Since the promotion of 5G, everyone knows a fact, that is, compared with 4G, since 5G uses a higher frequency of electromagnetic waves, it attenuates faster and the distance between base stations is shorter.
But many people are not clear about how short it is. Some say it is 500m, some say it is 300m, and some say it can reach 1KM. Some people even say that if the 700MHz of radio and television is used for construction, it can reach 10KM.
How far can 5G base stations cover?
In fact, there is no standard answer to this question. It depends on the frequency of use, the population of the covered area, and the main usage scenarios of the covered area.
In the specific rules, the network speed of the most marginal area covered by the base station is generally considered, that is, the farthest area covered by a base station, whether its network speed and latency can meet the usage requirements of the main scenarios.
For example, the current 5G mainly meets the needs of mobile phone users. If it is in an urban area, users in the most marginal area covered by the base station can achieve 50M downlink, 2Mbp uplink, and a latency of 50ms. In the high-traffic area, that is, the hot spot center of the city, it is necessary to plan according to 100Mbps downlink, 5Mbps uplink, and 50ms latency.
In fact, the current 5G base station spacing standards of the three major operators are roughly planned according to 450M in densely populated cities, 700M in urban areas, 1.3KM in suburbs, and 1.5KM-2KM in rural areas.
Then, in the specific use process, the spacing will be appropriately adjusted according to the user’s call volume and user usage, and even the capacity of the base station will be adjusted to meet user needs. It is not static.
At the same time, in the construction of base stations, low-frequency 5G base stations will even be used for large-scale coverage, such as 700MHz signals, one station every 10KM, and then high-frequency 5G base stations will be used in hot spots to cover a small area to ensure the use effect.
From above explanation, the distance of a 5G base station does not necessarily follow the frequency. The real calculation method is based on indicators such as the network speed and latency in the outermost areas covered by the base station. It is different in different scenarios and places.
