What Is 5G, Exactly? 5G is a term used to describe the forthcoming fifth generation of mobile network technology. Right now, it doesn't signify any particular type of technology. While 4G has become synonymous with LTE, there's been no publicly agreed upon standard for 5G networks. However, a couple of likely technologies are emerging. 5G networks will use a type of encoding called OFDM ( Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing ) , which is similar to the encoding that LTE uses. The air interface will be designed for much lower latency and greater flexibility than LTE, though. The Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance defines the following requirements for 5G networks: Data rates of tens of megabits per second for tens of thousands of users 1 Gb per second simultaneously to many workers on the same office floor Several hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections for massive wireless sensor network Spectral efficiency signifi...