Trust, but verify
It’s easy to laugh at conspiracy theories, and often, they do invite it. But there’s a problem: mockery isn’t the same as fact-checking.
On January 22, 2020, a Belgian newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws published an interview with Kris Van Kerckhoven, a general practitioner from Putte, near Antwerp. The headline read: “5G is life-threatening, and no one knows it.” In the article, the doctor claimed that 5G was harmful to health and might be linked to the coronavirus, since several 5G towers had been built in Wuhan.
The article was removed within hours, but it was too late. The story went viral, quite literally, while the actual virus was still just leaving Wuhan.
The anti-5G movement wasn’t new. But spring 2020 was the perfect storm: global fear, lockdowns, and too much time online. The result was a digital wildfire. People started burning cell towers, many of which weren’t even 5G, but just regular 3G/4G masts.
Meanwhile, the rest of the internet responded with memes. Laughing at conspiracy theories is easy, even satisfying sometimes. But it’s not the same as verification.
At MTX Connect we work with mobile networks every day. It’s our job to understand how connectivity actually works. What we’ve noticed is that both sides of the 5G debate run on emotion, not data, like “It’s killing us!” versus “That’s anti-science garbage!”, and almost nobody shows the numbers.
Let’s fix that.
What is 5G and how is it different from 4G?
The main technical difference is the expanded frequency range.
| Generation | Frequency range |
|---|---|
| 4G LTE | 600 MHz – 2.5 GHz |
| 5G FR1 (low/mid-band) | 600 MHz – 7 GHz |
| 5G FR2 (mmWave) | 24 – 52 GHz |
Notice something? 5G FR1 uses pretty much the same frequencies as 4G. So does your microwave oven (2.45 GHz) and your Wi-Fi router (2.4 and 5 GHz).
Microwaves have been in kitchens since the early 1980s, Wi-Fi since 1999. If these frequencies were harmful, we’d have noticed.
The genuinely new range is FR2 — mmWave, 24–52 GHz. That’s where the gigabit speeds come from. And that’s what triggered the fear.
Side note: when Dr. Van Kerckhoven sounded the alarm in 2020, the debate mostly focused on 26–28 GHz — the first frequencies being tested in Europe and the US.
Key differences between FR2 and FR1
To understand why this frequency range sparked so much debate, let’s look at its physical properties:
Bandwidth: FR2 can deliver speeds of 10–20 Gbps – roughly 100 to 200 times faster than 4G.
Range: Very short. In urban areas, the FR2 signal fades after just 150–300 meters (10–20 times less than 4G). In open fields, 500–700 meters (50–200 times less than 4G).
Penetration: This is FR2’s main weakness. The waves are blocked by walls, trees, raindrops, even by a hand covering the phone’s antenna.
Because of the limited range and poor penetration, FR2 requires a dense network of small cells – low-power base stations mounted on nearly every street pole or building. This is precisely what fueled the fears: people looked around and concluded that “there are suddenly more antennas.”
Now, one more important piece of theory.
Ionising vs non-ionising radiation: why it matters
Everything we’ve talked about so far: radio waves, microwaves, Wi-Fi, 5G – is electromagnetic radiation. Yes, radiation. The same word we associate with Chernobyl and X-rays.
In physics, radiation simply means energy traveling through space as electromagnetic waves. The important distinction is not whether something is “radiation,” but whether it is ionising or non-ionising.
Ionising radiation is electromagnetic waves with enough energy to knock electrons out of atoms. Unlike non-ionising radiation, it alters the chemical structure of matter, and that’s what damages DNA, causes mutations, and leads to cancer.
Here’s the full electromagnetic spectrum:
| Range | Lower boundary (GHz) | What operates there |
|---|---|---|
| Radio waves | 0,000003 | AM/FM radio, marine communications, TV broadcasting |
| Microwaves | 0,3 | 4G/5G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, microwave ovens, radar, cosmic microwave background |
| Infrared | 300 | TV remotes, night vision, heat from radiators |
| Visible light | 430 000 | Everything the human eye can see (red to violet) |
| Ultraviolet (UV)— IONISATION BEGINS | 750 000 | Suntan, UV lamps, disinfection |
| X-rays | 30 000 000 | Medical imaging (CT, X-ray), airport baggage scanners |
| Gamma rays | 30 000 000 000 | Nuclear reactions, radiation therapy, cosmic radiation |
Electromagnetic radiation travels in packets called photons. The energy of each photon is directly proportional to its frequency – Planck figured this out in 1900 (we’ve all heard the term “Planck’s constant”, even if we’re not quite sure what it is). Higher frequency means a more powerful photon.
Now imagine an electron attached to an atom by a rubber band. To tear it away, you need one strong enough pull. Weak pushes from non-ionising radiation will only make the atom wobble – that’s heat. But they won’t break the band. A single hit with enough energy will.
Low-frequency photons (radio, microwaves, infrared, visible light) are weak pushes. No matter how many you send, they only produce heat. High-frequency photons (UV, X-rays, gamma) are strikes powerful enough to knock an electron off its orbit and damage DNA.
