What are 5G's two deployment modes and headline specs?

5G comes in two modes, Stand-Alone and Non-Stand-Alone, with theoretical speeds up to 20 Gbit/s and latency under 1 ms.

Two 5G deployment modes:

• Non-Stand-Alone (NSA): 5G radio access paired with an existing 4G core network. This is how most operators launched 5G initially, faster to deploy since you reuse the LTE backbone.
• Stand-Alone (SA): Full 5G radio and 5G core network. This unlocks the full potential including network slicing and ultra-low latency.

5G headline specs:

• Data rates: up to 20 Gbit/s downlink (5G Advanced: up 10 Gbit/s, down 20 Gbit/s).
• Latency: under 1 millisecond. That's 10x better than LTE.
• Uses higher frequency bands: mmWave (millimeter wave), enabling massive bandwidth but shorter range.
• Enhanced MIMO with many more antennas (massive MIMO).
• Greater frequency capacity and throughput.
• Real-time transmission capability.

Why sub-1ms latency matters: This isn't about faster web browsing. It enables entirely new use cases: remote surgery, autonomous vehicles communicating with each other, industrial robotics, and augmented reality. These applications need the network to respond faster than a human can blink.

Go deeper:

• 5G NR (Wikipedia) — the New Radio air interface, including a clear breakdown of NSA vs SA deployment.