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5G Throughput Estimate Calculator

Work out 5g throughput estimate instantly with clear inputs, formula shown and shareable results.

About 5G Throughput Estimate Calculator

5G NR throughput is resource elements per second multiplied by bits per symbol, MIMO layers and code rate, less control and reference-signal overhead of roughly 14 percent. With 30 kHz subcarrier spacing, a 100 MHz channel carries about 3,000 subcarriers and 14 symbols per slot at 1,000 slots per second, which is why 100 MHz with four layers of 256-QAM reaches the high hundreds of Mbps.

Formula

NR throughput

subcarriers = bandwidth x 0.9 / subcarrier spacing; throughput = subcarriers x 14000 x bits per symbol x layers x code rate x 0.86

Worked example

With the default values below, 5G Throughput Estimate Calculator returns Peak downlink throughput of 982. Change any input above and every figure here is recalculated in your browser.

Inputs used

Channel bandwidthaccepts 5–400 MHz
100 MHz
MIMO layersaccepts 1–8
4
Modulationone of QPSK (2 bits/symbol), 16-QAM (4), 64-QAM (6), 256-QAM (8)
256-QAM (8)
Code rateaccepts 0.1–0.95
0.85

Results

Peak downlink throughput
982 Mbps
Spectral efficiency
9.82 bps/Hz
Resource elements per second
42,000,000
Bits per modulation symbol
8

Step by step

  1. 1Values used
  2. 2NR throughput
  3. 3Peak downlink throughput= 982 Mbps
  4. 4Spectral efficiency= 9.82 bps/Hz
  5. 5Resource elements per second= 42,000,000
  6. 6Bits per modulation symbol= 8

Assumptions and limits

  • The result is derived only from the 4 inputs listed above. Anything not among them is not part of the calculation.
  • In particular, this calculator does not take inflation, tax, fees or charges or compounding frequency into account.
  • Figures are rounded for display to 2 decimal places, so totals built from several rounded parts can differ slightly from the unrounded arithmetic.

How these calculators are built and tested is described on the Methodology page. If a figure looks wrong, please report it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is real-world 5G much slower than this?

This is the peak for a single user with the whole channel, ideal signal quality and full MIMO rank. Real cells share capacity among users and rarely sustain the highest modulation.

What does mmWave change?

Far more bandwidth — 400 MHz or more per carrier — which multiplies throughput, at the cost of very short range and poor penetration.

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