One issue when trying to assess or explain the difference between 4G and 5G internet access speeds is that much depends on how fast you assume 4G is, at any location. In principle, 5G speeds are expected to be higher or faster than 4G, but the precise degree of improvement depends on which 5G frequencies are used.
Low band (600 MHz to 800 MHz) might be 20 percent faster than 4G. Mid-band 5G (2 GHz to 3.5 GHz) might be six times faster than 4G. Millimeter wave 5G (24 GHz, 28 GHz) might be an order of magnitude (10 times) faster than 4G.
In principle, 4G can reach 100 Mbps, while 4G Category 4 can reach 150 Mbps and 4G using LTE Advanced can reach 1 Gbps. The 5G standard allows for speeds up to 10 Gbps, if enough millimeter wave spectrum is available, and the widest channels are used.
Real-world performance will vary, based on the number of users on any network at any given time, terrain, weather and other obstructions, as well as network backhaul, radio types, ability to use carrier aggregation and cell geometry (macrocell or small cell).
One study by Opensignal found speed increases ranged from almost no change to perhaps 2.7 times faster 5G speeds, depending on the frequencies used.
How much speed do consumers actually “need” to use all their apps? Generally speaking, the most bandwidth-intensive app is 4K video streaming, requiring something on the order of 25 Mbps per device.
Requirements increase for multi-person video calls, which might require perhaps 100 Mbps per device. Augmented reality and virtual reality could require bandwidth of hundreds of megabits per second, up to perhaps a gigabit per second. The issue is whether those sorts of apps are used by enough people to be relevant drivers of typical bandwidth.
The point is that, even on fixed networks, there are few consumer applications that actually require much more than 25 Mbps per device. That is a relevant point when assessing 4G and 5G bandwidth as well. Much as “gigabit” speeds are an important marketing claim, most U.S. consumers do not buy those services, even when available.
By some estimates, two percent of U.S. customers able to buy gigabit per second internet access actually do so. Something similar probably will happen with 5G. There will be reasons for consumers to buy 5G, but absolute need for the faster speed might not be the driver.
In many cases, the driver might be the need to replace a phone, under circumstances where the desired new devices also work on the 5G network. Buyers will want to be able to use 5G, even if the specific application set does not necessarily require the faster speeds.
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