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If conspiracy theorists believed 5G caused COVID-19 and is a weapons system that governments and industries disguise as new technology, we’d love to know what they make of the new 6G tech already on the horizon.

While science may have dissuaded the fringes from freaking out about ‘radiofrequency electromagnetic’, the big tech industry has already moved on to better, and faster, technologies with the recent test of a 6G prototype wireless device. And it’s moer fast.

6G has proven to reach 100 Gbps data transfer speeds, 10 times faster than 5G at its peak, and 500 times faster than an average 5G smartphone. Considering that a two-hour, medium-quality Netflix movie streamed to a phone is around 1.5 GB in size, in practical terms, we’re looking at being able to stream eight or nine of these films every single second.

The result of extensive research and development by Japan’s telecommunications company NTT, the Japanese mobile phone operator DOCOMO, and electronics corporations NEC and Fujitsu, the device makes use of high-frequency bands in the 100 GHz and 300 GHz range, allowing it to pack in significantly more data than previous generation standards.

It’s a work in progress with some trade-offs in terms of range, but the experiment showed a stable connection over 100 meters. Advances in communications technology will in fact need different forms of transmitters and receivers as the 6G network is eventually built.

It’s worth noting that this demo required a lot of state-of-the-art equipment. As the technology is developed though, the size and the costs of the equipment is gradually going to come down, but don’t expect 6G in your next iPhone.

It’s also important to remember that the 10 Gbps top speed for 5G is a technical ceiling, under perfect conditions, using the most powerful and well-optimized hardware. The current average 5G speed for smartphones comes in at around 186.3 Mbps.

6G’s vastly improved speeds will not just come in handy for smartphones but make a big difference to autonomous vehicles, as well as sorting out that pesky network congestion during a Taylor Swift concert.

6G might also make Wi-Fi largely redundant – something that has already begun happening. Nokia estimates that 6G might only be commercially available by 2030, so for the time being, your standard three-layer tinfoil hat will suffice.

[source:sciencealert]