5G Versus 4G

What is 4G and 5G technology?

4G is the name for the fourth generation in mobile wireless connectivity. What’s mobile wireless connectivity, you ask? It’s how you access the Internet from your phone, or via other types of connection that use the same network, like Mobile Broadband and Home Wireless Broadband. 4G connectivity allows for things like streaming high definition videos, online gaming and video calling. 

5G is – surprise – the fifth generation of mobile wireless technology. It’s the new and improved version of 4G. Basically, to quote Daft Punk, it’s harder, better, faster, and stronger. It offers greater service, speed, reliability and capacity. 

Like its predecessors, 5G is not a single product but an industry standard. Using updated technology, Internet providers and phone companies transmit 5G over radio waves.  Our phones or other devices pick up the waves, and we get online. 

What are the key differences between 5G and 4G? 

5G networks have a higher bandwidth than 4G. Bandwidth is the term for how much data can be sent and received over an Internet connection in a given amount of time. When it comes to Internet connections, bandwidth is generally measured in megabits or gigabits per second. 

5G networks also have lower latency than 4G. Latency is the amount of time it takes for data to transfer from a sender to a receiver and back again. Ever noticed a brief time lag when you’re gaming or streaming a show? When there’s lower latency, there’s less of that. For context, the latency on a 5G network is as fast as 1 millisecond, while the latency on a 4G network is as high as 30 milliseconds.  

How fast is 5G compared to 4G? 

Depending on the plan, while top 4G download speeds can range from 50 to 180Mbps, 5G download speeds sometimes peak out at 250Mbps. But that number doesn’t come close to the fastest 5G can get. In the best conditions, it can reach a whopping 20Gbps. 

If you’re asking, ‘What does that actually mean, though?’ – that’s fair. For context, 20 gigabits (what you’d get per second with top speed 5G) is about the data you’d need to download two episodes of Charmed at the highest resolution. Two hundred and fifty megabits (the per-second rate of more common 5G speeds) is enough data to download about 70 seconds of the show, and 180 megabits (a high estimate for 4G’s max speed) gets you about 50 seconds.

Helpful Tip:

Many 5G home internet plans come with unlimited data, but mobile internet plans typically still retain data caps. Activities such as 4K video streaming and online gaming can eat through a mobile data cap rapidly. If downloading large files is your jam, and you don’t want your internet to come to a crawl, a plan with unlimited data might be the way to go.

Alex Kidman

Tech Journalist

Where is 5G available in Australia? 

As of late 2023, 5G is available in every capital city in Australia except Darwin.  It’s also available in some regional centres in every state except the Northern Territory. Sorry, NT! 

How far along is Australia’s rollout of 5G technology? 

By the end of 2021, Australia had around 4,000 operational 5G base stations installed across the country. This makes Australia a world leader in the 5G rollout. Nicely done, Straya. 

What can we do with 5G connectivity? 

Download a movie in less than 10 seconds? Sure, some 5G can do that. But that’s just the start of it. Some of the things 5G allows us to do are actually wild. Here are a few of them: 

• Real-time access for telemedicine and telesurgery – including surgical robots – making it possible to treat and operate on patients hundreds or thousands of kilometres away. 
• Medical developments like smart bandages and wearable health devices that track and transmit data to medical professionals.  
• Fully connected indoor smart farms that use 5G sensors and AI image recognition to grow quality crops all year round. 
• Systems that help improve road safety and reduce congestion using real-time data from connected vehicles and sensors. 

Is exposure to 5G radio towers harmful to my health? 

You may have heard some misinformation and rumours about 5G. It’s important to know that there is no credible scientific evidence to support any statements that 5G radio signals are harmful to anyone’s health.  

Where can I compare Internet plans? 

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