Will 5G replace Wi-Fi?

WiFi has become an indispensable part of our lives, especially when it comes to work and entertainment. You’d recognize this if you’re one of those who ask for the WiFi password whenever they first sit down at a restaurant.

As cellular networking rapidly evolves, places without WiFi may rely on 4G networks for customers’ smartphones to connect to, enabling video streaming and online gaming. With the rollout of 5G networks over the past two years, the usage scenarios where devices are connected via 5G will become a reality at home. Therefore, if 5G is fast and cheap enough, WiFi will no longer have advantages over mobile networks, and it may even be replaced by 5G.

5G is a big leap forward with ultra-fast speed, ultra-low latency, and massive network capacity. However, its weaknesses cannot be ignored. 5G uses millimeter waves with weak penetration and rapid attenuation. While the main building material of modern buildings is reinforced concrete, which has an obvious signal blocking effect. The current mainstream of WiFi, 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz, have better penetration than 5G millimeter waves, making them more suitable for indoor LAN (local area network) layouts.

Moreover, for individuals and families, although WiFi is not as portable as 5G, it is easier to deploy. It only needs broadband and wireless routers, while the deployment of 5G requires the intervention of mobile providers and their investments in 5G base stations.

All of this requires a lot of time and money for the infrastructure. As the speed of mobile networks gets faster and faster, the traffic usage will also accelerate, and the cost of data packages of various operators will rise.

Just imagine how expensive it will be to open a 5G unlimited data package.

That’s why home WiFi is still quite competitive, providing a means to go online without worrying about data consumption nor throttled speeds after a certain data limit.

WiFi also has better privacy in personal scenarios like home networking. It uses a password to construct a private local area network, so devices outside the local area network cannot control the devices on the inside. Plus, all your IoT appliances can easily be controlled under the same WiFi network.

Really, 5G and WiFi are not in a competitive relationship. Instead, they are complementary to one another. The portability of mobile networks makes 5G more flexible than WiFi for outdoors. While the penetration, privacy, and deployment of WiFi make it more suitable for indoor use. We’re more likely to see WiFi and 5G coexist for a long time.

No matter which one you prefer, TP-Link provides various kinds of routers that support both 4G/5G and wireless network access. The upcoming Deco X80-5G, for example, TP-Link’s first whole-home Mesh WiFi router that supports 5G, allows multiple operation modes to meet all your different networking scenarios.

When operating in 4G/5G Router mode, Deco X80-5G connects to the internet via an inserted SIM card, allowing you to always get a WiFi connection when there is no broadband service. When in Wireless Router mode, the router connects to the internet via an Ethernet cable.

You can get the best of both worlds by setting up your 4G/5G network as a backup. When 4G/5G Backup is enabled, your Deco will be directly connected to the 4G/5G network when your original network service fails — keeping you online all the time.

For more information about TP-Link 5G and wireless routers, refer to https://www.tp-link.com/.