Some 5G users think the technology has been overhyped, fail to notice speed improvements

[Steveb8189]

I'm pretty happy. At home in the UK 272 Mbps down and 21 Mbps up. Unlimited data connection for £26 / month.

My only gripe is it doesn't work so well on the move and I often switch back to 4G for a more stable connection.

 

[NumberSix]

I regularly see speeds of 600Mb/s in the UK (no mmWave here) and I live in a rural area.

The speeds have not changed things a great deal for me, you just don't notice in everyday use but the extra capacity of 5G has. When you have a 5G connection you always have data when in a crowded area, you never see that full signal strength but nothing happening you get with 4G when the cell is flooded.

 

[Ludak021]

"it's expected to be the dominant network with 4.4 billion users by 2027"

That's very optimistic, or better yet - unrealistic. Out of 7 billion mobile phone users, 5 billion don't have any kind of internet or a phone able to connect to anything faster than 3G.
How realistic is 5G in east Asia or Africa (these two regions are over 5 billion mobile phone users)? 5G tower covering ~200 meters in radius, in Africa? Sounds like a huge waste of time and resources.

 

[incan sun]

If 5G were not rolled out LTE would be overloaded and unusable.

As a former telcom engineer here's the technical scoop. 5G has 2X better spectral efficiency than LTE, so can provide either twice the performance or twice the capacity in same wide of spectrum. On lower bands it's tuned to double the capacity, can add twice as many devices at same performance as LTE.

On higher bands, 5G is part of the reason for higher performance but it's also because the spectrum is so wide compared to lower bands, able to more easily deliver well over 100Mbps even with many users on same cellsite. Especially needed for fixed wireless access (home internet).

5G was hyped incorrectly but we need it. Yeah it may not be any faster than LTE at times but if no 5G, LTE may be overloaded and unusable by now.

 

[incan sun]

I honestly don't notice any difference. Neither does speed test. I think the only way you will see much of a difference is with 5 bars and standing under a tower.

If 5G were not rolled out then LTE would be overloaded as more devices are added and more users streaming video. So having 5G at same LTE speeds is better than LTE becoming unusable.

5G is also about capacity, not just performance. But you can't market capacity.

 

[passwordistaco]

I agree with you on the mobile aspect of 5G. I think the biggest potential capability of 5G is the replacement of cable or other ground based internet for the home. Of course, 5G was in the media hype before Starlink was around, and the articles that were actually worth paying attention to would mention how 5G could break some of the monopolistic hold on parts of the internet infrastructure, provided that the coverage issue could be solved. It remains to be seen how 5G and satellite based internet compete with each other in that space, but either way I see hope for those with horrible ISPs.

TMo and Verizon keep advertising home 5G service, but every time I check, it's "not available". My phone gets 5G, but apparently a stationary device can't.

 

[incan sun]

TMo and Verizon keep advertising home 5G service, but every time I check, it's "not available". My phone gets 5G, but apparently a stationary device can't.

Verizon and Tmo are taking a measured approach. Tmo is first come first service based on how much load on your nearest cellsite, only a certain number of users will be allowed per site so your neighbor could get it before you if they signed up before you. Verizon is based on how much capacity per site to allow for up to 500Mbps, which is what they market.

 

[Toju Mikie]

I can definitely say that 5g has been a life changer for me, especially with those upload speeds on mid-band with T-Mobile.

If you want to live stream in 4K or view videos in 4K, upload or download large files from your phone quickly, game on the go, even record 8K videos and put them in the cloud, 5G is there for you. It's amazing that I can do all this from a phone and not have to worry about "watching my file transfers" anymore. Just start the upload or download, put my phone in my pocket and do other things while it transfers. I can really get rid of my cable internet service but the double NAT issue with the 5G home routers will be a problem for me. I don't really do much online gaming but when I do, I want it to work smoothly.

 

[dalpilot]

I don't notice (except with large uploads or downloads) any difference between the Gigabit speed (both up and down) speed at my office versus the 100 Mbit speed at home. Even for streaming services once the initial cache has gotten enough of a movie on my PC there is no difference for streaming either. If I don't notice a ten fold difference on my PC why would I notice much of a difference on my phone (5G (especially sub 6 bands)) except that there is more reliability and more widespread coverage. So, 5G has been essentially a non-event for smartphone users.