Is the era of 5G connectivity upon us? The government in South Korea says so, and it's sinking $1.5 billion into upgrades it says will make mobile communications there 1,000 times faster than they are today. But not so fast. Literally, not so fast. As was the case when smartphones and other mobile devices first started having 4G slapped on them, the term 5G is as much a marketing slogan as anything else -- at this point, anyway. And if technophiles in the United States are hoping Korea's announcement means warp-speed data connections are coming their way in the near future, they're going to be disappointed.
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South Korea says they're spending $1.5 billion on a "5G" network
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The term is mostly a slogan for now, but the tech will come
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The nation's science ministry promises new network in 2020
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Cellular networks in the U.S. likely will linger behind
@placeholder is expected to be about creating intelligent networks that can handle those billions of connected devices.