5G Is the New Internet Connection for Your Home
The way people talk about 5G, it’s easy to assume that it’s replacing the current wireless internet connection in your home. Not exactly.
First, 5G (usually) has nothing to do with your Wi-Fi network that your router provides in your home (for that, you have to turn to Wi-Fi 6, a completely different upgrade that offers its own set of benefits). Instead, 5G is a long-range data connection just like 4G was, except in this case longer-range and more efficient.
Second, 5G may be great, but even with a limitless data plan it’s not going to replace Wi-Fi inside your house – or inside any building, really. One of 5G’s weaknesses is that the frequencies it uses have trouble penetrating walls. There is a workaround to this called Fixed Wireless Access, but this usually takes the place of the external fiber connection, not your home Wi-Fi. There are 5G solutions that beam 5G to an antenna on your home as a full alternative to Wi-Fi (Verizon calls this 5G Home), but availability is still limited and it’s not going to force you to replace your Wi-Fi network for the foreseeable future.