The focus on tomorrow's technology hides shortcomings in what's available now

Since the first mobiles were introduced in 1981, the industry has pretty much kept to schedule. 4G appeared as a usable technology a couple of years ago and now the early signs of 5G are appearing, with a target date for implementation of 2020. Today's smartphones are powerful multimedia platforms – and 5G phones may well enhance that ability significantly. Samsung has recently released information about its 5G ambitions. Using a 28GHz carrier, the Korean giant has transmitted a 1Gbit/s signal over 2km. That, it says, is sufficient to download full HD video while on the move. Upload rates will be a different matter – the power required and the issues surrounding the effect of rf energy on the body mean it's unlikely we'll see rates much faster than available today. Samsung's tests are one thing: the real world will be different. One of the biggest problems will be the weather – it's well known that rain attenuates millimetre wave communications. Not so much 'I'm on the train' as 'I'm in the rain'. It's somewhat ironic that attention is focusing quite so far into the future while consumers today aren't served adequately. Many people in the UK can't get reliable mobile phone communications, even in areas where you might expect it. It's the same with broadband: if you're lucky enough to have fibre running past your home, you can get 100Mbit/s. Even though the average speed for adsl broadband is now 6Mbit/s, many still struggle with speeds of less than 1Mbit/s – and not all of them are in far flung areas. While the next technology generation needs to be developed, there's still work to do today.