5G: The Free Market Has Kicked Off a New Tech Revolution

Andy Snyder|November 15, 2022

What ever happened to 5G?

Remember all that hype? Remember how we said not to buy into it?

A few years ago, we were told 5G technology was going to change the world. High-powered antennas weren’t just going to give us cancer… but also deliver blazing-fast internet speeds that would bring new technology to the landscape overnight.

Few things in the tech world have been more of a letdown.

Oh, sure, there’s a good chance your phone has the little 5G icon up in the corner. About 50% of phones in use today have 5G capability.

But have you noticed blazing speeds or new functionalities that weren’t possible just a few years ago?

We know the answer.

What happened is a salty mix of harsh reality and bad marketing… garnished by a litany of government screwups.

The good news is there’s new technology that’s already eclipsing the old… and this time, it’s real.

In fact, it’s already on the market.

Bait and Switch

First, let’s tackle the reason you have 5G on your phone… yet see no difference in how it works.

It’s easy.

The phone companies are stretching the definition of 5G. Once the moniker for ultra-high-speed connections from the mmWave-based spectrum (for all the nerds in our readership), the term 5G now encompasses a much wider breadth of spectrum. As long as it’s different from older systems, cell companies are calling it 5G.

It’s classic bait and switch. In most cases, the speeds are no different.

Many folks who buy 5G-capable phones have no idea that what they’re getting doesn’t live up to the hype of a few years ago.

How did this happen?

Most fingers point to the government for gumming things up so badly.

It got greedy and auctioned off huge swaths of spectrum before most agencies gave their signoff on the technology. The sales brought the Treasury some cash, but they also sent the telecom industry scrambling in multiple directions… with program-halting lawsuits in hot pursuit.

Airlines refused to jump on board. Space agencies worried about interference. And the courts even fought over who owned what.

It greatly slowed the rollout.

And when the government screws up… the free market loves to step in and fix things.

In fact, the free market may be the biggest player in all of this.

No Use

It’s not a lie to say the technology we were promised exists. It’s out there. It’s just that nobody wants or needs it. All the apps and devices that were supposed to make 5G the next big thing never materialized.

It’s a technology without a use.

But there’s something else happening. It’s super important and potentially quite lucrative. We've talked about it before… calling it – with tongue in cheek – 6G technology.

Perhaps you saw the news about Apple’s latest iPhone.

The hype around it has nothing to do with 5G or its speed. Instead, the excitement is about this newbie to the market having a built-in satellite connection.

That’s huge.

While we can’t place calls from anywhere in the world just yet, we can tap a button and send an emergency signal straight to an orbiting satellite.

Perhaps it’s time to restart the counter. This is the first generation (or 1G) of a whole new technological revolution.

Imagine a world where there’s no need for Verizon or AT&T. Their networks wouldn’t be needed if your new iPhone could beam a signal straight to a satellite put into space by Elon Musk.

Those satellites, by the way, were built and are owned by just a handful of small companies. (Manward Letter readers just got into one of these companies… which has a share price below $5).

So the answer to what happened to 5G is simple.

It’s a success story.

The free market won. It’s bringing us new technology faster than the government can approve the old stuff.

It’s a tech story to watch.

There’s money to be made.

Editor’s Note: This may be one of the free market’s greatest achievements… a new type of investment that is completely outside the stock and crypto markets. Get the details on why it’s being called a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” right here.