How can I find out whether my plan, my provider and my location support 5G – and what are the key requirements for routers and antennas?

Whether 5G can be used effectively in your application depends essentially on four factors:

1. Your location must have actual 5G coverage – not just on the network map, but in the specific installation environment

2. Your tariff and SIM must be enabled for 5G

3. The router must support the required 5G standards and frequency bands

4. The antenna configuration must be suitable for the application

It is particularly worth taking a closer look at the antennas:

For full 5G capability and maximum performance, you should generally plan for four antennas. This is particularly important when high data rates, challenging radio conditions or the need for the most stable connection possible are the priority.

In simpler applications, two antennas may suffice, though this usually comes with limitations in terms of performance and capacity.

The number and quality of the antennas therefore have a direct influence on how much of the theoretically possible 5G performance is actually usable at the site.

For industrial applications, we generally recommend the use of M2M SIM cards, as these are designed for long-term operation and higher resilience.