As 5G technology amps up, promising faster download speeds for smartphones, improved emergency services and robots with extended range, for instance, the technology also promises to extend to other areas of wireless communications, including as a potential replacement for Wi-Fi.
According to reports, telecom giant AT&T believes that 5G and Wi-Fi will co-exist, particularly on the device level, but there may also be potential for a convergence of the two technologies into a single radio network that would serve as the backbone for campus, office and business networks.
This might be the result of 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards announced for the adoption of the unlicensed spectrum at 6 GHz, which is also planned for the upcoming Wi-Fi 6 standard. AT&T said this could create a distributed antenna system (DAS) that supports both licensed and unlicensed spectrum — which would allow both communication with Wi-Fi and mobile wireless devices.
Additionally, 5G local area network (LAN)-type services provide LAN emulation that works for both Wi-Fi and mobile wireless networks, effectively eliminating the need for a Wi-Fi backbone between Wi-Fi devices and mobile devices as they converge over the 5G network. This single radio network with dual connectivity would be based on 5G delivering extreme mobile broadband, support for a multitude of devices and low latency for edge computing devices such as virtual and augmented reality, industrial automation and autonomous driving.
While 5G is still in its early stages despite being deployed across many cities, 5G millimeter wave (mmWave) coverage is very limited. However, mmWave is expected to bring a faster network for wireless technology that would include up to 10 times the download speed of 4G LTE. In 2020, this is expected to change with multiple new deployments of mmWave, which will expand coverage as well as spectrum bands in the sub-6 GHz range.
However, it is likely to take years before full mmWave becomes the dominant 5G technology. Until 2025 at least, 4G is likely to remain the most popular wireless technology worldwide, according to the GSMA. Because of this, AT&T does not expect 5G to replace Wi-Fi 6, at least for the foreseeable future.
