It’s hard to believe that 4G has been up and running for 5 years. When 4G was ushered in it brought faster connections, smoother streaming, and allowed us to play games online with its vastly improved latency over 3G.But now 5G is here and the difference is huge!
The biggest difference between 4G and 5G is the speed. 5G has the potential to be up to 10 times faster, because the way 5G works means that it uses smaller wavelengths and much higher frequencies which can support far more simultaneous connections than 4G. This means when you’re in a place with a lot of people, like a football match, a concert, or in a busy city centre your connectivity remains consistent.
This is likely where the biggest difference between 4 and 5G becomes apparent – as a technology that will enable the hyper-connected Internet of Things world.
What’s the Internet of Things?
The Internet of Things, or IoT for short, is a system of interconnected devices like cars, fridges, phones and wearable technology that is all connected to the internet and capable of ‘talking’ to one another. You might already be participating in the internet of things if you’ve ever used a smart thermostat, or can dim your lightbulbs from your smartphone! Interconnected devices lead to less energy usage, little helps that add up, and a lot more convenience – and this is just the beginning!
4G’s latency vs 5G’s is key to understanding the difference between 4G and 5G.
4G’s latency sits somewhere around 20-30 milliseconds, but 5G will go well below 10 milliseconds. This is great for us as users of mobile devices, but it will have the most profound impact in connected industry or where the finest of response times is critical, such as connected cars.
5G’s lower latency can be traced back to its spectral efficiency which is a fancy way of saying that 5G can transmit more data over a band of electromagnetic radio frequencies than 4G could.
PERFORMANCE INDICATORS |
AVERAGE SPEED (Download/Upload) |
LATENCY |
---|---|---|
3G |
5.6Mbps/1.6Mbps |
86.4ms |
4G |
15.8Mbps/7.2Mbps |
39.2ms |