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Can 5G replace Wi-Fi - discuss opinions

Recently, representatives of large Western telecommunications companies are increasingly saying that next-generation networks in the future can replace Wi-Fi. We decided to see how real this “threat” is and discuss the opinions of IT industry experts.


/ Unsplash / Echo Grid

Wi-Fi is dead ...


It is believed that in the near future, mobile Internet will completely replace Wi-Fi, at least in public places. One of the main reasons experts call mandatory registration in free networks - regulators in Russia, the USA, Portugal, Germany and many other countries put forward a requirement . In some places, this process is not quite smoothly implemented in terms of user experience.

Replacing Wi-Fi with 5G in restaurants, airports and other places will also positively affect the security of wireless connections. As noted by Ronan Dunne, CEO of Verizon Consumer Group, the network operated by a large telecommunications company will always be more reliable than a public hotspot deployed in a small cafe.

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5G can find its niche not only in public places, but also in people's homes.
According to Deloitte, 62% of Americans are ready to abandon the classic home Internet in favor of 5G, if the technology provides decent bandwidth. There are prerequisites for such migration - 5G networks offer a high data transfer rate: up to 10 Gb / s.

Next-generation networks can replace Wi-Fi not only in people's homes, but also in the industrial industry. They reduce the delay in data transfer from 30 to one millisecond. This fact allows you to connect devices that require low latency to work. So, Audi will deploy a private 5G network at its enterprises in the next few years, but so far the company has been using Wi-Fi to connect conveyor robots to the network. According toHenning Löser, Production Lab Manager, the protocol is not suitable for collecting live data from industrial plants. A new generation network will fix this shortcoming. The desire to migrate to 5G is also expressed by BMW, Daimler, Volkswagen and Zvei.

Such private networks can create a new market for organizations involved in their support and maintenance. Giants Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia and Qualcomm and small firms like Wave Wireless are already starting to offer their services in this area. But whether large telecommunication providers will cede this niche to them - this question remains open so far.

... long live Wi-Fi


According to experts, it’s too early to talk about the complete replacement of Wi-Fi. There is no need to talk about this, if only because the scope of 5G is limited. It is not suitable for work in megacities. Mobile network uses high frequencies. The signal is not transmitted over long distances and poorly passes through obstacles in the form of walls (this is the price for a high data transfer rate).


/ Unsplash / Dallas Reedy

Also in favor of Wi-Fi is the fact that in order to deploy networks based on this protocol, you do not need to get permission from the regulator. For example, in the USA you need to purchase a license to work with 5G. There is already an auction where they distribute frequencies in the ranges of 37 GHz, 39 GHz and 47 GHz. At the beginning of the year, the total amount of bets exceeded7 billion dollars. Similar auctions are conducted by the Ministry of Communications in Russia - each region has its own price coefficient. Moreover, in our country there are problems with issuing permits for 5G. The ranges necessary for the operation of the technology are reserved for the needs of the military and aerospace industries. Therefore, in Russia, fifth-generation networks will operate in the 4.4-4.99 GHz band, which is unpopular in most countries of the world.

Wireless Fidelity standards also continue to evolve - for example, Wi-Fi 6 was approved last year . It uses a frequency of 6 GHz, expanding bandwidth. Another new protocol supports MU-MIMO and OFDMA systems, which help organize multi-user data transfer at a speed of up to 11 Gbit / s on the downlink (approximately 4.8 Mbit / s for each of the eight channels). Representatives of Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Broadcom and Qualcomm note that Wi-Fi 6 capabilities will be enough for streaming in ultra-HD format and for implementing virtual and augmented reality projects.

But even if we assume that 5G is destined to push out the usual wireless networks from the market, we should not expect this in the near future. Today, there are more than 8 billion Wi-Fi devices in the world . They account for more than 60% of the traffic in wireless networks ( p. 10) It takes a long time to replace all the hardware. At the same time, experts are convinced that even companies planning to introduce private 5G networks will not completely abandon Wi-Fi. They will continue to use technology in offices, since it is simply not practical to dispose of efficient and successfully coping with their tasks routers.

Although, perhaps, replacing the hardware fleet will make sense when 6G comes to the market with a theoretical data transfer rate of one terabit per second. The technology is already being developed in China.

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