Most mobile users these days are happy to get LTE service (and a few of us just wish we could get 3G reliably) but there is already a surprising push towards the next big thing in wireless speeds. Samsung thinks it has the solution, or at least what might become one: expanding existing LTE networks into the super-high 28GHz range, the lower part of what's known as the millimeter wave bands. The company is calling this system 5G, and expects to have it ready for cellular networks in 2020.

Any grade school science student can tell you that higher-frequency radio waves have the capacity for more data, and Samsung's system has been tested with speeds just north of 1Gb per second, about ten times as fast as the best current LTE offerings. The company hopes to improve speeds to at least ten times faster than that. The major hurdle to overcome is the shorter physical range that comes with the higher frequencies. According to the Samsung Tomorrow post, the company has used an adaptive array transceiver with 64 elements to extend the stable wireless range to 2 kilometers (about one and a quarter miles). That's much, much shorter than conventional wireless towers, but it's a good start.

Assuming it remains viable as research continues, Samsung plans to implement this technology to provide faster speeds, massive data downloads, ultra high definition video, and remote medical services. Whether stingy wireless plans can catch up with the technology in seven years remains to be seen - it would be shame to have a data cap that you could blow through literally faster than you can say Jack Robinson.

Samsung Tomorrow - Samsung Announces World’s First 5G mmWave Mobile Technology