Some enterprises--especially those in industrial or manufacturing settings with lots of expected use of sensors--will find private 5G a reasonable substitute for Wi-Fi networks. In some cases, latency performance, device management, security or some other value will tip the decision.
Device density might be one of the requirements that favors private 5G over Wi-Fi.
Wi-fi networks are considered “high density” if more than 30 client devices connect to a single access point. Even many commercial Wi-Fi 6 routers only promise simultaneous support for 30 to 60 users.
Today’s generally deployed Wi-Fi networks can--in principle--support up to 255 devices (the router’s memory limit) or up to a theoretical limit of about 2,000 devices per access point. It is not clear any specific deployment of low-bandwidth, infrequently-transmitting devices, all located fairly close to the access point, would reach the theoretical limit.
That is the reason many industrial and other end users might consider using private 5G as a connection platform for indoor or local area networks. 5G will support many more users per access point or base station.
5G is expected to support up to one million connected devices per .38 square miles, compared to around 2,000 connected devices per .38 square miles with 4G.
If a typical U.S. suburb contains about 2213 households per square mile, then a reasonable approximation of Wi-Fi indoor coverage is that a .33 square mile area would have no less than 738 access points, covering indoor areas.
Double that to include all outdoor areas and a Wi-Fi network covering a .33 square mile area would have at least 1475 access points. So a 5G solution might be more expensive, initially, but also should be far less complex to design and operate.
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