After the read LTE vs. 5G, you will know what is the difference between 4G LTE and 5G.
5G is in its infancy and we are still relying on Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology. LTE is a wireless communications standard that was first introduced in 2009. Like 5G, it took several years for LTE to become part of the national interconnection fabric. the reliability and stability of LTE are enough to force many to question whether they need to move to 5G.
4G LTE remains the dominant communications technology used in cellular networks worldwide today, with different specifications implemented in different ways by various network operators depending on the usage scenario.
LTE Cat 1 and higher categories (LTE Cat 4, LTE Cat 6, etc.) are used to provide higher throughput and, with it, higher power consumption.
On the other hand, Low Power Wide Area (LPWA) networks, including LTE-M and NB-IoT, enable low bandwidth, low power, and high coverage communication technologies.
At the same time, 5G technology is breaking ground, spilling out of urban centers and penetrating into less densely populated residential areas. Current specifications are defined in 3GPP Release 15 and Release 16.
Support for enhanced mobile broadband (i.e. eMBB, providing ultra-high bandwidth)
Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC)
Large-scale machine-based communications (i.e., mMTC, low power, low bandwidth, and high device density) applications
In typical IoT applications, the main functional overlap between 4G LTE and 5G is the LPWAN technology of 4G LTE and the massive machine-based communication of 5G.
Therefore, one of the core tasks of the CTO for an IoT enterprise is to choose between these technology options.
Such a choice may seem difficult at first, but if you think about it, you can still find a clear answer: LTE-M and NB-IoT are both effectively 5G technologies, given that they are already included in the 5G specification.
The time to transition LTE Cat 1 or Cat 4 technologies to 5G may not be here yet, and the more appropriate 5G NR RedCap specification will not be completed until mid-2022 when the middle ground (medium range speeds, mobile technologies, voice capabilities) will be covered.
According to typical development and market adoption timelines, devices will be phased into the market from around 2025, with a mass market launch likely to occur closer to 2030.
Similar technology LTE Cat 1bis greatly assists LTE Cat 1, a more affordable but somewhat performance-limited version of LTE Cat 1 that uses a single receive antenna. To ensure proper implementation, LTE Cat 1 bis also require network support, such as a higher-power downlink, but few network operators have implemented such features yet.
LTE vs. 5G: What is the difference between LTE and 5G?
The LTE standard was designed by the International Telegraph Union Radiocommunications (ITU-R) regulator to mark the move to 4G speeds. This is partly because much of the infrastructure laid out by telecom companies cannot meet the threshold required to mark it as 4G.
In theory, 4GLTE can achieve download speeds of up to 150 Mbps and upload speeds of 50 Mbps. These numbers will vary depending on location, deployment, and the number of users. With these factors in mind, they translate roughly to actual download speeds of 20 Mbps and upload speeds of 10 Mbps.
As the fifth generation of mobile connectivity, 5G offers theoretical maximum speeds of up to 10Gbps. Even at more realistic speeds, 5G definitely trumps LTE, and we recently tested Vodafone’s 5G network with average download speeds between 100Mbps and 150Mbps.
5G achieves this by using a different spectrum than LTE, specifically the millimeter wave high band, which supports more bandwidth than the lower bands used by LTE and can therefore transmit more data.
5G can also use bands below 6 GHz but above the lower band frequencies, but these bands cannot support the maximum speeds promised by 5G. However, these speeds will still outperform LTE, and Sub-6G could even enhance 5G’s coverage, as millimeter wave frequencies can be obstructed by walls and other obstacles.
5G uses a different suite of the spectrum than 4G LTE, allowing it to offer better connection speeds, greater capacity to handle higher traffic, and latency as low as 1 millisecond.
One of the most important differences between 5G and today’s regular 4G LTE is the increased frequency allocation.
LTE vs. 5G Frequency bands
An important feature in determining network speed in congested and electronically noisy areas is how much electromagnetic spectrum is allocated to it. Typically, networks with a more allocated spectrum can support more concurrent connections, thereby increasing network speeds for all parties.
Major U.S. carriers bid against each other to purchase portions of spectrum from other companies and the U.S. government. It costs operators billions of dollars to purchase just a few megahertz.
LTE signals range in frequency from about 700 MHz to 2.5 GHz. typically, lower frequency waves have more ability to transmit data over long distances and are therefore more valuable to carriers because a single cell site can reach more customers.
