Do you need a whole new cell booster for 5G?

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In just a few short years, 5G has gone the new buzzword to being the standard for cell phone data. It wasn’t that long ago that we thought of 5G as the next, next big thing. Today it’s just sort of the way we do things.

5G is designed to be the technology that truly erases the line between traditional home internet and traditional wireless internet. With speeds that top off at close to 1,000Mbps and implementation plans that would open up enough bandwidth for every current wired and wireless user to get that minimum speed, it seems like a dream come true. With 5G, you might be able to ditch wired internet and get rid of one bill. Current wired and Wi-Fi only devices need only connect to a 5G router to enjoy the benefits, and 5G wireless devices would never need to connect to Wi-Fi. It seems simple and elegant.

Is 5G available everywhere?

That’s a loaded question. Most carriers have rolled out what they call “nationwide 5G” already, and it’s available everywhere that 3G service was. (3G service has been phased out.) However, nationwide 5G tends to have roughly the same speed as LTE. It’s not the super-speed service you’ve been promised. However, it is more responsive and stable than LTE in most cases.

Cities and suburban areas are starting to roll out those higher speeds now. It’s doubtful that rural areas will see them, because really you need cell towers about every 500-750 feet in order to get those higher speeds.

Cell boosters and 5G

There is a problem with 5G as a technology, though, and it comes in areas where cellular service is sketchy. Nationwide 5G uses the same frequencies as 3G used to use. This is great news for cell booster owners because it means that pretty much every booster ever made will work with these frequencies. The issue comes with the higher-speed connections, usually labeled as 5G+ or 5G-UWB.

A cell booster designed for these high-speed 5G frequencies will need an antenna that receives those signals, and it must be capable of processing them. 5G boosting technology isn’t really any different from current cell booster technology, but there is no sense in booster makers giving you a 5G booster today. It would be unnecessarily expensive and it wouldn’t do you any good. There are a few boosters today that work with those frequencies. However, they’re designed for industrial use, not for home use. They’re also very expensive.

Will we see more fixed wireless 5G?

It also remains to be seen what carriers themselves will do for customers who want 5G in the home. We’re starting to see a few cases where the cell companies are offering this service. But it’s much slower to roll out than I expected. . I guess the carriers have to figure out if they want to get into the home wiring business or whether it would just be cheaper to concentrate on building more cell towers.

If you’re thinking about getting a cellular booster, you probably will need to change it out sometime in the future but that shouldn’t stop you from buying one today. After all, you don’t sit and wait without a cell phone just because there will be new technology in three years, and you don’t sit without a computer even though you can more or less guarantee that you’ll replace anything you buy today with something new in 3-5 years. Today’s cellular boosters are a great value and they will continue to work for years to come, even if they don’t boost all the 5G frequencies. When you’re ready for a new one that does boost all of 5G, it will be time for a new booster. That’s not such a terrible thing either.

When you’re ready to turbocharge your cellular experience, here’s how you can do it. You can shop for a cell booster at Solid Signal. Or, you can get a recommendation from an expert. They’ll listen to you and design a system around your needs. Call us at 888-233-7563 during East Coast business hours and we’ll take care of you. Or, if it’s after hours, fill out the form below. We’ll get back to you, usually within one business day.

About the Author

Stuart Sweet
Stuart Sweet is the editor-in-chief of The Solid Signal Blog and a "master plumber" at Signal Group, LLC. He is the author of over 10,000 articles and longform tutorials including many posted here. Reach him by clicking on "Contact the Editor" at the bottom of this page.