Can 5G Replace Wi-Fi?

Two decades ago, observers debated whether Wi-Fi was a substitute for mobile access. Now we debate whether mobile is a substitute for fixed network internet access. The latest iteration of that debate is whether 5G can replace Wi-Fi.

To be sure, many are sure that will not happen, just as Wi-Fi and mobile became complements, not substitutes.

Private networks using 5G seem attractive to some industrial customers because of the built-in latency performance, for example. Some auto manufacturers also are looking at 5G as a replacement for Wi-Fi.  

All such debates happen because tariffs have consequences.  

Others believe 5G could replace consumer home internet access, as yet the latest form of mobile substitution.  

Others believe Wi-Fi offload might grow, though the need for offload could change in the 5G era, especially as dense millimeter wave networks are built.

Yet others believe that spectrum aggregation--the ability to bond Wi-Fi to 4G and 5G--actually will work to reduce the amount of deliberate Wi-Fi offload. Cisco has been on both sides of that argument, in recent years.  

Such speculations are the diametrical reverse of arguments we heard a few decades ago when Wi-Fi was not yet ubiquitous, and when only 3G speeds were possible. Then, the issue was whether Wi-Fi could function as an access substitute for the mobile network.

The answer was “sometimes,” when mobile users are indoors. The outcome of the other debates (can 5GF replace Wi-Fi; can 5G replace fixed network access) is yet to be determined. A reasonable person might suggest the outcome will be “sometimes.”