5G is the successor to 4G, and is the fifth generation of mobile networking. It brings together several new technologies to bring improvements to the network in three distinct areas.

• Speed – 5G is up to 10 times faster than 4G, with average download speeds of 150-250Mbps – compared to 23-35 Mbps for 4G
• Bandwidth – 5G will enable many more devices to connect in the same area without loss of service. This could be crucial to the roll out of IoT applications in smart cities, for example, where many smart, IoT enabled devices are simultaneously sending information to a central hub
• Latency – 5G will massively improve latency. That means much less time between performing an action online and seeing the response. For example if you control a drone using 5G, it will respond much more quickly to commands than if you were using 4G. It will seem like real time response

5G is expected to be able to reach speeds in excess of 1Gb/s and to be capable of reducing latency from 20ms to 40ms on 4G to less than 10ms. In a few years, we could see speeds of 10Gb/s. That’s 100 times faster than 4G.

Your average HD movie takes a day to download on 3G and around 10 minutes on 4G. With 5G, you could be watching your favourite film in as little as five seconds.

5G’s fast speeds are influenced by two technological advances:

• Massive MIMO – a new form of radio antenna that can provide multiple beams of signal and direct them where needed. This is much more effective than a single broad signal and results in less interference.
• New spectrum – 5G operates on a wider spectrum and bandwidth than 4G – which means we can deliver faster speeds and greater capacity

5G is much faster than 4G – but the benefits don’t end there. If 4G was the era of the smartphone, 5G will be the era of the Internet of Things (IoT) or smart technology. Faster data transfer, increased response time, and capacity to support many more devices at once, will open up the possibilities for a new world of smart technology. Cities made more efficient by thousands of devices transmitting real time data, remote surgery, even driverless cars – all this could become possible with 5G.

5G improves latency in two main ways:

• Faster radio processing – this is the actual signal that goes from your phone to the radio transmitter. New technology allows the radio signal to be processed more quickly, leading to improved latency.
• Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) – shifts the data load of cloud computing closer to the end user using purpose-built Edge Technology Centres (ETC). This will reduce the distance the signal has to travel, and this will reduce the lag, or latency.

It’s unlikely 5G will replace Business Broadband or WiFi in the near future. In fact, the two will probably co-exist for quite some time. Expect to see 5G and WiFi coming together as one seamless network, combining the high speed and low latency of 5G with the reliability and robustness of WiFi.

That said, some businesses are starting to adopt private 5G networks. For example, some manufacturing companies use a 5G network to connect a large number of smart (Internet of Things) devices. This ensures they stay operating - even if the rest of the network is disrupted.

IoT is really gathering momentum and showing what it can do for businesses of all sizes. 5G will accelerate this movement since it means IoT applications have the ability to collect massive amounts of data using an efficient, responsive, high-speed network. This is where things like data collection and real-time analytics will come into their own – enabling businesses to make efficiency gains, open up new revenue streams and more. With 5G, IoT can be a real game changer.

MEC will reduce congestion on mobile networks by managing online traffic in a more intelligent way. With the number of connected devices estimated to reach 100 billion by 2025, Multi-Access Edge Computing is going to be essential.

MEC shifts the data load of cloud computing closer to the end user, assessing local network conditions for greater reliability, speed and efficiency. This will play a big part in reducing lag time (improving latency) on 5G.

Massive-MIMO technology is a core component of 5G. With the older multiple-input/multiple-output (MIMO) technology, several antennas at a base station would send and receive different signals simultaneously. With Massive-MIMO, this arrangement of two or four antennas is increased to more than one hundred.

This plays a big part in the speed and reliability of 5G. Algorithms can automatically plot the best transmission route through the air to each user. In this way, many more users and devices can connect to 5G simultaneously without loss of speed or consistency.

With 5G, network slicing will make it possible for operators to offer specific services to different customers with virtual/logical “network slices” over the same physical network. This means you could be able to request network characteristics you need for your specific use case.

For example, IoT applications usually require a large number of connections but with low throughput. Mobile Broadband solutions (such as our Smart Hub) require a small number of connections but a large bandwidth. Network slicing could enable operators to offer customers the service that is best suited to their needs.

Yes, based on research carried out by major international bodies such as the World Health Organisation.

5G frequencies are covered by safety guidelines that are based on extensive research carried out over many years. These guidelines apply to 5G as they do to 2G, 3G and 4G technologies, as well as other radio frequencies used for radio and TV.

The World Health Organisation has concluded that there are no adverse health effects to 5G exposure at levels under the safety guidelines.

We place the safety of our customers at the heart of what we do, and fully comply with all national and international safety guidelines in all markets. Read more...

We’re constantly growing our 5G network and have 5G in more places than any other network. Use our Network Status Checker to see if 5G is available in your postcode area.

If you’re on a 5G ready plan and device, you can also use 5G in Spain, Germany, Italy and Ireland where it’s available. We’re the first mobile network to offer 5G roaming. And we’re continuing to roll out 5G across Europe faster than any other network. Check our Network Status Checker to find out where.