However, this depends on the trade-off for speed, as higher frequency networks support higher data transfer rates.
5G NR designates two creatively named network bands: Frequency Range 1 (FR1) and Frequency Range 2 (FR2). FR1 covers the current spectrum as we know it: frequencies below 6 GHz.
This part of the electromagnetic spectrum includes everything from AM/FM radio all the way up to fast 5 GHz dual-band Wi-Fi.
The new feature FR2 includes millimeter-wave frequencies above 24 GHz. This part of the spectrum is used for data transmission back and forth from satellites, radar facilities along the coast, etc.
These aforementioned millimeter wave FR2 bands allow carriers to remove much of the pressure from the crowded FR1 bands. The only problem is that you basically need to be able to see the antenna to get any available connection, so this is useless except in dense urban environments where network congestion is at its worst. the FR2 band will also facilitate faster data transfer rates.
LTE vs. 5G Speed
5G will not fundamentally change the types of services available on cell phones. Mobile Internet users will not suddenly be able to download multi-gigabyte files in a second. What can be expected is an increase in speed and functionality comparable to the shift from 3G to 4G. This will be a major shift, but it will not be enough to drive big changes in the world.
The IMT-2020 5G standard calls for a maximum rate of 20 Gbps (billion bits per second), or about 20 times faster than a gigabit (1 Gbps) broadband connection. the LTE standard calls for a maximum speed of 300 Mbps, but even if you are only a few hundred meters from a cell tower, it may actually be a tenth of that.
Therefore, the increase in 5G speeds cannot be expected to extend the mobile broadband component of 5G beyond that of traditional residential broadband, which itself is not much better than 4G LTE.
5G will still have a significant impact on society, though you may not see it directly. the most exciting part of the 5G standard is its focus on new applications for fast, secure, and reliable communications.
The 5G NR standard divides the target use cases into three groups.
Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB): This is the traditional cellular service we have been discussing so far.
Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC): the name of this segment suggests physically larger machines, but think of it more as a network of small, cheaply connected devices.
Ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (uRLLC): This segment consists of connections that require unparalleled reliability and response times.
Alex Wulff is convinced that the real impact of 5G will be greatest in the unification of these services. These three categories typically require separate network infrastructures: traditional cell services for eMBB, services such as LoRaWAN and Sigfox for mMTC, and dedicated Ethernet/fiber links for uRLLC. 5G represents the broad unification of all these disparate parts into the single network architecture.
LTE vs. 5G Large-scale machine-like communications
Traditional Wi-Fi works well in a home environment, but battery-powered devices have many requirements that Wi-Fi and cellular technologies cannot meet (power consumption and range).
LoRaWAN and Sigfox’s technologies are looking to solve this problem with Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWAN). You can think of these networks as similar to conventional cellular services, only supporting longer-range communications with much lower power consumption and data transfer rates than conventional cellular services.
However, while similar in purpose, none of these LPWAN networks share the same basic specifications as the 4G standard. This means that companies need to invest specifically in LoRa or Sigfox modems in order to transmit data to the Internet. In addition, network coverage is largely limited to major U.S. cities.
The standardization bodies responsible for LTE expect these use cases to have deployed standards for LTE-M and NB-IoT, which, unlike other LPWAN networks, are supported by major U.S. carriers. These two network standards are also part of the 5G IoT standard.
Another factor that makes 5G the best weight for IoT is device density; 5G networks will support up to 1,000,000 connections per square kilometer, or enough capacity to place Internet-connected sensors on every tree in the densest forests.
LTE vs. 5G Ultra-reliable and low-latency communications
5G entered the first year of commercial 5G services worldwide in 2020, and to truly make it commercially available, it will need to address two major issues: ultra-reliability and low latency.
LTE vs. 5G Latency
Latency is the time it takes for a signal to propagate through a network. It is not synonymous with data rate, although the two are somewhat related. Latency in the case of cellular connections is also not caused by the physical distance of the transmitter.
Latency in a network is typically measured in milliseconds. For traditional network services, the distance from the server under discussion does make a significant difference, although much of this latency is also due to the increased number of computers required to process long-distance requests.
Latency in cellular networks is still measured in milliseconds, which is typically the time it takes for telephone data to propagate through the communications hardware of a cellular tower to the network. 4G achieves a latency of 20ms, while the uRLLC specification is less than 1ms.
