OpenSignal carried out a research on the speed of the 5G network in the nations where it was launched: the results for Italy are not comforting
We all know the promises of 5G by now: more stable network, more users connected stably in small spaces, very low latency and, above all, much (but much) more download and upload speed than the current 4G. But is it really so? A first answer comes from a study by Opensignal on eight countries where the first commercial offers in 5G have already arrived: United States, Switzerland, South Korea, Australia, United Arab Emirates, Italy, Spain and United Kingdom.
The results, at least for the Italian 5G network, at the moment are good but not exciting. Probably due to the limits that the Italian legislation imposes on the new 5G network not to exceed the limits of electromagnetic emissions, in our country 5G is faster than 4G but not by much. But there are also those who are worse: in Australia, for example, today 5G goes even slower than 4G (which, on the other hand, in Australia is very fast). Another interesting fact, returning to the Italian 5G network, is that it is three times slower than the American one. This leads us to reason on another very interesting fact: the speed of 5G is much more variable than 4G.
How fast is 5G in Italy
Let's start from the data on the 5G network in Italy. According to Opensignal, the maximum speed recorded by 4G is 428 Mbps (the second-to-last among the eight countries, right after the UAE's 292 Mbps) while 5G goes up to 657 Mbs. 5G is slower only in Spain and the UK. Finally, comparing 4G with 5G in Italy, there is a 1.5-fold increase in speed. Will this be enough to convince users to pay for expensive 5G subscriptions?
How fast is 5G in other countries
The fastest 5G network of all is in the US: 1,815 Mbps, compared to 678 Mbps for 4G. Switzerland follows, with 1,145 Mbps (vs. 443 Mbps), then South Korea with 1,071 Mbps (vs. 619 Mbps of 4G), Australia with 792 Mbps (vs. a whopping 950 Mbs of 4G, which is more than the speed of our 5G). The United Arab Emirates have a 5G network of 665 Mbps (292 Mbps in 4G), followed by Italy (657 Mbps in 5G, 428 in 4G), Spain (602 Mbps in 5G, 596 Mbps in 4G) and, finally, the United Kingdom that has the slowest 5G network of all: 569 Mbps, against the already few 441 Mbps of 4G.
The 5G network will soon be faster
According to Opensignal, however, 5G network performance will grow very soon: "This is just the beginning of the 5G era and the market is moving quickly. More 5G services will be launched, using more spectrum and wider channels - there are few 5G services currently using the ideal 5G channel size of 100 MHz - and 5G technology will evolve to combine the performance of multiple channels and bands together to increase both maximum and average speeds and further enhance the mobile experience for 5G users."