The future depends on it on connectivity. From artificial intelligence and self-driving cars, to telemedicine and mixed reality, previously unheard-of technologies, all the things we hope will make our lives easier, safer and healthier require fast, always-on internet connections. To meet the demand, the mobile industry introduced 5G, so called because it is the fifth generation of wireless network technology.
5G brings faster speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second (Gbps) to your phone. That’s fast enough to download a 4K movie in 25 seconds. But 5G isn’t just about faster connections. It also lowers latency and allows more devices to be connected at the same time.
What is 5G?
As the fifth generation of mobile networks, 5G is a global wireless standard. All mobile networks transmit encrypted data via radio waves. Radio waves have different frequencies and are divided into bands. Previous generations, such as 4G, operated at low and midband frequencies, but 5G can operate at low, mid, and highband frequencies (also known as millimeter wave). Lower frequencies can reach farther and penetrate obstacles but offer relatively slow speeds, while higher frequencies are much faster but have limited range and difficulty passing through objects.
While 5G opens up a slew of untapped radio frequencies at the high end of the spectrum, it also encompasses new technologies and techniques for combining bits of spectrum that are already in use. On the low end, 5G looks and feels very much like 4G.
The rollout of 5G
Carriers have been building their 5G networks for a few years now, but they’ve taken different approaches. All carriers started building 5G on top of their existing networks, providing plenty of connectivity, but not at the fast speeds associated with 5G. More recently, they have started building new high-band 5G networks, but these are largely limited to cities or specific locations within cities. You can get a broad overview by using Ookla’s 5G map.
Verizon offers low-band 5G nationwide, labeled as 5G Nationwide on its coverage map. Verizon offers mid-band 5G in many metropolitan areas and high-band 5G in many cities, but the mid- and high-band coverage is lumped together and labeled as 5G Ultra Wideband or 5G UW.
AT&T also offers low-band 5G coverage in much of the country and mid-band coverage in some cities, both simply labeled as 5G on the coverage map. AT&T’s high-band 5G is currently limited to a selection of locations, such as stadiums, and is referred to as 5G+. Early in its 5G effort, AT&T marketed its enhanced LTE network as “5G E” and was reprimanded by the National Advertising Review Board for misleading customers.
T-Mobile offers low-band 5G nationwide, referred to as 5G Extended Range on the coverage map. The mid- and high-band 5G is referred to as 5G Ultra Capacity.
Ultimately, 5G availability and speeds are variable because 5G service is offered in three bands. Low-band, generally operating below 1 GHz, can reach speeds of 250 Mbps. The trade-off for low-band’s relatively slower speeds is wide range, which means carriers with this type of equipment can leave more distance between towers.
Analysts call the mid-band of the 5G spectrum the sweet spot, as it has a wide geographic range and is faster than the low band. Mid-band operates between 1 and 6 GHz and can reach speeds of up to 1 Gbps.
But to reach the top speeds of 5G, carriers need millimeter wave (or mmWave) technology, which takes advantage of the high end of the wireless spectrum, operating at 20 GHz and above. mmWave can enable multi-gig speeds, but millimeter wave signals are less reliable over long distances and are easily disrupted by obstacles such as trees, people, and even rain. To make it practical for mobile use, carriers must deploy huge numbers of small access points in cities, rather than relying on a few large cell towers as they do now.
Finding out if 5G is available to you, and in what form, takes some detective work, but you’ll also need a device that can handle a 5G signal.
5G smartphones
Anyone wanting to take advantage of these new 5G networks will need a capable device. Most major phone makers now offer 5G handsets, but as we’ve seen, 5G is an umbrella term. All 5G phones have low- and mid-band support (often referred to as “sub-6” because they operate at frequencies of 6 GHz and below), but not all 5G phones are capable of high-band connections. If you want a smartphone that can take advantage of high-band (mmWave) networks, look for mmWave support.
You can find mmWave support in high-end phones like Apple’s iPhone 14 Pro, Google Pixel 7 Pro, and the Samsung Galaxy S22 in the US. It’s worth noting that the same models are often sold without mmWave support in other countries.
What does 5G mean for me?
Much of the buzz around 5G has focused on its potential. Since smartphones connected to 4G LTE can already stream high-quality video, you might be wondering what 5G has to offer for everyday people. Aside from faster download speeds, lower latency benefits multiplayer and cloud gaming by increasing responsiveness. And 5G’s higher capacity to connect multiple devices without a hitch also helps keep us all online when we’re part of a crowd, whether it’s a packed concert or a football game.
The stability and speed of 5G also promise improvements for self-driving cars, remote-controlled drones, and anywhere response time is critical. While tangible benefits are limited these days, there is huge potential for more cloud computing services, augmented reality experiences and what comes next. But a real killer 5G app for consumers remains elusive.
The race for 5G dominance
The US was eager to claim a leading role in global 5G deployment, but so far it hasn’t quite succeeded. China-based Huawei is the world’s leading maker of 5G networking equipment, and while its equipment is widely deployed, the company has faced scrutiny and even a ban from Western countries over its alleged ties to the Chinese government . Other companies making 5G equipment, such as Nokia, Ericsson and Samsung, none of which are headquartered in the US, may have benefited from the bans.
From a speed perspective, the US is not in the top 15 countries, according to UK research firm Opensignal, which found South Korea had the best 5G download speed at 432.7 Mbps, followed by Malaysia, Sweden, Bulgaria, and the United States. Arab Emirates. Where the US did score was high in 5G availability, with a score of 25.2 percent, meaning users spent more than a quarter of their time with an active 5G connection – an impressive result for a country the size of the US, and a sign that the rollout is picking up pace.
