Recently, Ericsson released the "5G and Wi-Fi" white paper, pointing out that the two major wireless technologies 5G(5G Antennas) and Wi-Fi 6(What is Wifi 6) will play an important role in indoor connections in the future, and comparing the advantages and disadvantages of the two. It is worth noting that the white paper also compared the TCO of Wi-Fi(Wi-Fi Antennas) and cellular(Cellular Antennas) networks with examples, pointed out that Wi-Fi connection costs are higher than cellular networks, and concluded that 5G will play a more important role in future connection scenarios.

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Does Wi-Fi Cost More To Connect Than 5G?
5G will play a more important role in future connection scenarios.
Recently, Ericsson released the "5G and Wi-Fi" white paper, pointing out that the two major
wireless technologies 5G(5G Antennas) and Wi-Fi 6(What is Wifi 6) will play an important role in
indoor connections in the future, and comparing the advantages and disadvantages of the two.
It is worth noting that the white paper also compared the TCO of Wi-Fi(Wi-Fi Antennas) and
cellular(Cellular Antennas) networks with examples, pointed out that Wi-Fi connection costs are
higher than cellular networks, and concluded that 5G will play a more important role in future
connection scenarios.
Each has its advantages
Advantages of 5G:
1) Working in the operator’s authorized spectrum can provide better reliability and better
predictability, and can meet the communication needs of critical tasks.
2) 5G supports eMBB, mMTC (Massively Connected Internet of Things), Critical IoT
(Mission-critical Internet of Things), and industrial TSN, and supports a wider range of use cases
than Wi-Fi.
3) 5G can support end-to-end QoS differentiation based on a single network.
4) 5G has a strict equipment interoperability test and certification process.
5) 5G can also use unlicensed spectrum (NR-U) to offload non-critical mission traffic.
6) 5G supports full mobility and can provide wide area coverage and local coverage, while Wi-Fi 6
is limited to local area coverage and can only support limited mobility.
7) 5G has end-to-end specifications covering the complete system architecture, while Wi-Fi is
mainly limited to the first and second layers.
8) 5G supports low, medium, and high-frequency bands, and can achieve good coverage through
low frequency and mid-frequency bands, and can also supplement capacity requirements
through millimeter-wave high-frequency bands, as well as achieve lower air interface delay and
higher accuracy indoor positioning, But Wi-Fi 6 is limited to supporting mid-band, and the
bandwidth is limited.
9) Unlike Wi-Fi 6, 5G provides end-to-end security and global identity management.
Advantages of Wi-Fi 6
1) Wi-Fi 6 modems are cheaper than 5G modems.
2) Easier deployment
3) Some operating systems (such as iOS 13) prefer Wi-Fi because the phone always automatically
connects to nearby Wi-Fi networks first instead of cellular networks.
4) Wi-Fi 6 (including NR-U) works on unlicensed spectrum, which is not restricted by spectrum
license and can be used by everyone.
TCO comparison
The article takes a warehouse's wireless network deployment as an example to compare the TCO

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cost of Wi-Fi 5 and 4G(4G Antennas) networks.
The warehouse has an area of 250,000 square feet and is connected to 1,000 devices (an average
throughput of 80Mbps). The main use case is to enable intelligent robot automatic picking and
handling based on low-latency and large-bandwidth networks.
Using Wi-Fi 5 technology, the warehouse needs to deploy 160 Wi-Fi APs and 10 PoE switches;
while using 4G technology, the warehouse needs to deploy 40 Small Cells and core
network-related equipment, plus installation, wiring, and later Product support, service, and
on-site maintenance. The report pointed out that the total cost per square foot of Wi-Fi is 22%
higher than that of cellular networks.
In addition to cost advantages, the article also pointed out that the added value of the two
technologies is also very important. As the 5G network has higher reliability, wider coverage,
better mobility, and supports more use cases than Wi-Fi, it can bring more value to enterprises in
the future.
It is not difficult to see that although the article only compares the connection cost of Wi-Fi 5 and
4G, it seems to imply that with the popularization of technology, the cost of 5G connection in the
future may be the same as Wi-Fi, or even lower, and operators and enterprises can get more
benefits from 5G.
The battle between cellular networks and Wi-Fi has not ceased for a long time. As the indoor
scene becomes more and more important in the 5G era, this technology battle is bound to
become more intense. From the white paper, Ericsson is obviously more optimistic about 5G.
However, how the future will develop, can only be answered by the market and time.

3. C&T RF Antennas Inc
www.ctrfantennas.com www.lcantennas.com
Please Contact us for more information, thank you.
Coco Lu coco@ctrfantennasinc.com (+86)13412239096
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