What is Qualcomm and why should you care? If you own a smart phone and use it for more than an expensive paper weight you should. Qualcomm is to your phone what the flux capacitor is to the Dalorean. Without it, your not going “back to the future.”

Qualcomm manufactures the chips that go inside your phone that enable it to connect to the cellular network. Simple enough right? Well if you want to go back to the future you should know a little more. For example, if your an NFL junkie who can’t wait to watch the Seahawks instant replays in full HD while your sitting at the 50 yard line at Century Link stadium then you’ll need a phone with Qualcomm’s 5G chip.

That being said, stopping your 5G knowledge growth with the above is enough to cover your NFL streaming needs.

However if you want to use your $1,200 5G phone to connect to life saving traveler information or to help your 1985 Chevy vehicle have an advanced warning of a Traffic Signal about to turn Red, you will need to ask your Samsung or iPhone rep a few technical questions to make sure you purchase all the bells and whistles.

5G typically communicates in a few frequencies 28Ghz and 49Ghz and more, but at some point (not available yet) you will need to make sure the Qualcomm chip (yes I believe they have a monopoly on the market) is also capable of communicating at 5.9Ghz. The 5.9Ghz Spretrum ( aka Public Safety Band) was set aside in 1997 to enable V2V (Vehicle to Vehicle), V2I (Vehicle to Infrastructure),V2X (Vehilcle to Everything) or V2P (Vehilcle to Pedestrian) communications to protect the life saving communications ecosystems set aside by the FCC (Federal Communications Communications) to allow Connected and Automated Vehicles on the road to see, communicate with and avoid running into you!

So why aren’t these chips in phones right now? Well you can thank the current current Federal Administration and the FCC continuing to delay a decision to lock down the 5.9Ghz spectrum which would provide market stability and advancement of many life saving technologies.