5G, the ultimate replacement for wifi and 4G?

What is 5G?

We are currently reading a lot about 5G, but what is it exactly? 5G is the 5th generation mobile network and has a very high speed. Much faster than your wireless network at home and about 50 times faster than the current 4G-network. During tests with 5G, speeds of 1 terabyte per second were even achieved. The average speed of 4G in the Netherlands is now 50 megabytes per second. That’s pretty good when you compare it to other countries. With 5G, download and upload speeds will improve. This will be particularly noticeable in busy places. Many more devices can be connected to the 5G network at the same time without interference.

The intention is that 5G will be rolled out in the near future as the successor to the 4G network on which our smartphones are currently running. Expectations are high. You could say that 5G is getting pretty hyped. The promise is that with 5G you will be able to send and download large files in a short space of time. That coverage will improve in busy places. The network can be used for precision agriculture, remote hospital operations, self-driving cars and virtual reality. Other applications include drones that deliver packages and industrial production processes that can be automated to a large extent.

Customers often ask us whether the arrival of 5G means they have to switch over. Do they have to do anything? Do they need to buy new equipment? Will 5G also replace wifi? And is that really the ideal solution? What is better, faster and cheaper?

5G possibly interesting for outdoor and remote

Nevertheless, 5G can certainly be of interest to Enterprise Mobility. Especially for organisations that work in outlying areas, such as car parks or port areas. There is usually a complete wifi infrastructure in place, so that people can work wirelessly. When 5G is rolled out, it might be worthwhile to make the switch. Building a wifi infrastructure to provide coverage for a vast area is quite expensive after all.

Or take an outdoor area like Schiphol Airport or the largest festival in the Netherlands: the Zwarte Cross. A lot of people come together there who all want to use their mobile phone. Wifi will be an excellent solution there and will remain so. Not only because of the coverage, but also because via wifi you can collect all kinds of information to better manage the flow of people in case of calamities. Should wifi become too expensive, then 5G for coverage is a good alternative.

In general, 3 reasons are important for your choice:

• Performance (coverage and speed)
• Physical characteristics of the environment
• Cost

In short, 5G can be a good solution for various situations. But in buildings and environments where Wi-Fi currently performs optimally, it remains to be seen whether 5G will do any better.