LTE vs. 5G Ultra-reliability
Combined with more stable network reliability, 5G is already the ideal platform for many interesting applications. Take the example of self-driving cars: with 4G, you can send a packet from one car to another in up to 100 ms, about 50 ms to process the packet and send it to a cell tower, and another 50 ms to send the packet to the target car. If this packet of information is on its way to other vehicles around, then this delay is too high.
In contrast, 5G NR will support direct communication modes, enabling these vehicles to share information within milliseconds. Engineers can extend the same principles to ensure safety and enhanced functionality in industrial environments.
LTE vs. 5G: The difference between LTE and 5G modulation
The difference between a 5G phone and a 4G gigabit LTE. Many people mistake 4G gigabit LTE for a 5G phone! Actually, it is wrong and incorrect, 4G Gigabit LTE is ten times faster than ordinary 4G phones.
Basic principle:
The inverse relationship between subcarrier width and symbol length, wide subcarrier short symbols, and narrow subcarrier long symbols.
Performance:
When the total bandwidth is fixed, the number of RE resources composed of time-frequency two-dimensional is fixed and does not change with the subcarrier bandwidth, and the throughput is the same.
Reduced latency selects wide subcarriers with shorter symbol length, while the 5G schedule is fixed to a 1-time slot (12/14 symbols) and scheduling latency becomes shorter. When the maximum subcarrier bandwidth is selected, the single scheduling is reduced from 1 ms (15 kHz) to 1/32 ms (480 kHz), which is more favorable for URLLC services.
5g logical frame:
5G base stations are mainly used to provide 5G air interface protocol functions and support communication with user equipment and the core network. According to the logical function, a 5G base station can be divided into a 5G baseband unit and a 5G RF unit, which can be connected through CPRI or eCPRI interface.
The 5G baseband unit is responsible for NR baseband protocol processing, including the entire user-plane (UP) and control-plane (CP) protocol processing functions, and provides the backhaul interface (NG interface) with the core network and the interconnection interface (Xn interface) between the base stations.
The 5G RF unit mainly performs the conversion of NR baseband signals to RF signals and the transceiver processing of NR RF signals. In the downlink direction, the baseband signal from the 5G baseband unit is received, and after upconversion, digital-to-analog conversion, and RF modulation, filtering, signal amplification and other transmit link (TX) processing, it is transmitted out through the switch and antenna unit.
LTE vs. 5G: The role of 5G and LTE network switching
Simply put, the main role of 5G and LTE network automatic switching is to save power. There is also the possibility of switching to a 4G network in places where there is no 5G network signal.
5G is not a substitute for 4G, so it is also possible to see LTE and 5G existing at the same time in the future. 5G is the collective name for the fifth generation of mobile network technology, which is a new technology. LTE represents a long-term evolution, and it is a 4G technology.
Is 5G faster than LTE?
The main advantage that 5G offers over 4G LTE is faster speeds, mainly because 5G has more spectrum available and it uses more advanced radio technology, it will also offer lower latency than 4G.
5G has a very fast theoretical maximum speed of 1 to 10 Gbps download speed and 1-millisecond latency, but in reality, we might expect a minimum average download speed of 50 Mbps and a latency of 10 milliseconds, compared to the current average 4G speed of about 15 Mbps and 50 milliseconds. This depends on network coverage, as well as the number of people connected near you and the devices you are using.
5G is an umbrella term that covers many different technologies, so it’s hard to compare everything to 4G one by one. What really separates 5G from any 4G LTE is that the higher speeds of 5G require the mmWave high-frequency band.
While 5G is starting to roll out, that doesn’t mean that 4G is done or that it has stopped evolving. The latest top 4G technology to be developed is LTE-A (Long Term Evolution Advanced), which promises a maximum speed of 1Gbps, but the actual average may be comparable to the low end of 5G. There is also an LTE-Advanced Pro, which is even faster.
Is 5G better than LTE?
The peak theoretical transmission speed of 5G network can reach 1GB every 8 seconds, which is hundreds of times faster than the transmission speed of 4G LTE network. The biggest advantages of 5G compared to LTE are high speed, low latency and high capacity.
For example, the theoretical 5G network speed is several times faster than 4G LTE, and in the same dense commercial areas, 5G is faster and more stable than 4G LTE.
With 5G, networks can move vast amounts of data more efficiently than with 4G LTE. That means: Faster speeds to download movies and shows or video chat on the go.
