5G Beats WiFi

5G (cellular data) generally beats WiFi. That is my conclusion after the recent travels in Asia and North America. Public WiFi has aged. In most places it has probably stayed at the 802.11g (50Mbps) while 5G is typically 5-10x faster. On top of that the WiFi backhaul in many places is slow too. And very often has many restrictions.

Of course 5G costs (some) money and WiFi is theoretically free. But then you probably remember that meme where "no internet" and "fast internet" are smiley while "slow internet" is the angry face. Which is very true.

Speaking of WiFi restrictions - some are well known and kind of obvious (like Google services being blocked in China), so for a westerner entirely reliant on GMail, Google Maps, etc., a roaming eSIM data plan is probably a must. Also WiFi is probably the only technology thing in China which is universally bad. Budget hotels, premium hotels, factories, offices - all are slow (and restricted). 5G on the other hand is a rocket, I was uploading 4k/60fps videos over 5G while riding a 350km/h train. Jaw-dropping.

There are also unexpected restrictions. For example you cannot stream a TV program to a tablet in a Lufthansa airport lounge in Germany. Of course this typically does not work due to regional restrictions. But then even over a VPN, the stream does not go through (how do they do it? and why?). I usually end up buying a 5G eSIM plan if I want to watch a game of tennis or an F1 race during a flight layover. 

And then you always have to go through the "captive portal" to "go online" when using public WiFi. Why is that even for free WiFi services and why 5G eSIMs never require that?

I have also seen people using cellular during flights. Of course that would not work over an ocean, but have seen people ignoring the flight mode rules and connecting successfully over mobile data. Being old fashioned, I typically do not use Internet when flying but the younger generations just cannot do without cat videos.