How 5G Has Changed Small Businesses

What is 5G?

5G is the fifth-generation and latest evolution of wireless cellular technology. This technology represents a significant improvement in the overall speed, capacity and reliability of cellular data technologies. Compared to past iterations of cellular technology, 5G brings gigabit speeds as well as a significant decrease in communication delays, known as latency. 

Latency is the time it takes for a data packet to get from one point to another. The more latency can be reduced, the better the many devices online can communicate. This is important for businesses relying on IoT (Internet of Things) technology, connecting multiple devices and sensors to provide insights on business operations and product placement and to communicate business data. 

According to a report from Ericsson, there will be 6.7 billion cellularly capable IoT devices by 2029. [Learn more about how IoT changes how we work for the better and, on the flip side, how IoT devices could be bad for business.]

The overall reliability and capacity of 5G networks allows for significant leaps forward for various application types, such as augmented reality and virtual reality, which will be able to operate with greater efficiency. These applications, along with gaming and rapid download of large files, are often reserved for a Wi-Fi connection. But 5G makes this technology work for many use cases and expands what businesses can do on a wireless network.

The rollout of 5G home internet services also increases high speed internet options for users at home, which could further increase productivity for remote employees.

How is 5G different from 4G?

5G’s underlying technology makes it a significant shift from 4G. For example, regulators have opened up new, unused bands known as “millimeter waves.” The power and equipment constraints made it so transmissions at these bands weren’t feasible with previous technology. Technology company Nybsys indicated 5G networks can theoretically achieve peak download and upload speeds of 20 and 10 Gbps, respectively. Compare those numbers with 1 and 0.2 Gbps for 4G networks.

5G also differentiates itself from 4G in scale matters. According to Nybsys, 5G networks have latencies of 1 millisecond, compared with 10 milliseconds on 4G networks. Additionally, 5G can provide significant economic benefit to businesses by handling exponentially greater IoT device density. Whereas 4G networks can handle 250 IoT devices per square mile, 5G can handle 2.5 million devices per square mile.

This shift is largely due to 5G’s underlying network differences from 4G. While still using radio waves like 2G, 3G, and 4G do, 5G uses an integrated mixture of high-, mid-, and low-frequency radio waves. These waves are then integrated through a 5G core, which allows for new technologies, such as network slicing and edge computing, to further increase network speeds.

How has 5G changed small businesses?

While the United States started rolling out 5G infrastructure in 2018, the full business effect of the network has yet to take effect for most small businesses. As of right now, most small businesses likely benefit from both employees and customers using 5G-powered cellular devices. While 5G-capable phones and mobile devices may not seem like a revolutionary step forward, it is helping to underpin several other factors that can benefit small businesses. 

5G’s allowance for ultrafast mobile speeds on personal devices allows for more flexibility for remote or off-site workers. For example, an off-site employee during a sales pitch could pull up a video from the business’s cloud repository and screen mirror it onto a client’s display. The employee could do this without any lag or difficulty in syncing devices or remote logging into a platform. 

Likewise, for consumers, 5G allows for seamless viewing of videos online. For companies, this is especially relevant as social media platform TikTok has over 1 billion active monthly users. Businesses can leverage TikTok, as well as other social media platforms, for engagement marketing to grow their brands. 

According to an Oxford Economics’ report on TikTok, SMB usage of the platform contributed $24.2 billion to US GDP in 2023. This effect would largely have been impossible without 5G architecture supporting streaming video.  

Still, the majority of the benefits and changes 5G will bring to small businesses has yet to materialize as the technological shift is still underway. A report from IT solutions company GXA, “The Impact of 5G on Small and Medium Businesses,” notes several advantages 5G will bring as further investment is made into the technology. 

For example, 5G’s integration with AI could allow for SMBs to offer personalized experiences to customers at scale. Additionally, as 5G is further integrated into other emergent technologies — such as autonomous vehicles, delivery drones, smart cities, and a profusion of IoT sensors and other devices — SMBs will benefit and could adopt them to increase efficiency, reach, and product offerings. 

What industries have been affected by 5G?

5G is still in its early days of rolling out. According to Ericsson, 72% of IoT devices currently deployed are 4G/5G enabled; this marks a slight rise from the past year. However, pace of adoption is projected to rise quickly with 95% of IoT devices expected to be 4G/5G capable by 2029. 

