Commentary: Remote surgery or driverless cars isn't 5G's "killer app." Right now, the most compelling 5G benefit is that it's finally giving cable companies a fight.
By Eli Blumenthal
Over the last five years there has been, and to an extent continues to be, plenty of hype about what 5G will do. Driverless cars, remote surgery, the metaverse -- all buzzwords that have yet to materialize in any real way.
One area where it has noticeably helped change our lives? It finally provides some long-overdue competition to cable companies for home broadband. I've been exploring whether 5G and technologies like it (known as "fixed wireless") could replace traditional home broadband over the past year, testing out midband solutions from Verizon and T-Mobile, as well as millimeter-wave options like Honest Networks.