A telecom software and service company named Amdocs recently conducted a survey of UK and US customers regarding their knowledge of 5G. In total 2000 consumers were surveyed, and the results show that telecom company’s need to do a better job of educating the public about what exactly 5G is and how it will benefit the average consumer.
According to the results of this survey, U.K. consumers are mostly aware of what 5G is—95% of those surveyed recognized the term. This is likely due in large part to the recent slew of news coverage regarding the U.K.’s decision to allow the use of Huawei products in their 5G network.
However, only 55% of respondents felt that they could articulate the benefits that 5G brings to the table. That’s a big problem for an industry that is investing billions of dollars into the creation of these next-generation networks.
The biggest roadblock facing widespread 5G adoption is simply getting 5G-capable devices into the hands of the average consumer. This will happen naturally as consumers upgrade their current phone model, but because of how good smartphones are these days many consumers are holding onto their phones for several years before upgrading. That means consumers need to be convinced that upgrading to 5G early is worth their time.
The most effective way to do this seems to be touting how access to a 5G network will completely transform how people stream on mobile devices and cloud gaming.
Downloading entire movies will take seconds instead of minutes like it does on a 4G network. The same goes for music, apps, anything you want to download from the internet can be gotten in seconds over a proper 5G network.
Cloud gaming will suddenly be a viable form of gaming for anyone on a 5G network. Gamers will be able to access any game and play it almost instantly, without having to worry about downloading large files.
Suddenly anyone connected to a 5G network and subscribed to a cloud-gaming service can access any game at any time and enjoy an experience comparable to an actual gaming console. Google has already released its own cloud gaming service called Stadia.
The virtues of 5G can be shouted from the mountaintops, but most people won’t believe it until they see it. As people begin to have regular access to 5G networks, their friends are going to see the difference this next-generation makes. That’s when the majority of the market will begin to shift. 5G is coming, it’s just a matter of when.
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