What is 5G?

We’ve had 4G cellular networks for only a few years, but all the wireless carriers are already talking about 5G.

- Sascha Segan

It’s actually surprisingly easy to do so, because there isn’t any official definition of 5G yet. What’s happening now is that all the players in the wireless world, from chipset makers to carriers, are jockeying to be able to define 5G and establish themselves as 5G leaders. So head with me down the rabbit hole that is 5G as I try to explain what the heck is going on here.

1G, 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G

The G in 5G means it’s a generation of wireless technology. While most generations have technically been defined by their data transmission speeds, each has also been marked by a break in encoding methods, or “air interfaces,” which make it incompatible with the previous generation.

1G was analog cellular. 2G technologies, such as CDMA, GSM, and TDMA, were the first generation of digital cellular technologies. 3G technologies, such as EVDO, HSPA, and UMTS, brought speeds from 200kbps to a few megabits per second. 4G technologies, such as WiMAX and LTE, were the next incompatible leap forward, and they are now scaling up to hundreds of megabits and even gigabit-level speeds.

WHAT IS 5G?

5G is a new network system that has much higher speeds and capacity, and much lower latency, than existing cellular systems. The technologies to be used in 5G are still being defined, but there are some general themes everyone agrees on.

5G networks will use a type of encoding called OFDM, which is similar to the encoding that LTE uses. The air interface will be designed for much lower latency and greater flexibility than LTE, though.