5G Networks, as Explained Using a Coffee Shop Metaphor (Plus Everything Else You Should Know)

5G explained using a coffee shop metaphor

Coffee shops. At this point, you can’t live without them. But coffee shops in cities look different from coffee shops in suburban areas.

In the ‘burbs, you’ve got your big coffee shops. You know, the ones with couches, lounge chairs, community tables, and plenty of those precious outlets. So spacious, so cozy, so familiar.

The catch: they’re not close. If there was a cappuccino at the end of every cul de sac we’d all be better off, but alas, we must take our cars some distance to get to the local coffee shop.

In cities, there are coffee shops on every corner. They’re always in walking distance, and they match the fast-paced lifestyle of a city-dweller. They’re designed not to provide space and comfort — like our suburban shops — but to enable consumers to get in and get out.

Okay, let’s break it down.

Your coffee is your data, bouncing back and forth between your workplace and the coffee shop. The roads are the spectrum, or the wireless waves carrying your data between your device (or workplace) and the cellular access points (the coffee shops). Big coffee shops are your cell towers — those big metal structures that can connect an entire urban area — that transmit 4G. Small coffee shops are small cells, or smoke alarm-sized cellular access points, that are…