The Pyeongchang Winter Games was supposed to be the coming-out party for 5G, the next generation of wireless technology -- but few people noticed. And some of those who did were unimpressed.
"It was okay," South Korean spectator Lim Seol-hwa said, after visiting a truck outfitted with the technology, one of several demonstrations of 5G's applications at Games venues.
"It was quite real and interesting to try. It would have been better if we could have actually tried it with our own phone."
South Korea's largest telecom, KT Corp, had promoted Pyeongchang as the first "5G Olympic Games in the world", arousing interest from investors, other telecoms firms and networking companies curious to see if the technology is viable and how exactly it would be applied.
KT's marketing also led some Games spectators this month to believe their phones could use super-fast 5G -- though that was never a possibility given 5G-compatible handsets have yet to be sold.
In KT's 5G demonstrations, company representatives show videos demonstrating the speed and capability of 5G, using real-time, 360-degree video of athletes competing. It's a feat that would be impossible on current 4G technology without buffering.
The 5G speeds reached in the trials were four times faster than 4G, according to chip maker Intel[1], which partnered with KT. It allowed for crisp streaming of the Games' action from all angles with no buffering.
KT also staged a "5G Zone" at venues allowing passers-by to also analyse video in short time slices. About 100 cameras installed around the Olympic ice arena gave 360-degree views for people watching on special tablets, Games organisers said.
While the 5G Zone at the Gangneung ice hockey area was promoted on Pyeongchang's Olympics website,...