Why are there 5G Gateway and Routers?

5G Gateway: Why Are There Cellular Routers and Gateways?

What’s the Use of Cellular Routers and Gateways? 

The first question most people ask when the topic of a “5G Gateway” comes up is why would anyone need cellular routers and gateways? What many people don’t know is that cellular routers and gateways could be useful as a backup mechanism in case your landline internet goes down.

That’s why I first thought of this blog. During the COVID-19 Pandemic, everyone on my street was working from home, kids were “going to school” on the internet, and one day,  poof, the internet went down. Sheer panic, right? What does everyone do? I heard screaming for sure. Then soon everyone goes outside to see if anyone else is having the same problem, and before you knew it, the whole street was outside (6 feet away from each other, of course)! Yes, we felt good it wasn’t just us, but it was good the internet came back on soon enough. Some people, though, just used their 4G/LTE phone as a hotspot and kept going…

Why You Should Consider the 5G Gateway Router

But there could be another use for a 5G gateway router – there is WiFi, and the data needs to go out on a cellular network. This could be because some IoT data needs to be transmitted, or because it’s more secure going on a cellular network. There are numerous use cases where a cellular to Wi-Fi router/gateway could be useful.

The Future of 5G Gateway Connectivity

5G is coming, and just like Wi-Fi 6 (which I wrote about a month and a half ago), you’ll need devices and networks that support 5G to take advantage of it. A 5G gateway offers improvements compared to previous generations, the most recent being 4G networks, and significantly improves the download speeds, reduces congestion on mobile networks, and will likely eliminate latency altogether. So if you have 5G service in your area, it could be an option worth considering when deciding how to get internet to your house. It could be the primary method, or maybe cellular routers and gateways could be a good backup method if you tend to have spotty landline service.  In this case, a 5G to Wi-Fi router might make sense as a last mile option. And like I said above, it could work the other way around to get local Wi-Fi information back out. It’s easy to hold wifi and 5G gateway methods of connectivity up next to one another to compare them, but for the foreseeable future, the best option will likely be to utilize both as you traverse the ever evolving technological landscape to take full advantage of speed and avoid inevitable situations where one may not be performing up to par.

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