LTE vs 5G vs WiFi: What You Need To Know

Whether you are using your smartphone or you are using a tablet, you probably know what internet connections are better and which ones are worse. You know that you may have a limited amount of LTE that you can use before you go “over” and your cellular company charges you. You also know that WiFi tends to be faster and, in some cases, more secure.

But what do you really know about these different options? They can get confusing because there are so many of them: 4G, 4G LTE, 4G LTE-A, 5Ge, just to name a few.

What Is LTE?

LTE is the most common type of internet connection people will use when they cannot access WiFi. It is usually found on smartphones. LTE stands for “Long Term Evolution,” which actually has nothing to do with the type of usage. Instead, it was a marketing phrase that companies used to show they were working toward a 4G connection though they were still using a better form of 3G connections.

It is hard to nail down just what LTE means in the end. If something has LTE after it, such as 5G LTE, it means that it isn’t quite at 5G speeds yet, but it is working to get there.

As such, there is no true standard for LTE because it consistently changes.

What is 5G?

On the other hand, 5G is what we consider “the future.” It is the next generation of standards that will perform better than 4G did. 5G is what people are working towards, but most phones are simply 5G compatible, even though they do not meet the latency standards.

5G will be fast enough that we haven’t really seen speeds that fast just yet. You will be able to download a large movie in perfect HD in just a few seconds with a true 5G if we are ever able to get there. While science says we will, it is likely that the devices capable of this will probably be expensive.

Similarly, devices that weren’t created with 5G in mind likely won’t be able to even use 5G. Band 48 devices and other devices of this kind are largely used by the military and government right now.

Is 5G Safe?

Over the last few months, you may have heard that 5G is actually dangerous and that you should be afraid of it. However, most of this is just hysteria, at least for now. There has been very little actual research done into whether or not 5G is safe – but most of what has been going around the internet, and anything you see on social media, probably isn’t based in reality.

What Impacts WiFi Connectivity?

There are so many different things that will impact WiFi, 4G, 5G, LTE, and more. Something as simple as updating your devices can help you to get better performance out of them. When it comes to your actual connectivity, there isn’t much that you can do apart from working with a good provider. Companies need to handle most of that work by themselves.

If you are buying a new device, you should be able to get good connectivity almost everywhere. There are some places in the world where you will have trouble getting connections, including in the United States. However, these are mostly in rural areas where you just need to keep driving to get a better connection.