In the world of tech buzzwords, 5G is right up there with the greats like HDMI and 4K in terms of how much it permeates every aspect of the tech industry. All the best phones have 5G, laptops have 5G, and you can get home internet routers that use 5G instead of wired internet. It promised to revolutionize mobile gaming, productivity, business, and anything else the marketers could attach it to, but it's now been nearly six years since 5G started rolling out, and most of those promises have fallen by the wayside. Nowadays, it's just the current specification for cellular phones and broadband-enabled laptops, with no real danger of replacing traditional broadband. But why, when it promised faster speeds, did 5G falter in its aims? Let's discuss.

4 Coverage issues

Multiple carriers are all rolling out their own version of the spectrum

5G internet promised faster data speeds and lower latency than 4G LTE and the traditional broadband options available at the time. In some cases, significantly faster speeds, with theoretical maximums of 20Gbps downlink speeds. That's 100x the speed of 4G LTE, but the fastest 5G modems, like the Qualcomm Snapdragon X80, can only reach a maximum download speed of 10Gbps. That's pretty fast, even compared to traditional broadband, but it's only able to do these speeds in very specific circumstances where mmWave is available. With most of the 5G networks offered by carriers around the world using low-band and mid-band networks, the speeds you might see on your smartphone could potentially be slower than 4G LTE in some circumstances.

Compare that to traditional broadband, where most coverage areas have multi-gig options for download speeds and can give consistent service at those speeds except maybe in peak usage times. 5G might be a good option for some, but it hasn't overtaken broadband so far, and isn't likely to in the future.

Except it might make more sense in rural areas

The only real place that 5G internet might improve coverage speeds is in rural areas, where mid-band 5G can be fairly effective. With few buildings and other obstacles in the way, it can be a viable alternative to traditional broadband and even reach areas where cable and fiber companies don't want to expand their network. With many rural areas still limited to DSL speeds, 5G can be several times faster, even if not right next to a cellular tower.

3 5G is easily obstructed

Good luck getting speedy service in an apartment

The most widely available 5G is sub-6GHz, which is then further split into low-band and mid-band frequencies. The low-band operates between 600MHz and 2.4GHz and offers the best distance coverage while also being able to penetrate buildings and other obstacles. Yes, 2.4GHz like the slower band on your Wi-Fi router, which trades speed for penetration power. The mid-band is between 1GHz and 6GHz and increases downlink speeds, but it also reduces the range and ability to go through obstructions. Sub-6GHz can travel several miles, but that still means needing to put up lots of new cellular equipment as the 5G network is separate from the one running 4G LTE. Wired broadband goes wherever the wires go, doesn't care about walls or other obstacles, and is always at or close to the speed supplied by the ISP. The infrastructure is already there in service areas, and doesn't get affected by your distance from the local node.

2 5G mmWave is short-range

The fastest 5G is also the hardest to deploy

The fastest section of the 5G spectrum is mmWave, which theoretically ranges from 24GHz up to 100GHz, although practical considerations have led carriers to roll out networks ranging from 26GHz to 39GHz. While it has been shown to break 1Gbps speeds for downlink, with low latency, it's incredibly limited in practical use. The biggest thing is that it requires line-of-sight to the carrier-installed node, which makes rolling out the network difficult. Some densely packed urban areas have decent mmWave coverage, but the speeds vary even on the same city block and all but disappear once you go into a building.

That's because the high-frequency waves used for mmWave are easily blocked by obstacles such as buildings, trees, cars, or even your own hand. To effectively blanket a neighborhood in mmWave would require nodes on every street and intersection, not to mention the possibility of using the band inside buildings. It's simple physics that can't be overcome with technology small enough to cram in a smartphone, and the major carriers have almost stopped marketing it. T-Mobile barely remembers to say it's available in some locations; AT&T only sells mmWave access to business users, leaving only Verizon, which still likes to say it has fast 5G. Except, it's only fast in a very small number of locations, so it might as well not be there at all.

1 Fiber broadband is much faster

And generally lower latency for users

As 5G capacity was rolled out over more areas in the U.S., so too were new broadband technologies. DOCSIS 4.0 for cable broadband enables up to 10Gbps downstream and 6Gbps upstream speeds. One of the largest broadband providers, Xfinity, started rolling out the new standard late in 2023 in a few cities and will likely continue that expansion. Most cable providers offer 1Gbps, 2Gbps, or sometimes 5Gbps options, and fiber ISPs offer 1Gbps or 5Gbps options. That's not anywhere near the 100Gbps theoretical maximum of fiber, and there are ways to increase that even further. With mmWave giving you up to 1Gbps in the best of conditions, it's clearly no substitute for traditional broadband. The only benefit it comes with is portability, as you can get those speeds wherever mmWave nodes are situated.

5G may never replace traditional wired broadband, even in densely packed cities

While 5G never quite lived up to its promises, the picture for traditional broadband (at least in the U.S.) is pretty dire as well. Cable internet providers have virtually stopped pushing into new territories, and FCC rules make it hard for multiple ISPs to operate in the same territory. Verizon FiOS only covers small portions of the East Coast, and Google Fiber, which promised to break the stranglehold the big ISPs had over the industry, has reversed its rollout, pulling out of various cities where it was supposed to build capacity. The only ISPs really adding more cables are small municipal outfits that are building one small city at a time. Still, traditional broadband offers higher average speeds than 5G, so it's here to stay.