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In some ways, using your mobile device or wireless network is like driving your car.

You dont need to be an engineer to appreciate a reliable, high-performance automobile. What matters is that it works the way you want it to, when you want it to. That said, understanding whats going on under the hood can help you see the differences between makes and models and get new insight into that reliable ride.

The same can be said of wireless networksunderstanding whats going on under the hood can help shed light on what drives performance and reliability. And that matters to everyone.

Verizon offered a glimpse under the hood in late 2022 when it announced that it was starting to move commercial traffic to its 5G corea key component of the networkwhich features an all-new design that could support standalone and non-standalone 5G, among other advanced technologies. Thats an exciting leap forward, but what do those things really mean, and why do they matter for businesses and consumers?

When thinking about 5G SA technology, it helps to think about the radio access network (RAN), which is the part of the network that wirelessly receives and transmits data from and to devices (like your mobile phone or tablet), and the core, which is the back-end system that then connects to the wider world of the internet, and provides access to computing and workload capabilities.

When 5G first started rolling out around 2018, it was typically built with a 5G radio access network that used a 4G core. This meant 5G could be rolled out without the creation of completely new network infrastructure while still providing higher speeds and improved reliability. This approach is called 5G non-standalone (NSA), and it was a necessary intermediate step as the world transitioned from 4G to 5G.

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5G standalone: What it is and why it matters for businesses and ... - Verizon