Is 5G safer than LTE?
The private LTE network cost for data transfer tends to be lower than on public networks. Because the organization controls the security, private LTE networks can be way more secure than public 5G networks even when used with a virtual private network.
LTE and 5G both use radio waves, but the main difference is that 5G uses higher radio wave frequencies than LTE. higher frequency waves provide better network capacity and speed. However, studies of 5G-related health risks have failed to identify any specific, real 5G dangers.
Should you choose LTE or 5G?
While the speed of 5G may leave you wondering why we are even comparing the two, the answer to this question really depends on your location, budget, and whether you are using it for business or personal needs.
As more countries/regions expand their 5G infrastructure, we’re seeing more 5G-enabled hardware options on the market, so you’ll need to investigate what’s available in your country and whether they fit your needs and price range.
The growth of 5G-enabled devices over the past few years has increased competition and has already started to drive down prices, but it may be too early to adopt 5G over LTE. As competition intensifies further, more attractive services, packages, and storage options will undoubtedly emerge. As 5G coverage expands, you can also connect more consistently to millimeter wave-based networks for the promise of high-speed 5G without disruption.
5G is more than just an incremental increase in speed; 5G represents a massive unification and expansion of the network infrastructure that will connect our society for years to come.
LTE vs. 5G future
There are many factors to consider when deciding whether to migrate IoT applications from legacy 2G/3G networks to 4G LTE technology or 5G technology. Some of the key factors include performance, availability, coverage, and the viability of the technology.
For these reasons, solutions requiring LPWA communications will be fully supported by LTE-M and NB-IoT that can smoothly evolve to 5G (depending on the availability of these networks in the target market). As discussed in this paper, there are compelling reasons to choose 4G LTE (LTE Cat 1, LTE Cat 4) for solutions with higher bandwidth requirements as well.
In terms of performance, 4G LTE and 5G solutions offer significant performance improvements over 2G and 3G cellular technologies. This improvement includes achievable coverage, power consumption, bandwidth, latency, reliability, and more.
4G network infrastructure is mature and widely deployed in North America, EMEA, and parts of Asia Pacific, and 5G mMTC in the form of LTE-M and NB-IoT is mature in some regions (e.g., North America and parts of EMEA/Asia Pacific), but widespread adoption of 5G NR RedCap is still to come.
As mentioned earlier, the future of 5G is all about its expanded deployment and the introduction of more 5G-enabled devices; the potential for 5G to enhance existing technologies and lead to more innovative connected systems and potentially society-changing machines (e.g., self-driving cars) will only grow.
China has identified LTE Cat 1 (including Cat 1bis), LTE-M, and NB-IoT as the logical technology choices after 2G/3G technologies are withdrawn from the market, so which type of technology is more appropriate for your specific application?
The choice of technology always depends on the specific constraints of the usage scenario. In order to make the best choice, it is important to ask the right questions.
What are the requirements of the application in terms of throughput, power consumption, coverage (e.g., in challenging environments), and latency?
Is the application mobile, or is it a fixed application?
What are the requirements in terms of roaming across networks or across boundaries?
Where will the application be deployed?
What technologies will the local mobile network operator provide at the deployment location?
All mobile network operators in the US are phasing out 2G networks and have chosen LTE-M because it is already in use in the US and meets their technical requirements.
LTE-M has a high penetration rate inside buildings, which allows them to deploy smart meters in areas where cellular communication signals were previously poor.
LTE-M’s low power requirements reduce service requirements, which allows the company’s field technicians to focus on other tasks.
LTE-M’s data transfer rate, while relatively low, is sufficient to transmit intermittently captured data.
Considering that LTE-M can smoothly evolve to 5G, which means it is part of the 5G specification, LTE-M can maintain its compatibility as 5G networks are deployed, allowing the company to be confident that its installations will be well suited to future needs.
With 4G LTE likely to be extended for at least another decade, we believe it is also wise to develop solutions around higher bandwidth solutions that can leverage LTE Cat 1, Cat 1bis, and higher categories of technology based on potential future demand.
In addition, 5G technology is being introduced in 2019 with the explicit goal of complementing 4G LTE, not replacing it, so it can be largely assumed that any location with access to a 5G network will also be covered by a 4G network for the foreseeable future.
Until 6G comes along, 5G is the future of communications technology.
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