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0 pointslordfrito3y ago0 comments

Caveat, I'm not exactly an expert at that level. My understanding is that "it depends".

I do know that transmission distance goes down as the frequency (and bandwidth) increases. For example, 2.4 GHz WiFi works farther than 5 GHz, but is slower.

I also know that 5G enables high speed "micro cells".. Higher bandwidth but smaller coverage zone. The idea that every city block can have a mini cell in their corner traffic light equipment buried undergound etc., less obtrusive cell towers needed. Sort of in between WiFi and true cell towers. I like to think of it as super charged WiFi on steriods. So that's one capability 5G brings, but it doesn't mean that your local experience is using this.

So, again, it all depends.

Maybe someone else here can post a more definitive answer or techincal explanation.

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kjellsbells3y ago

You're correct but Ill add some nuance: higher frequencies = higher speeds, but lower propagation out in the real world. So you solve the propagation issue by putting the radio closer to users, eg on street poles. But you also take care to propagate the signal optimally, eg instead of blasting it out in a wide cone of coverage, maybe you use beamforming and MIMO to focus on where the users actually are. Additionally 5G tech also provides some energy efficiency benefits on the radio.

The other things that cellular has over wifi are much better handover between radio access points (almost seamless on cellular, less so on wifi) and better behavior in environments where multiple users are transmitting at once (wifi is similar to csma/cd, like in the old days of ethernet). This is going to change with wifi 6E, but that isnt mainstream yet.

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