GuideWireless & IoT · 6 min
What is private 5G, and when does it beat Wi-Fi?
Private 5G is your own cellular network on your site. It can beat Wi-Fi in big spaces, with moving machines and many devices, but not where Wi-Fi already works.
The Clectiv team ·
Private 5G is a cellular network that only you use. It's the same kind of technology as a carrier's network, built on your plant or campus. It doesn't replace Wi-Fi everywhere, so here's how to tell where it earns its place.
What is private 5G, and what is CBRS?#
Private 5G is your own cellular network, on your site, for your devices only. It uses the same kind of technology as a phone carrier's network. Radios on your plant or campus connect devices that carry a SIM or eSIM, and nobody outside your company can join.
You decide who connects and which traffic comes first. That control is the point.
CBRS is one way to get the airwaves. The radio frequencies a network runs on are called spectrum.
CBRS, the Citizens Broadband Radio Service, is US spectrum shared with other users and set aside so businesses can run their own cellular networks. Private 5G can also run on spectrum a carrier brings.
| What | Wi-Fi | Private 5G |
|---|---|---|
| Built around | Access points that laptops and phones join | Cells that hand a moving device from one to the next |
| Devices connect with | A Wi-Fi radio and a password | A cellular radio and a SIM or eSIM |
| Frequencies | Open bands that anyone can use | Managed bands, such as CBRS or a carrier's |
Before you call anyone#
Bring the site to Clectiv AI, not to a carrier's private network team. Then Clectiv AI runs the process and bids it out to the providers that fit, they compete, and you choose the one you want. Call a carrier first and you get a private network proposal, whether the site needs one or not.
Where does private 5G beat Wi-Fi, and where doesn't it?#
It tends to win where Wi-Fi struggles. Three situations come up:
- Big or open spaces. A yard, a port or a plant floor takes many access points, and each one is another thing to run.
- Moving machines. A forklift or an automated cart crosses from one access point to the next all day, and each handoff can drop the connection.
- Thousands of devices. Sensors and tools in one place, all needing a dependable link.
It doesn't win where Wi-Fi already works. An office floor of laptops is a Wi-Fi job. Devices that only speak Wi-Fi need cellular hardware before private 5G can serve them.
You don't have to pick one. A site can run Wi-Fi for people and private 5G for machines. Describe the site with Clectiv AI, and the plan decides which parts get which.
Even where Wi-Fi is the answer, someone has to run it. Meter sells managed Wi-Fi, which means the provider designs, installs and operates the network for you. We work with all of them in wireless and IoT, and Clectiv AI runs the process for you: start a project.
Skip the learning curve. Clectiv AI runs the process we ran for others in your seat, so you start where they ended up. These providers get the plan straight from it, and you get the best pricing, terms and contract we can.
Who builds and runs it, and how is it priced?#
Carriers sell private networks as a service. AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile each sell private cellular networks. Those names are a sample of our wireless and IoT providers, and Clectiv AI runs the process with them for you: start a project.
Ask who designs yours, who installs the radios, and who's on call when it fails.
A pop-up or temporary site may need neither. Fixed wireless access (FWA) brings 5G internet to the building over the air, with no cable to lay.
Pricing comes in a few units: a monthly fee per site, a fee per device or SIM, or a build cost plus a monthly run fee. The number moves with:
- Site size, indoors and outdoors, and how many radios cover it.
- Device count, and how many need a cellular radio added.
- Airwaves: CBRS, or a carrier's own.
- Uptime promised, and what the provider owes you when it's missed.
- Where the network's software runs: on your site, or in the provider's cloud.
- Term.
Common questions#
What is CBRS?#
Does private 5G replace Wi-Fi?#
Do our devices need new hardware for private 5G?#
Is private 5G the same as a carrier's public 5G?#
How is private 5G priced?#
How does Clectiv AI get this done?#
Clectiv AI comes first. Tell it about the site and what has to connect. It scopes the project with you and writes your plan: what devices are out there, where Wi-Fi falls short, who manages the network, and what the rollout looks like.
Then the Clectiv team takes your plan to the private network and managed Wi-Fi providers that fit, all at once, through our partner network of 620+ providers. They compete bid for bid, the team pushes on terms, and you choose the one that suits you.
Others have already done this. Clectiv AI runs the process we ran for them, so you start where they left off. From there, the providers that fit get the plan directly, for the best pricing, terms and contract we can get.
It's free to you, start to finish, and it runs in days, not months. The rest of what we source in wireless and IoT is on the wireless and IoT page.
Thousands of devices to run once they're online? Read how to manage an IoT fleet.
Sources and method. No prices appear in this guide, and no coverage, speed or cost figures either. CBRS is the Citizens Broadband Radio Service, a US shared-spectrum band, defined in the text. Provider names are examples of who sells private networks and managed Wi-Fi, from Clectiv's provider directory, not a ranking.