Article updated on January 3, 2025 by Byothe
A few years ago, when 4G was becoming established in the world, I wrote an article on this blog to talk about the different types of mobile network technologies from GSM to 4G. It is now high time to move forward and take a quick look at the 5th generation of mobile networks: the famous 5G.
Expect to hear more and more about 5G.
Slowly but surely, we are getting closer to using this hyper-connected and super-fast technology that specialists have been promising us for several years now.
Here's what you need to know today about the state of 5G.
1. It's really really fast
Okay, this may seem obvious, but it’s important to understand how much faster 5G is than the 4G LTE that’s currently in use. 5G isn’t just going to be significantly faster than your 4G connection, it’s also going to be significantly faster than your home broadband connection.
To put this into perspective, it should be remembered that currently, the average download speed in 4G is between 15 and 30 Mb/s depending on the operators according to a barometer from ZDNet.fr. In comparison, 5G promises speeds in Gb/s (30Mb = 0.03Gb).
Qualcomm's first 5G modem supports speeds of up to 5 Gb per second. That's more than 150 times faster than the best French 4G.
Most of us have never experienced speeds this fast. And that's just the first generation of modems. It's very likely that future generations will go even faster!
2. But it's not just about flow!
But it’s not just about speed. Yes, 5G networks will bring very fast connections, but they also enable much more than that.
Part of the appeal of 5G technology is that it also offers much higher capacity to mobile networks, meaning that networks will be able to support a much higher number of connections than was possible before. Have you ever attended a major event where your data connection slowed down or stopped working? That’s because 4G networks can only support a limited number of devices before becoming overloaded.
5G networks have a much higher capacity. They must be able to support up to one million devices per square kilometer, according to the standards of the ITU (the International Telecommunications Union, a UN agency responsible for regulating and planning telecommunications worldwide).
Additionally, 5G is a huge upgrade over 4G when it comes to latency or data transmission time. Since 5G networks support ultra-low latency connections, devices will be able to communicate much faster than before.
Which brings us to our next point…
3. 5G won't just be for phones
Put it all together and you start to see why 5G is so important — and not just for the smartphone industry. It has huge implications for almost every connected device.
The technology will be key for self-driving cars, which will need to be able to communicate with the world around them as quickly as possible. Lower latency and higher capacity mean that cars will actually be able to communicate with their surroundings quickly enough to allow them to be fully autonomous. With 4G, the latency is around half a second and this is expected to drop to less than a millisecond with 5G.
Consumer technologies such as wearable technologies (w), virtual reality headsets, PCs and home automation devices will also improve dramatically thanks to 5G technology. Even everyday tasks like checking social media or starting a video call could change radically.
4. But it will come at a cost!
The downside of all this, at least initially, is that it is very likely that this extra speed will come at an additional cost to the user. Indeed, operators will have to make their investments profitable. These initial investments, which concern the deployment of network infrastructure, are extremely costly and will necessarily be billed to the user.
In addition, operators will have to compensate for losses linked to the obsolescence of wired technologies for your boxes which will, without a doubt, be replaced by 5G boxes.
But that's not all, since you will also need to replace your current phone, which is not 5G compatible, with a terminal adapted to this technology (if you want to be able to take advantage of it).
5. On the other hand, we are not there yet!
Don’t worry, there’s no need to rush out and buy new 5G-compatible phones; there’s still a long way to go before 5G is mainstream and as widespread as 4G. Carriers and hardware manufacturers are just starting to make commitments for 2019.
However, most industry players agree that the general public will not really be impacted by this innovation until 2020. And even then, the first networks and their users could suffer the consequences: coverage problems, negative effects on the devices' batteries, etc.
In short, there is still a long way to go, but 5G is coming tomorrow!
