Is 5G Safe?
Online conspiracy theories have blamed 5G for everything from cancer to coronavirus, but they tend to fall apart at the slightest tap of actual facts. Low-band and mid-band 5G are based on radio frequencies that have been used for decades.
T-Mobile's low-band 5G uses UHF TV bands, which have been in use since 1952. T-Mobile's mid-band has been in use at least since 2007; parts of it were first used in 1963.
AT&T's low-band 5G is on cellular frequencies used since 1983, and it is no more powerful than previous systems on those bands. Verizon and AT&T's DSS systems are on existing 4G bands.
The C-band is a new band for wireless communication. But it's important to see where it fits. At 3.45 to 3.8GHz, the currentC-band is sandwiched between the extremely popular, common 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi bands. It's not going to have any effect on us that pervasive Wi-Fi networks don't already have. And though conspiracy theorists tend to look askance at Wi-Fi, mainstream science says there's no convincing evidence Wi-Fi has harmed us.
The World Health Organization says(Opens in a new window), "Any health effects of low level electromagnetic fields, if they exist at all, are likely to be very small compared to other health risks that people face in everyday life."
Before the C-band networks launched, the air travel industry expressed concern that the 3.7 to 3.8GHz frequency was too close to the 4.2 to 4.4GHz frequency that aircraft radio altimeters use. The issue was that older altimeters were not made with the proper filters to exclude nearby frequencies, so people were worried they would 'hear' C-band transmissions and not report accurate readings.
Shortly before the networks were to launch, the FAA scrambled to test and certify
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