A turbo effect activated directly from the smartphone, for download faster or not to have surprises during a video call, until recently it would have been a dream but now it is reality thanks to 5G and above all thanks to Ericsson.
The news si chiama Ericsson Dynamic End-user Boost and it is a technology that “allows 4G and 5G mobile users to dynamically enhance cellular connectivity to ensure an optimal mobile experience.” Net of proclamations and promises, it will actually represent one of the first and real killer application for the consumer market (and the operators). A sort of application capable of initiating a revolution in the sector.
The Swedish giant has already made the service available to operators around the world, but for now SmartTone is the only one to have started its implementation. The reason is linked to the fact that the South Korean operator is among the few to have a 5G SA network (the acronym stands for standalone): although the Boost is also compatible with less advanced architectures, even in Italy and already now, it is right on one 5G mobile network based on 5G network that its potential is exploited to the fullest.
To understand, we need to take a step back: generically we always talk about 5G, but in reality all over the world we are still in a phase where this technology is based on 4G networks, and it is in fact called 5G non-standalone (not autonomous, not independent). In a few years the autonomous version will be used, precisely 5G SA. One might wonder why all this labor: on the one hand the need for better dilute investments over timeon the other hand, the belief that 4G is still fine for the needs of consumers.
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A boost for everyone
“We understand that customers may occasionally need to enhance connectivity mobile data when they are in situations of critical importance for business or leisure. Thanks to this innovative new application, our network is now able to offer all customers the ability to enhance connectivity through an easy-to-use mobile application, “he explained. Stephen Chau, chief technology officer di SmarTone.
Martin Zander, head of one network solutions di Ericssonrecalled that the app can be activated while you are downloading or uploading a file on the go, or for a video conference, interact with a business application or play multiplayer on your mobile.
But how is it possible to have additional resources when sometimes it seems that there are not enough already for the most mundane activities of everyday life? The central theme is that the resources, especially with 5G, will always be there, since the efficiency chapter has been enhanced beyond all measure.
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How is this technically possible?
The Ericsson Dynamic End-user Boost is one of the many possible field applications of the so-called network slicing: it could be translated into network partitioning and imagined as an organizational action aimed at rationalizing and efficiently handling data.
Today, mobile networks are like large highways where everything travels fairly indiscriminately. On 4G voice too (it’s called VoLTE, i.e. voice-over-LTE) runs through the traffic generated by apps. So they all share almost the same lanes. But with 5G we know that we are destined to have services with profoundly different needs: very low latency for remote control surgery, a lot of bandwidth for very high resolution streaming and so on.
The synthesis is to imagine an intelligent network capable of providing partitions isolated from the others for the temporary needs of specific services. Obviously, there are many more resources upstream than the current ones and it is also for this reason that Ericsson’s Boost is compatible with 4G and 5G NSAbut his ideal hunting ground remains 5G SA.
I South Korean customers of SmarTone therefore they will soon be able to start the app during each activity to ask for more performance. Maybe during a game session, the ability to reduce latency or have a momentary turbo effect to download a large file in less time.
Will it become paid? Obviously yes, and on this point both Ericsson and the operators agree on the economic potential. If consumer scenarios can be easily imagined, it is likely that the business will be able to provide greater certainty of revenue: today it is a Boost key, but tomorrow it may be of safety or confidentiality. Or again, simply, with an Enterprise label, no further explanation is needed.