5G Might Not be About Layer One

Up to this point, mobile network generational advances have largely been about layer one access, especially the air interface, on the subscriber-facing side of the network. 

Whether that will be the case in the future now is seen by some as the defining issue for future potential 5G networks, which in principle might for the first time not directly be defined by a different air interface.

At least, that is how Intel Labs views the matter. Instead, Intel seems to believe, 5G will be about pervasive connectivity, and therefore network features at layers other than layer one.

5G technologies will, in intel's view, focus more on uniform experience throughout the network by offering a consistent level of connectivity and connection quality, across networks and air interfaces. 

Intel also believes 5G will be more about user personalization, the sort of thing standards bodies will not be able to define with much precision, if at all. For that reason, some question the claims by some, such as Samsung, about what 5G will be, sometime in the future. 

As Intel sees matters, 5G will be about a network of networks that enables personalized and ubiquitous connectivity, across networks, more than network speed or air interface protocols.