This trend of adoption is telling. As much as 5G may have already led to changes in the following industries, these changes are going to be drastically magnified as industries further adopt 5G technology and the technology is more widely rolled out. 

As 5G continues to expand, the economic benefits from the technology are expected to be massive. Oxford Economics, in its 2023 paper The Global Economic Potential of 5G-Enabled Technology, projected 5G will boost global GDP by 2030 by $1.3 trillion. This economic boost is expected to impact a wide variety of sectors. 

Based on current adoption and future adoption plans, Oxford Economics believes one-fifth of those economic gains will be in the manufacturing sector. However, economic gains will also be shared widely by other industries, including retail and wholesale, public services, automotive, and the transportation industries. 

A large portion of this growth is due to 5G enabling mission-critical operations in emerging services. Chinese tech giant Baidu announced its plans for self-driving vehicles, with 5G technology key to their success. In scenarios of constant connection to a network, such as digital maps and security, the self-driving vehicles of the near future will rely on strong 5G connections. 5G enables this due to its extremely low latency and fast download and upload speeds. 

IT infrastructures’ continued transition to cloud hosting is also highly related to 5G. Oxford Economics found 5G drove the decision of 67% of surveyed companies to roll out the cloud; similarly, it drove 63% of surveyed companies to adopt IoT devices. Companies that have hesitated to take the virtualization leap may reevaluate when the benefits of 5G latency and speed become clear. [Weigh the pros and cons of virtualization before making the transition for your own business.]

Industries relying on constant inputs of data are also likely to gather early benefits from 5G rollouts. Dell Technologies notes that 5G networks’ support for more IoT sensors in a given area could enable improvements in agriculture by monitoring precise environmental conditions. Similarly, improvements in operational technology on a 5G network could allow for real-time data transfer in the manufacturing industry. 

What are the best business internet service providers for 5G?

As 5G continues to rollout across the country and the internet field shifts, businesses should evaluate who they use for internet service. Knowing what the best business internet services are can save a business time and money while increasing productivity and reliability. 

At this time, businesses have limited options when it comes to deploying 5G business networks. However, the following three providers all offer 5G business networks that can be reliable and cost-efficient for businesses to consider. Additionally, 5G business networks offer increased set up flexibility by allowing for plug-and-play routers, which require no drilling or wired connections. 

Verizon

We have previously identified Verizon Business Internet as the best service provider for brick-and-mortar businesses. Verizon offers three 5G tiers for businesses.

• For small to medium-sized businesses, a 100 Mbps plan at $69 per month
• For enhanced video conferencing and webinar hosting, a 200 Mbps plan at $99 per month
• For heavy cloud app usage and advanced devices, a 400 Mbps plan at $199 per month

Verizon also offers built-in security for its internet and offers professional installation and set-up for any networks and devices. 

Read our full review of Verizon Business Internet.

AT&T

We have previously identified AT&T Business Internet as the best service for digital entrepreneurs. AT&T offers two 5G tiers for businesses: a $60 Internet Air for Business Standard plan as well as a $100 Internet Air for Business Premium plan. Neither plan guarantees certain speeds, although they both offer no data caps. The premium plan also offers a higher level of data priority for the first 250GB of data transmitted through the network. 

Read our full review of AT&T Business Internet.

T-Mobile

T-Mobile also offers a 5G internet for business plan. T-Mobile offers a single, $40 per month plan for businesses. Like AT&T, T-Mobile cannot guarantee certain speeds. However, T-Mobile does offer a free 15-day trial period to test out the internet plan. Additionally, T-Mobile offers businesses the ability to use the latest Wi-Fi 6 technology through its provided 5G router.

5G going forward

5G is already more than just a buzzword, with 5G-capable devices increasingly being produced and purchased by individual consumers and businesses alike. While 5G’s rollout is no longer new, the greater benefits of its adoption are still in the future. Increased infrastructure, and new devices, will better allow businesses to access its speeds while reducing network latency to near zero. 

This will become even more apparent as major projects using 5G, such as smart cities and self-driving cars, are further rolled out. In the meantime, small businesses will continue to reap the flexible benefits 5G offers, including better cloud syncing, flexible work arrangements, smart sensor deployment, and more. 

Derek Walter contributed to this article.