Advances in information communications technology ultimately will change online gaming. But much more important areas need to be taken care of first. The next quantum leap in communications technology will come through 5G, which is expected to go commercial sometime in 2019. This article explains what 5G is and how it will change our lives.

When the Internet first went commercial small 40 megabyte files took 12 hours to download. With 4G this can be done in seconds. Today, 4G wireless connectivity allows images to be loaded instantaneously, high definition videos to be played without buffering and live games at online casinos to be streamed in real time even on mobile devices. 5G will be 20 times faster than 4G. Canada is slated to be the first country to establish 5G based on present reports. Toronto and downtown Vancouver will be the first areas to get a taste of this wireless evolution. From Canada to the other development countries should be a matter of months.

Bernard Bureau, vice-president of 5G spectrum and wireless networks at Telus, points out that 5G is more than just another G. This is not just a buzz phrase. 5G will lay the groundwork for future technology, making dreams like self-driving vehicles, smart cities and true smart homes a reality. The key aspect of 5G is the incredibly low latency. This is the time it takes for wireless information to make a round trip. Low latency means that round trips of information will take significantly less time and this will make technology for drones and self-driving cars viable and reliable. After that 5G developments will be limited only by human imagination.

The establishment of the new technology will take place over a period of time. 5G is based on millimetre wave spectrum. Though this is frequency is notably high, allowing for lightning fast data transfer rates, it comes with one serious drawback. It has an extremely short range needing a much larger number of antennas to be installed. The projects involving 5G will an enormous amount of work across a vast area and entail humongous investments. The focus will first be on the most densely populated metro areas, where the results will be most rewarding. The technology will then expand outwards. So it will be some time before most of us are able to take advantage of 5G. But it is inevitable and it will impact our lives on multiple levels.