Side-by-side comparison of AETHER's mesh against 4G LTE and 5G NR on latency, throughput, coverage, resilience, privacy, cost, and crypto.
| Dimension | 4G LTE | 5G NR | AETHER Mesh |
|---|---|---|---|
| Latency (median) | 30–80 ms | 20–50 ms | 8–22 ms LAN, 40–120 ms global |
| Throughput | 100 Mbps – 1 Gbps | 1–20 Gbps | 200 Mbps – 5 Gbps aggregated |
| Coverage | Tower-bound | Tower-bound | Anywhere ≥2 devices exist |
| Infrastructure | Heavy CAPEX | Heavy CAPEX | Zero — devices are the network |
| Disaster resilience | Fails with grid | Fails with grid | Self-heals, offline-capable |
| Privacy | Operator-visible | Operator-visible | Onion-routed, ZK-verified |
| Cost per user / mo | $20–$80 | $30–$120 | $0 + earned credits |
| Crypto | AES-128 | 256-bit | Post-quantum (Kyber + Dilithium) |