What Are The Key Differences Between 4G And 5G?
The topic of 5G seems to be a hot one these days. It may seem like everywhere you go, you hear about 5G, and while you may nod along enthusiastically, truth be known, you are a little in the dark as to what the differences actually are and why there is so much hype on the topic! Worry no more; we will layout the land for you in clear, simple, and concise terms. Ready to get started? Great, here we go.
The Key Differences Between 4G and 5G:
Speed
This is one of the most anticipated factors for those excitedly awaiting 5g backup internet. There is an expectation that 5G will be close to 100 times faster than 4G; now, that is quite a staggering amount, to say the least. How does this translate to what we would do in our everyday life? Well, take a moment to think about how long it takes you to download a 90-minute movie using your 4G currently.
Now, with that thought in mind, take a moment to sink your brain into this; with 5G, you could download a full movie in less than 10 seconds. Yes, you read that correctly. The time it took you to read that above sentence is pretty much how long it could take you to download your evening entertainment. This alone is a massive difference between 4G and 5G; however, the differences don’t stop there.
Capacity
Have you experienced that typical scene where you are trying to open a page on your device when you get that constant annoying spin icon that tells you are in for a long wait? Often, this happens when you are in an area with many people, for instance, an airport or a concert hall. The issue is a simple one; capacity.
There are too many people trying to use one network, and the network gets congested; you see this as a slow connection and a lot of frustration. If you are older than 30, you probably also find yourself holding your phone up, thinking that you will master the perfect signal!
The capacity of 5th generation technology vs the 4th is significantly huge. This will be seen in more devices that can access the same connection and all of those devices, enjoying a better, faster, and more effective connection.
You may very well already have heard about the ‘internet of things,’ and this factor of increased capacity could play a key role due to increased bandwidth. Of course, we shall have to wait to see how all this plays out, but the expectations we currently have are very promising indeed.
Latency
No, we are not talking about speed here. Latency refers to how long it takes for a device to communicate with another device or with the server. Let’s make it a little more straightforward; you send a message to your friend, and your friend’s phone registers and receives the message; latency is the time in between. Got it? Good! So, as we currently have it with 4G, latency is low, which is a good thing; however, with the 5th Generation, latency will be basically zero.
This zero-latency will play a key role in new and emerging technologies, such as self-driving cars, where efficiency relies on signals being sent over the internet to analyze the current environment and provide a response. Indeed, it is not difficult to imagine the result if latency was high, and we were all driving around in self-driving cars!
The Bottom Line On The Difference Between 4G and 5G
Of course, for internet whizzes and technology lovers, we could go into a lot more detail about the differences between the 4th Generation and 5th Generation; however, today’s purpose is to provide a foundation for an easy and concise understanding of the topic. Indeed, the differences we anticipate between 4G and 5G put us in a very hopeful state for the future.
We all rely heavily on our devices for many daily tasks to mention, and of course, much of our social life seems to include our device. With 5G, we can expect to see improved speed, improved capacity, and improved latency. Not only will this impact our daily use of technologies and potentially alleviate a lot of stress and frustration that can come with poor connections and download speeds, but it will also open the door to new technologies and services.
We will have to wait and see how all of this translates to the world we live in, but one thing is for sure; the differences between 4G and 5G are exciting for all of us!
