Real world 4G LTE vs. 5G test benchmark: 14x bandwidth

4G LTE networks have been a standard in developed countries and urban areas for a number of years now. Increased popularity has even congested the networks in some areas.

Many are hoping fifth generation 5G networks will improve both bandwidth an capacity. Devices supporting 5G data transfer are already very far in development.

The financial publication Kauppalehti did a joint test with operator Elisa to test an almost production ready 5G setup in real world conditions. Results showed 5G to be 14 times faster than a good 4G LTE in the same location.

The test was done in Helsinki with Huawei network equipment. A base station running the standard hardware with supporting core network router and other electronics were placed in a rack. The test crew then moved to some 500 meters away from the base station to conduct a test.

The mobile hardware in the van was a Huawei router indended for homes. The connection between the base station and the mobile hotspot was done with 5G technology operating at 3,5 GHz - the most important 5G frequency. The laptop was connected to the router with standard WiFi connection.

4G 50 Megabits, 5G 700 Megabits in real world conditions

Mobile network latencies and troughput continue to be a limiting factor for over-the-wire apps like PWAs to provide the best possible experience. This is something that is finally becoming a reality ten years after the launch of the iPhone for which web apps were the choice, though advances like compiling frameworks and Web Assembly Streaming Compilation are helping to bringing payloads down.

The team compared 4G LTE and 5G connections running two laptops and connections. The 4G maintained a stable 50 MBit/s connection in the test, something considered to be standard real life performance in city conditions.

The 5G connection yielded significantly higher bandwidth. It constantly stayed above 700 MBit/s. The theoretical maximum is 1000 megabits per second, but the setup only had a single base station and blocking busses and other interference bring it down to real world numbers shown here.

To use the maximum bandwidth of the 5G a wired Ethernet connection can be used, as WiFi bandwidth can become the limiting factor. The test used preproduction 5G hardware from Huawei, and the operator hopes to bring the first devices to the market in Finland during 2018 and 2019.

Finland is auctioning 5G spectrum this year and commercial 5G operations are expected to start in early 2019. In general adoption of 5G technology seems to be ahead of estimated schedule, with networks in China, USA, Japan and Korea expected to be built soon and in the early 2020's the technology will be widely deployed.

Source: Katso miten 5G pesee 4G:n tositilanteessa kadulla