By now everyone has heard that 5G is coming and the crazy fast speeds that it will bring from the cellular side of things.

5G mobile networking technology is slated to bring with it a revolution in how we use and access the internet. The new technology promises to increase download speeds, nearly eliminate latency, and reduce congestion on mobile networks. In other words, 5G is going to give Wi-Fi a run for its money. While Wi-Fi and 5G will be pitted against each other, all signs point to us likely needing both technologies to fully take advantage of the internet of tomorrow.

Wi-Fi 6 promises faster speeds, less latency, and more capacity, and there’s even some overlap in the technology both use, like MU-MIMO and beamforming. Those similarities aside, 5G and Wi-Fi 6 differ in two major ways: Use cases and scope of operation.

Wi-Fi 6 is a wireless local area network (WLAN) technology that is meant to operate in an office, a home, conference center, or other crowded public spaces. 5G is a wide-area network (WAN) technology that is designed for outdoor, cellular data, edge computing, IoT applications, and other non-interior long-distance connections.

Wi-Fi 6 is optimized for capacity and density whereas 5G is optimized for coverage

Wi-Fi 6 Coverage:
The targeted applications for Wi-Fi 6 covers Carpeted Enterprise as well as retail, public venues, and hotspots, e-Learning, IoT, stadiums, and transportation hubs, interactive HD, and 4K video.

WiFi 6 Features : Fast Speed, High Density, Greater Coverage, Increase Data Rate, Power Efficiency

5G Coverage:
5G is targeting Transportation and outdoor urban & rural fixed wireless (alternative to fiber) as well as Private LTE/5G. The common applications include AR/VR and high bandwidth video as well as the explosion of IoT including Industrial and manufacturing.