With 5G networks being built around Australia and networking company Ericsson predicting that 40% of all connections will be 5G by the end of 2026, how does this new technology differ from our current 4G networks?
4G and 5G are different generations of mobile technology – in fact, "generation" is what the "G" stands for. Each generation since 1G represents a big jump in capability, whether it be in speed or what it allows us to do with our phones and other devices.
The major change that 4G brought was significantly faster data speeds compared to 3G mobile networks. Here are the three main ways 5G improves upon it:
| Response | 75+ yrs | 65-74 yrs | 55-64 yrs | 45-54 yrs | 35-44 yrs | 25-34 yrs | 18-24 yrs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No | 72.41% | 57.71% | 57.56% | 47.15% | 38.07% | 38.53% | 39.18% |
| Yes | 24.14% | 28.57% | 31.98% | 38.86% | 50.25% | 51.83% | 55.67% |
| I don't know | 3.45% | 12.57% | 10.47% | 13.99% | 11.68% | 9.63% | 5.15% |
| I don't have a mobile phone/mobile phone plan | 1.14% |
It's tricky to say exactly how much faster 5G will be than 4G, since that will depend on how the network is implemented where you live. Other factors such as signal strength, equipment and network congestion will affect your speed as well.
You can expect your 5G connection to be consistently faster than 4G where available, as outlined in the table below.
| 4G | 5G | |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum speed | 100Mbps | 20Gbps |
| Average speed in Australia | 38.5Mbps | 200Mbps |
| Time to download a 30- minute video (500MB) | 1 min 44 seconds | 20 seconds |
| Time to download a season of a podcast (300MB) | 1 min 2 seconds | 12 seconds |
The average 5G speed in the table above is calculated from 2 individual speeds: 170Mbps from Optus and 231.8Mbps from Telstra.
5G technology uses a higher frequency than 4G (think of a shrill dog whistle versus a bass drum) to achieve faster speeds. However, these higher frequencies can't travel as far as 4G signals can, requiring as many as 3 to 10 times more towers to make 5G work.
These "small cell" towers won't be as large as 4G towers, but will be placed much closer together.
In order to connect to a 5G network, you'll need three things:
Yes. All 5G-capable phones are backwards compatible with 4G networks and should be for quite some years into the future if previous generations of mobile networks are anything to judge by. There's no practical downside to having a 5G-capable phone even if you don't have access to a local 5G network yet.
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