5G outputs a much higher frequency signal than 4G does, this has the benefit of allowing a much higher bandwidth (which means faster internet speeds). However, this same change means that the 5G signal degrades across a shorter distance & has less penetrating power as compared to 4G. The solution for this is for telecoms to install a lot of 5G antennas across a given area. Where before a city center might have 1 cell tower, with 5G you might have a 5G cell on each street corner & they'd all connect back to 1 central node.
Telecoms are still building this network of 5G cells so the coverage is pretty bad right now.
Why are people excited for it?
The higher speeds mean that you not only could do more on your phone, but it also supports more users in a given area, so in congested areas like arenas or convention centers each user will have more bandwidth & can do more things.
It also allows for very high speed at home internet (so instead of paying your local ISP a ton of money for a crappy connection, you could pay a wireless vendor to provide you with a wireless solution). This is less important in big cities, but is a huge deal for rural customers who might be stuck on near dialup connections.
Warlock_Ben t1_iti8wuc wrote
Reply to comment by Avalanche2 in The cloud and 5G security apocalypse is only a matter of time, say cybersecurity experts. Western companies that have switched from Huawei for 5G have made choices that are even more vulnerable to hacking. by lughnasadh
I'll try to answer your questions