As 5G is moving in to it’s fifth generation chipset with the Qualcomm SDX8x series 3GPP Rel-18 compliant architecture, a question of the network side of 5G still lingers among many of our customers. We have already covered what 5G RedCap (NR-Light) is, it’s pros and cons and what it will mean for the future of IoT connectivity, but for the attentive reader one thing stands out: it requires 5G SA. And in reality, a lot of the promises of a future with 5G evolves around this technology, namely a complete 5G network, from the core (datacenter) to the RAN (base station) and everything in between being 5G.
In this post we will dive in to some of the so called options in 5G networking, the multitude of abbreviations, as well as the differences in technology.
5G Networking – Non-Standalone vs Standalone 5G New Radio
LTE Networking
Let’s start by taking a step back and look at LTE (4G) networking. The so-called Option 1 consists of an Evolved Packet Core (EPC – the 4G core network) and eNodeB (eNB – 4G cellular base stations). It can be defined as an SA option as it utilizes 4G from backend to frontend, and as long as you have a 4G LTE capable device you can connect to the network and use it’s functions as we’ve all come to know it.
Simplified picure of LTE Networking
5G networking
Non-Standalone
When looking at 5G networking, things quickly became more complex. As previously mentioned 5G NSA was introduced as a way to ease the burden on the operators when deploying 5G base stations, by utilizing part of the existing 4G network already in place. The most popular approach to this dual-networking is called Option 3 with it’s abbreviation EN-DC (E-UTRA-New Radio Dual-Connectivity – IE 4G and 5G dual-mode).
Worth noting is that Option 3 in turn contains 3 sub-options 3, 3a and 3x. Most of which are available in eMBB (high-speed) 5G modules today, but notably not in RedCap.
By using NSA the modules and network uses some intelligence to know when to utilize the 5G side of the network, vs the 4G side of the same. This has been around for quite a while now, and we are starting to see 5G SA investments increasing globally.
Simplified picture of 3x, as we can see here, the 4G core of the network is connected with both an LTE eNB and 5G gNB (base station).
Simplified picture of NSA
Standalone
5G SA is the final step in the migration to 5G networks, where you switch the core of the network itself to 5G so that it acts as option 1 but with 5G, now called option 2. Don’t get us wrong, it’s nowhere near as easy as “remove this and replace with that” but in an overly simplified manner it now looks like the picture below.
Simplified picure of 5G SA
The options a module can work with are typically outlined in the datasheet or hardware guide. As mentioned above however, most new eMBB (high-speed) 5G modules can use both 5G NSA (typically ENDC Option 3/3a/3x) and 5G SA (Option 2) + LTE fallback (Option 1).
If you want to learn more about Standalone deployments, Ookla and Omdia has released a report with information on the current state of deployments: https://www.ookla.com/articles/europe-5gsa-2025
