It’s been plagued by slow adoption, spotty service, andno clear advantage.

5G Advantages

The big advantage of 5G is speed.

Often faster, in fact:5G should be capable of speedsof up to 2.5 GB/s.

Closeup on a hand holding a smartphone on a busy city street with a speed check displayed on the front of the phone.

Frederik Lipfert / Unsplash

5G is also quicker to respond because it has lower latency than 4G and 3G.

5G Disadvantages

These ideal speed numbers are rarely reached in real life.

5G is no different than 4G or 3G in that respect.

A 5G cell tower at sunset.

bjdlzx / Getty Images

5G also drains your phone’s battery faster.

But mostly, it seems that 5G is built for other purposes.

bjdlzx / Getty Images

However, it starts to make more sense when we get away from phones.

“5G’s low latency could help eventually enable driverless cars and even remote surgery,” says Verizon.

Highly directional, high-bandwidth data is also suitable for home use.

On the other hand, there’s little advantage compared to having fiber in the house.

The benefit would be with the telco because they would not need to wire you up.

But right now, 5G should probably not factor into your phone purchase decision.

A 5G computer or tablet, perhaps, but not a phone.

I have a 5G plan on my phone and it’s fine.

But I notice almost no difference in day-to-day use in the street.