generation of Wi-Fi will offer data rates of up to 9
Gbps. However, to maintain coverage at the higher speed,
additional Wi-Fi access points using ground-based Cat6A
Ethernet cabling, or fibre optic cabling will need to be
installed. This means that no matter whether it’s in office
buildings, sporting venues, shopping centres, hospitals or
schools, cabling will not go away.
provide greater bandwidth but the distance the signal can
travel will be extremely limited compared to 4G.
The impact on infrastructure
As the distance the 5G signal can travel is shorter, to have
the same coverage as 4G would require many times the
number of mobile towers that exist today. Not only would
this be challenging to install, but also expensive. This is
where the integration with Wi-Fi becomes critical. While
carriers will certainly install new towers in suburban areas;
the roll-out of 5G will include Wi-Fi hotspots installed by
mobile providers in dense urban areas to reduce the total
cost of upgrading networks to 5G.
Not only will this ensure that users’ devices can
switch between mobile and Wi-Fi signal seamlessly and
automatically, but it’s also a lower cost option for network
providers. Each of these Wi-Fi hotspots will require wireless
access points to be installed, all of which will rely on the
installation of cable.
The future of cabling
While in the short term, 5G presents an opportunity for
those providing and installing cabling, in the longer term,
there may be some threats to the cabling market to
consider. The introduction of 5G and its Wi-Fi hotspots will
create a bigger surplus of bandwidth, but users will generally
not be utilising more data on their existing devices. Instead,
there will be more wireless devices that are connected to
the network directly, including so-called ‘Internet of Things’
devices.
It’s expected that some years down the road, it will no
longer be necessary to have several different cables running
to every workstation in each office building. Whereas current
standards suggest that you should have a cable outlet for
each device, such as a PC, VoIP phone or printer, in the
future more of the devices used in the workplace will be
wireless. That said, this is some years away, and while there
will be less cabling to workstations to install, many more
wireless access points would be required to support the
increase in wireless devices.
Cabling is vital to success
5G promises attractive-sounding increases in data speed and
while added bandwidth will enable devices to be connected
directly to the network for a faster and ‘better’ performance,
it’s actually the maintenance of a more consistent network
service that will make a difference to users. 5G users will see
better service coverage across a wider area, fewer places
with ‘poor signal’ and fewer instances of slow connection
due to network congestion, but this will be a direct result of
integrating traditional cellular networks with Wi-Fi access
points connected to fill the gaps. So, rather than killing LAN
networks, ground-based cabling will in fact be vital to the
success of 5G. n
A real-world scenario
So how does this translate into a typical commercial
application, such as an office building?
As previously discussed, it will be difficult for a 5G signal
from a cell tower to penetrate the building – even foggy
weather and tree foliage can reduce the penetration of 5G
signals in new high-frequency spectrums. So, if you’re inside
an office, the 30GHz frequency will struggle to connect to
your mobile phone. This means that when you’re indoors,
to use 5G, your device will actually need to connect to a
Wi-Fi hotspot, using copper or fibre cabling as the backhaul
connection to the carrier’s network. As well as office
buildings’ own Wi-Fi networks, to ensure service availability,
mobile network providers will therefore also be looking to
put hotspots in these locations.
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