If a company wanted to set up a private wireless network at a facility, office building, logistics centre, or similar location, its options were usually restricted to Wi-Fi or proprietary network technology.
Regular private networks, such as previous 3G networks, were sufficient for connecting laptops to the Internet and other modest industrial IoT use cases. However, the coverage and security restrictions of these networks, as well as their incompatibility with public cellular networks and expensive continuous operation expenses have made it impossible for businesses to employ them for many IoT applications. That is why most businesses look at a private 5g network as a universal modern solution.
What is a private 5G network?
Let’s start by defining what these private networks are. A private 5G network is one that is used for a specific organisation within a specific location. It is based on the concept of a standalone mobile operator, complete with its own infrastructure, management, and base stations.
When you look at any cellphone operator’s standard network, you’ll notice one key element. Even within a single street, internet speeds differ. It is dependent on a number of factors.
For example, if many users gather in one place, the Internet speed immediately drops.
- For non-corporate users, this feature is not as critical as for companies.
- For many organisations, stable Internet performance, speed, and other indicators of connection quality and reliability are very stringent requirements, as most internal processes are built on them.
However, at this point, you may have a question about whether it is better to use Wi-Fi. Let’s look at the differences between these two types of networks.
Wi-Fi vs Private 5G Network: What’s the Difference?
The private 5G network is built in the same way as the public network of the mobile operator. However, the private networks have geographical limitations because it is formed for a specific object like Wi-Fi networks. However, a private 5G network will work even if the factories of one company are far from each other. After all, at each site, local network construction is carried out and then integrated into a single system through the internal infrastructure of the mobile operator.
If we talk about the main differences between Wi-Fi and private 5G networks, then it is worth highlighting the following features:
- high standards of network protection;
- the client can set the settings, can withstand a load of more users than Wi-Fi;
- an effective range within one access point is much longer than Wi-Fi;
- Private 5G network provides better wireless coverage not only in large geographical areas but also underground, inside facilities.
Why use 5G mobile technology to deploy a private network?
5G mobile private networks outperform existing radio technologies (VHF, MSRP, digital radio, and TETRA) and enable more use cases, and 5G excels in dense multi-cell/multi-access point environments.
Mobile networks were created to handle multiple radio cells and ensure smooth transfers between cells. 5G extends this principle to multiple radio layers, with large radio cells providing coverage and small cells providing capacity in hotspots, including the ability to shift traffic between layers as connectivity evolves devices and traffic flows.
Cell transfers are clearly essential for mobile devices. They also help stationary devices in multi-access point environments by providing resilience against access point failures and adapting to reconfigurations and changing traffic patterns.
Security in 5G private mobile networks
As you already know, the private network is based on a SIM card. The SIM card provides a secure means of authenticating devices to networks, all inside a removable “secure element” that is easily transferable between mobile devices. However, the private 5g network uses cryptographic techniques for security, making such networks much stronger than just a user ID and password.
For example, electronic SIM cards, also known as eSIM, embed the security features of the SIM card into the “neural core” inside the device’s SoC to take up less space and reduce the cost of the devices.
Also, eSIM has a very significant advantage – ease of management. For users, instead of replacing SIM cards, the SIM card profile information can be securely overwritten remotely using the mobile network. eSIMs are especially useful in IoT devices. It is this advantage that is the most important for those who create a private 5g network for systems with IoT.
Now, 5G mobile networks have evolved and become very secure. For example, all data sent to or from an individual mobile device is independently “tunnelled”. Mobile network users have no visibility of each other or the network. Thus, the data remains private, and the network is protected from any intrusion.
The evolution toward private 5G
Facing the challenges of growing demand for connectivity from various industry segments, the next-generation core network by UCtel will address a wide range of business solutions to enhance existing connectivity services.
Many access technologies will need to be connected and distributed to a wide range of services to carry traffic through a safe, reliable, and secure communication network within restrictive data rate, latency, or speed specifications.
5G generally makes the most sense for new private network deployments because it maximises capacity and increases spectrum options.
Benefits of Private 5G Networks for Companies
So, if you are interested in the advantages of private networks for businesses and factories, then the main thing – is the reliability and security of data transmission. It is important that high speed is maintained and delays are kept to a minimum. Only UCtel’s Private 5G network is able to solve these problems in full. They have high resistance to interference, a high level of security, and good signal patency indoors and outdoors.
If your company uses this option, the digital network is stable and controlled, and any data can be securely transmitted. With UCtel’s private 5g networks within the enterprise, it is possible to use any tools for modern management and not worry about possible interference. Such special options include video monitoring, voice communication, robotics, remote control, virtual and augmented reality.
