5G Explained: Bands, Speeds and What Changed From 4G
5G uses low, mid and high radio bands with very different speeds and range. This guide covers the bands, the targets, standalone versus non-standalone and the launch dates.
In this article
5G is the fifth generation of mobile network technology. It is not one fixed speed but a family of radio bands and network designs, and what a phone actually gets depends mostly on which band it is using. This article explains the bands, the speed and delay figures, the difference between the two ways of building a 5G network, and when the first services started.
Who defines 5G
Two layers of standards sit behind 5G. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) defines a framework called IMT-2020, which sets the goals. The 3GPP group of standards bodies writes the detailed technical specifications. According to Wikipedia, 3GPP Release 15 specified the 5G radio, called New Radio or NR, and the 5G system. Release 16 added NR-U for using unlicensed spectrum, Release 17 added RedCap for simpler, lower-cost devices, and Release 18, called 5G-Advanced, adds AI and machine-learning tools for managing networks and better energy efficiency.
The ITU describes three usage scenarios for 5G, taken from its Recommendation ITU-R M.2083: enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLLC) and massive machine-type communications (mMTC). In plain terms: faster phone data, dependable low-delay links, and very large numbers of connected sensors.
Three kinds of band
- Low band: below roughly 1 GHz and up into the sub-6 GHz range (Wikipedia gives 410 MHz to 7.125 GHz for the whole of this "FR1" range). Signals travel far and pass through walls. Wikipedia gives about 5 to 250 Mbit/s for a low band example.
- Mid band: also in the sub-6 GHz range and the most widely deployed. Wikipedia gives roughly 10 to 1,000 Mbit/s, with better reach than the high band.
- High band (millimetre wave, "FR2"): 24.25 to 71 GHz, with channels up to 400 MHz wide and multi-gigabit speeds. Range is short and signals are blocked by walls, windows and foliage; Wikipedia says they can lose over 100 dB through common building materials.
The trade-off is familiar: a wider slice of spectrum carries more data, but higher frequencies travel less far. That is why mid band, a compromise between the two, is common.
Speed and delay: targets versus reality
The ITU's IMT-2020 targets are 20 Gbit/s downlink and 10 Gbit/s uplink under ideal conditions, according to Wikipedia. These are peak goals, not what people usually see. The ITU's own page points to Report ITU-R M.2410 for the minimum performance requirements. Wikipedia reports a highest measured speed on a deployed network of 5.9 Gbit/s in 2023, and average real-world speeds of about 186 Mbit/s in the United States on T-Mobile and about 430 Mbit/s in South Korea in 2022.
For delay, Wikipedia says the radio link typically adds 8 to 12 milliseconds, with early Verizon deployments reporting about 30 ms. It also notes that delay rises to around 50 to 150 ms during a handover between cells. Wikipedia describes 5G as up to about ten times faster than 4G and projected to carry up to 100 times the capacity, though it also says early non-standalone networks reportedly gained 15 to 50 per cent more throughput than advanced 4G in favourable conditions.
Non-standalone and standalone
Early 5G networks were non-standalone (NSA): they added 5G radio but kept the existing 4G core network behind it. A standalone (SA) network uses a dedicated 5G core, which Wikipedia describes as replacing the 4G Evolved Packet Core with modular, software-based functions. Standalone is a prerequisite for voice calls over the 5G radio, known as Voice over NR. Wikipedia says T-Mobile launched the first nationwide standalone network in 2020.
When 5G launched
- 3 April 2019: South Korea launched the first full national commercial network, and Verizon began limited service in some US cities hours later.
- June 2019: Globe Telecom launched the first 5G-era network in the Philippines.
- December 2019: AT&T launched a consumer service in the United States, expanding nationwide during 2020.
Wikipedia also records that India's 5Gi variant was merged into the standard in April 2022 as part of Release 17.
What this means in practice
When a phone shows a 5G symbol, that tells you little by itself. It could be a low band with modest gains over 4G or a millimetre-wave link with far higher speeds but very short range. Operators in different countries have used different band mixes, so figures such as the ones above are examples of reported results, not guarantees. This is general information; check your own operator's coverage maps and plan details for what applies to you.
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