5G – Fifth generation wireless networking. This is up to 100 times faster than the current 4G broadband cellular network standard used by mobile phones. 5G has been designed to connect machines, objects, and devices together and has higher multi-Gbps peak data speeds, low latency, better reliability, more network capacity, and higher availability than 4G. The five wireless networking standards are;
- First generation – 1G – 1980s: 1G delivered analog voice.
- Second generation – 2G – Early 1990s: 2G introduced digital voice (eg. CDMA).
- Third generation – 3G – Early 2000s: 3G brought mobile data (eg. CDMA2000).
- Fourth generation – 4G LTE – 2010s: 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) ushered in the era of mobile broadband.
- Fifth generation – 5G – 2020s: an era of widespread higher-speed mobile broadband.
