First, 5G should increase available bandwidth. Industry analysts are predicting that data usage will go up 7x between now and 2024. More speed/bandwidth can help with that. Without increasing capacity, would we just see our usage stagnate?

Second, 5G should have much better ping times. Not only will this make browsing noticeably better, but it also means that latency applications can work well over wireless.

Third, there's a decent possibility that 5G will bring home broadband competition. If you're fed up with Comcast or Charter, 5G could mean choice in your internet service.

Fourth, I believe that 5G has a lot more flexibility than LTE. Part of that might mean low-power narrow connections that will allow cheap and battery-efficient sensor connections. Part of that might mean ultra-wide-band connections allowing for high-bandwidth devices that can't be served by the more limited carrier aggregation of LTE.

Fifth, sometimes applications happen when the technology is there to accommodate it. The broad availability of broadband let Netflix pivot from shipping DVDs to streaming. Broadband has meant online gaming, richer online applications, digital distribution, etc. As mobile bandwidth increased, we went from loading music from our computer, to streaming music, to streaming video. I think the broadband speed you have to support in your applications tends to be 10Mbps+, but if that floor raises over the next 5 years, it could change which applications and experiences people invent.

I mean, before the iPhone was announced, a lot of people wanted a phone dial pad on one side and an iPod click wheel on the other. People wanted Blackberries. The iPhone laid the technological foundation for all sorts of new experiences that people hadn't really thought about. Successive iPhones have been comparatively minor upgrades, but even then the faster processors, better screens, better wireless connectivity, etc. have allowed for better experiences to be built.

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It's also important to remember that there are different deployments of 5G. While Verizon has pushed out its ultra-high-band, short-range 5G, other companies are going to be rolling out 5G on more traditional spectrum offering much the same range as LTE. 5G NR is a new radio interface and it promises better spectral efficiency than LTE.

I think it's also likely that many areas will see high-density deployments. Companies like Comcast run a wire to every house they serve and require coordination with property owners to get it into the building. If you could run a wire to one point every 18 acres, that's a lot easier (that's assuming a 500 ft transmission range). Higher density than that is certainly achievable in dense cities.

It can certainly be hard to predict what a new technology might make happen. It's also possible that 5G won't make a huge impact beyond what LTE has already done.

I start to observe, that previously I was pretty much covered with HSPA. But now more and more without LTE it's hard. I guess when most technologists are within LTE coverage one is at disadvantage outside of it.

Sadly it seems that at least where I live mobile transfer limits are stagnant.

I like to call it the "infrastructure pattern", via [0]. If something serves (or could serve) as an enabler for other activities, it's important to make it more capable than the immediate needs would dictate, as this allows for new applications to appear. Internet speed & bandwidth is a great example of this, and so is CPU speed, RAM, and storage size. I'd go as far as saying that the history of civilization is one big series of "I know we don't need this" followed by new applications spawned by the surplus.

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[0] - https://wiki.hackerspaces.org/The_Infrastructure_Pattern

[1] https://www.sdxcentral.com/5g/definitions/5g-virtualization/

[2] https://www.ericsson.com/en/about-us/india/authored-articles...

In general, only one radio can transmit on one frequency at a time. So a city wide network quickly becomes congested. Reducing the time everyone spends transmitting greatly increases the quality of service and the amount of users that can be serviced.

The increased antenna count is also a benefit in crowded situations. If each antenna covers a smaller range, then more people can use the network in a given area- two antennas that would interfere with each other in a longer range system will operate simultaneously.

I think a better argument could be made about spending R&D on making 4G/LTE require a smaller band. I think LTE (assuming 850MHz) can be 1.4, 3, 5, 10MHz per band- which is non-optional. If you could cut the required Tx/Rx band width in half; I think that would be better use of effort.

With 4G I routinely see situations in busy areas where the phone claims "full bars" but data performance is sub-dialup.