Article Summary

5G is set to make its impact on the way we live our lives. From downloading out apps in a blink of an eye to watching seamless 4K video and so much more, the next generation of mobile network technology is going to be a game changer.

Find out more about 5G as we compare it to the older generations of network technology (4G, 3G and 2G) that have come before it.

Newer is always better and with 5G network technology on the verge of becoming a thing (it's already sort of very very very limitedly available), we are about to see a mobile network that is better than any we've seen before. Just how much better? Go ahead and keep reading to see how 5G compares to earlier generations of mobile network technology.

Click to Activate Interactive Map AT&T Sprint T Mobile U.S. Cellular Verizon 5G 4G 3G Coverage information is collected from carriers and other third party sources. This is approximate coverage only and does not include indoor coverage. Actual speed and performance depends on your location and device. Local conditions and things like natural and artificial physical features of an area all affect your reception.

Network Speeds

When it comes to mobile networks, we want to be able to do a lot on them and not wait around while we are doing that lot of things. Internet speed is important to us and when it comes to network comparisons, it's probably the big benchmark that most people look at to determine which is actually better.

5G is set to be faster that all its predecessors — by a ton. In fact, as it stands (more on this later), when comparing theoretical top speeds, 5G is set to be 10x faster than 4G LTE.

Mobile Network Generation Speeds Generation Top Speed Average Speed 2G 0.3Mbps 0.1Mbps 3G (HSPA+) 42Mbps 8 Mbps 4G LTE (ADV CAT-16) 1Gbps 10-30Mbps 5G 10Gbps ?

Note: This table represents top and average speeds of each network's best version. Some reports claim that 5G has the potential to reach 20 Gbps.

5G vs 4G — The Tighter Race

Let's not go crazy here. When all is said and done 5G is going to be faster than 4G. However, while 5G is only just starting to become an actual thing, 4G is already here and it's actually still being improved.

Although the theoretical top speeds of 5G are higher than 4G, don't be surprised if the actual average speeds of each are much closer as 5G continues to start rolling out, and 4G speeds keep getting faster.

5G vs Older Generations: Latency

When people think about internet connections, latency might not be the first thing to come to mind but is is very important and definitely needs to be discussed when network performance is being compared.

Latency is basically the measurement of time between your request for data to a server (like when you click on something on a website) and the return of that data. For online gamers with quick triggers, a small latency time is very important in gunning down their opponents (but they will care extra about bandwidth speed when downloaded the latest version of their favorite game). Someone streaming their favorite show, on the other hand, might not necessarily care about latency more than they care about how fast their show gets downloaded so they don't run into any unwanted buffering (is there such thing as wanted buffering?).

The thing is, when it comes to 5G where speeds are already predicted to soar over its predecessors, most experts tend to agree that the bigger impact 5G is going to have on the world might be in its superior latency. This is because as far as speeds go, the internet isn't exactly moving slowly for us and while download times are sure to see some pretty cool decreases, they are already pretty fast.

The decrease in latency, however, is going to pave the way for innovations in the internet of things where more can be done with those little commands we have in everyday life. One major area improved latency is set to help make an impact on (while arguably not being the total solution) is in self-driving car infrastructure. With life-or-death information needed to constantly be traded back and forth between sensors/cameras and car itself (or the computer driving it) it's very important that latency is very low.

Network Latency Network Latency (milliseconds) 2G 300-1000ms 3G 100-500ms 4G 50-100ms 5G 1-10ms

5G in the Real World

This is not a "true" story of 7 strangers picked to live in a house. It's the world you and I actually live in. You know, the actual real world. In it we do things like browse the internet to figure out where we are going on vacation next (before we realize we can't afford vacations) or download 5,002nd app on our phone which we are going to use all of once.

Speaking of apps, since we all download them, let's take a look at just how long it might take to download your average app with the various download speeds of mobile network generations.

App Download Time Network Generation Time to Download 2G 35-40 minutes 3G 45 seconds-1 minute 4G 5-8 seconds 5G <1 second

Okay, we still don't know exactly how fast it might be for 5G, but it's supposed to be just about that fast.

What about Streaming?

With most of us already on 4G LTE, streaming video and music is already pretty cool. Streaming is essentially being able to watch or listen to what we want while its simultaneously downloading. It's the internet's way of letting us have our cake and eat it too.

Where internet download speed is important to streaming has everything to do with quality. The better the sound and/or video quality the more information is going to be thrown your way so you'll need bandwidth to handle it on in a timely matter or else there goes your seamless viewing experience.

That's why if your network speed is slow and you're watching a video on a platform that automatically adjusts for your download speed, your video will get really rough and pixelated. The platform is essentially sacrificing quality to get you all the information in a timely manner.

With 5G we should theoretically get to stream the highest quality content without a hitch. Netflix for example recommends a minimum download speed of 25Mbps to watch video in 4K UHD. 5G should be able to handle this with ease.

5G vs 4G: Coverage

Just kidding. While 5G is slowly starting to roll out, it is extremely limited in availability and really isn't in the game quite yet. 5G right now is kind of like an athletic prospect who everyone knows will be a superstar one day, but is still earning its strips in the minors.

Sure, some devices are starting to be made 5G-ready but one telling sign that 5G isn't quite set for ubiquity is that Apple isn't set to make the iPhone ready for 5G until 2020. Still, it's coming and all signs point to it being pretty cool.

In the meantime 4G LTE is still improving and you can benefit by hooking your device up to this generation of network technology today.

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