Now back to 5G. The ionisation threshold begins at around 3,000,000 GHz (3 petahertz) in the ultraviolet range.
5G mmWave operates at a maximum of 52 GHz.
That’s a difference of about 57,000 times in frequency. It’s like comparing the speed of a pedestrian to the Parker Solar Probe – the fastest thing humans have ever built.
It is physically impossible for 5G radio waves to knock electrons out of molecules and damage DNA. They simply don’t have the energy, not even close.
What about heating?
The only proven biological effect of microwave radiation is heating tissue. That’s how your microwave oven works – it vibrates water molecules until friction warms your food.
Fine, 5G can’t ionise us. But nobody wants to be microwaved either. So let’s look at this.
Heating requires power.
It’s important to understand that frequency ≠ power.
Frequency is “what note the source is playing”, high or low.
Power is “how loud the source is playing” and how close you are to it.
You can hum a high note under your breath, and it’ll be quieter than someone screaming a low note.
A microwave oven and your Wi-Fi router operate on the same “note” (≈2.4 GHz). But the microwave is screaming at 1000 watts, and the food is trapped inside a reflective metal box. Your router is whispering at 0.1 watts.
Also worth remembering that power drops with the square of the distance. Double the distance – quarter the power.
Let’s look at the power density of different sources of electromagnetic radiation:
FM radio (100 MHz): ~0.1 µW/m² at a distance of about 1 km from the transmitter,
Cosmic microwave background (160 GHz): ~3 µW/m² continuously, from all directions,
5G base station (0.6–52 GHz): ~300 µW/m² at a distance of 100 m,
Wi-Fi router (2.4 / 5 GHz): ~3,000 µW/m² at a distance of 5 m,
Smartphone near the head (0.7–2.5 GHz): ~40,000,000 µW/m² right next to the ear,
Microwave oven (inside, 2.45 GHz): ~8,000,000,000 µW/m² – but you’re not climbing in.
What jumps out
Your phone vs the 5G tower: a smartphone at your ear creates about 130,000× more power density than a 5G tower 100 meters away. ICNIRP confirms this, your phone is more intense than a base station at any normal distance.
This doesn’t mean phones are dangerous — they’re within safety limits too. But if you’re looking for something to worry about, maybe start with the device against your brain, not the antenna on the next block.
What else radiates like 5G?
At the lower end of the FR2 range (~24 GHz) you’ll find urban traffic and motion sensors, including the ones that measure your speed (you’ve probably received the letter).
Just above the upper edge of 5G, at 77–79 GHz, you’ll find automotive ADAS radars for adaptive cruise control, collision warnings, blind spot detection, and more. Nearly every modern car has them.
So if you’re standing at a busy intersection, you’re surrounded by dozens of cars radiating at frequencies higher than 5G.
Cosmic microwave background: radiation from space
Here’s something that rarely comes up in 5G debates.
After the Big Bang, the universe filled with microwave radiation. It is still there today — scientists call it the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB).
Frequency: peaks at ~160 GHz – 3 to 6 times higher than 5G mmWave,
Power density: ~3 µW/m²,
Coverage: entire sky, 24/7, for 13.8 billion years.
A 5G tower at 100 meters is about 100× stronger. But move 1-2 km away and the levels become comparable.
Life on Earth has been bathed in cosmic microwaves at frequencies above 5G for 4 billion years. Every second of every day.
The data so far
We’re not going to claim that “science has proven it safe”, because that’s not how science works.
The current consensus (WHO, ICNIRP): there is no proven causal link between radiofrequency radiation at permitted levels and harm to health. The only confirmed biological effect is tissue heating at power levels thousands of times higher than everyday exposure.
IARC classification: radiofrequency radiation is listed as Group 2B — “possibly carcinogenic.” The same group includes pickled vegetables, gasoline engine exhaust, and aloe vera extract. Coffee was in this group too until 2016, when it was removed for lack of evidence.
Group 2B means “not enough data to rule it out”, and not “proven harmful.”
Important context: despite the exponential growth in mobile phone use since the 1990s, brain cancer rates have not shown a corresponding rise.
Instead of a conclusion
We’re not here to tell you there’s nothing to worry about. Fear is a normal response to the invisible and the unknown. People feared electricity, radio, microwave ovens, Wi-Fi – every new technology goes through a phase of distrust.
What we suggest is replacing fear with understanding.
Facts:
- 5G operates on the same physical principles as 4G, Wi-Fi, and radio
- 5G is non-ionising radiation – the gap to ionisation is 57,000×
- Your phone at your head produces 130,000× more power density than a 5G tower 100 meters away
- We live in a field of cosmic microwave radiation at 160 GHz – higher than 5G
Not facts:
- “5G causes COVID” – this is conspiracy theory with no basis in physics
- “5G is 100% safe” – science doesn’t make absolute claims; research continues
So trust, but verify. We’ve shown you the numbers, the rest is up to you.
MTX Connect is a mobile operator for travellers, in business since 2014. We work with networks every day, and we believe understanding technology is better than fearing it.
Jan Verny
MTX Connect Chronicler