[pottertheotter]

The thing that is confusing is two things are wrapped up together as "5G": (a) the actual 5G standards, and (b) the spectrum that is used. To add to the confusion, (b) is composed of frequency and bandwidth, and those are often different both between and within countries.

For instance, one of the biggest benefits of 5G is that channels (bandwidth) can be much wider, and several can be stacked together, which means more data can be transferred. But even though that can be done, there may not be enough spectrum at a specific frequency to be able to take advantage of that.

Then the high-band (millimeter wave) can have even more channels than the low- and mid-band 5G. But high-band doesn't travel far and it doesn't penetrate walls well.

If you want a good primer on it that is accessible, I recommend the regularly updated "What Is 5G?" article from Sascha Segan at PCMag.[1] I think he's the best journalist writing about 5G.

[1] https://www.pcmag.com/news/what-is-5g