4G is over-congested and 5G is the solution – Opensignal

Network monitoring outfit Opensignal has published its latest global report, which concludes congestion is messing with the 4G user experience.

In some countries the 4G download user speeds experienced by consumers can vary by 30 Mbps over the course of the day thanks to network congestion. European countries seems to be the best at dealing with this congestion, with the US in the middle and some Asian countries struggling. Globally, peak traffic speeds are around have the level of the quietest times.

“To launch all the most demanding new applications, such as augmented reality or autonomous driving, operators and app developers must be able to break free from today’s limitations where they are forced to create services and apps for the worst-case congestion conditions,” concludes the report. “The world needs new 5G networks to offer increased capacity, and more consistent speeds to sustain new innovations.”

It also notes that 5G is best suited to cities because of the shorter range of the higher frequencies, which is handy because that’s where the worst of the congestion is. Here’s a handy chart showing the speed ranges experienced by country. Looks like Belarus could do with a bit of 5G magic.