Every mobile generation since the first analog network has enabled new use cases and applications. In business markets, for example, 2G enabled what we now tend to call “internet of things” apps for monitoring industrial processed. During the 3G era use cases expanded to remote site data backups and kiosks. In the 4G era video surveillance became practical.
So the 5G focus on new use cases in the internet of things space are not misplaced. Of course, it is not simply the characteristics of the network but also cost per bit and other terms and conditions of use that help create new use cases.
In the 3G era I would not have considered using the mobile network full time as my primary internet access connection for work. Speed was too low and cost per bit too high. That changed in the 4G era, when I actually did replace a fixed connection with 4G.
To be sure, the use case was not “connect all the users in the home.” That remains to this day a fixed network solution, in large part because the main driver of demand is streaming video. But to support my own work needs, especially given the amount of mobility, 4G was a good choice.
Still, more important shifts tend to take time, at least in part because full deployment and advanced versions of the network will take some time.
But one of the nuances of 5G is that, for most consumer applications, the 4G network is going to be satisfactory, while Advanced 4G (LTE-A) is going to to support nearly every consumer 5G smartphone-based experience requirement.
So advanced 4G is going to be important as a way of maintaining continuity of experience as users bounce between 5G and 4G networks. Nobody wants to experience what used to happen in dropping from an area of 3G to an area of 2G, for example. For some of us, that same experience happened when dropping from 4G back to 3G.
There is reason to hope the switch from 5G to 4G will not be as abrupt, simply because consumer mobile app experience might not be noticeable when speed drops from 100 Mbps to 30 Mbps.
Still, gaming, virtual reality and augmented realit seem to be the areas where some consumers might find 5G does actually provide improved experience.
For most of us, the transition to 5G will come more slowly, as the need to replace handsets results in acquisition of devices that can use 5G. In other words, for many, the new handset pulls with it the incentive and means to use 5G.
What remains to be seen is how soon that transition occurs, and when new use cases start to emerge. As a consumer smartphone user, the advantage seems less than was the case for migrating from 3G to 4G. Both 4G and advanced 4G seem more than adequate for my needs, at the moment.
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