How significant is cellular 5G vs 4G in daily use-case?

[TukangUsapEmenq]

Well, we know 5G are getting widespread nowadays that phones (even the low-range ones) already released with them. I'm just wondering, as the same as the title, since if I have to say myself, I actually satisfied enough with my 4G on my country (despite it's 60 ms ping average, 30-40 Mbps speed average, at least on my phone) that I can do anything without much hassle. Phones with 5G support, obviously, are more expensive, and I plan to replace my daily driver later on, but still considering how significant it is the difference that I want to read from you guys that actually already use it, in your daily use-case, so perhaps I could invest more for future-proofing, or simply get a LTE phone and save the money for another things. Is it life-changing enough to put the expense more just for the... Additional battery drain (lol)?

 

Thanks in advance.

[bmx6454]

for me the speed difference is worth it for my uses, but 5g coverage is widely available and very good in my area. if 5g coverage is very spotty in your area, i don't personally see it being worth getting at the moment.

[Origami Cactus]

Haven't used 5g yet, can't find it in any country I have been to.

But 5g millimeter waves would make a really big difference in latency and speed for home network, over current 4g routers.

[Montana One-Six]

Depends on what you are doing with your phone. I didn't even notice the switch from HSPA to 4G to be honest because I only use my phone for texting and navigation (maybe reading the news once in a while) when on the go.

[Tamesh16]

I got 5G last year and ever since, its very easy to use up alot of data but I hardly use much regularly.

I mostly use my data for google maps or replying to messages. 

I don't think there is much battery drain, I live in a major city so I have 5G most of the time and It doesn't drain alot but then again I dont use a lot of data so Maybe that would explain it.

[TetraSky]

I'd say not significant enough just yet to be worth it.

If you can still get a 4G phone that's cheaper than its 5G equivalent, I'd do that. But it's a bit hard in NA, unless you order on Amazon.

 

Personally, nearly everywhere I go has Wifi, so I haven't needed an expensive phone data plan. I don't use my phone in between places.

I literally only have 250MB (yes, that's a M), never busted it. So I can live perfectly fine with my 3G, 4G or whatever G my phone is on (says LTE+ at the top).
My next phone, in hopefully a few years, will likely be 5G ready. But I'm quite happy with my 4G A52 from Latin America that has built-in Call Recording, unlike the NA 5G models that do not.

[volatus146]

I'm in Australia, me and my missus are with the big telco (Telstra), If you travel out bush, you dont have an option. you NEED to be with telstra. theyre the only company that has service in most country towns. We pay $130/mo just for the cell service, not including our two phones and signal booster which are another $150 a month.

Both of us have 5G capable phones (iphone 13, S21) but dont use it.

When we got the S21, we were living in a 5G coverage area (in the main city), the reception was spotty at best and quite slow. we've turned off 5G in software and still get a very respectable 200-320mbps on 4G, triple our home internet speed.

When 4G is providing me with speeds that high, I personally see no benefit to going to 5G, especially when the plans here cost more for 5G network access.

[Stormseeker9]

Most of the time I’m on 5G and do notice a bit slower response on the browser when it goes to 4G in less covered areas. 

id say on average I’m around 270-300/110 -140 with ~15ms ping

[TukangUsapEmenq]

On 4/24/2022 at 3:44 AM, bmx6454 said:

for me the speed difference is worth it for my uses, but 5g coverage is widely available and very good in my area. if 5g coverage is very spotty in your area, i don't personally see it being worth getting at the moment.

Yeah, it's limited in only few places yet unfortunately.

 

On 4/24/2022 at 4:06 AM, Origami Cactus said:

Haven't used 5g yet, can't find it in any country I have been to.

But 5g millimeter waves would make a really big difference in latency and speed for home network, over current 4g routers.

Oh, I'd agree with that one. I personally use a 4G 'router' (more like a 4G phone connected to a OpenWRT router) as it's actually cheaper than getting fiber here.

 

On 4/24/2022 at 9:28 PM, Montana One-Six said:

Depends on what you are doing with your phone. I didn't even notice the switch from HSPA to 4G to be honest because I only use my phone for texting and navigation (maybe reading the news once in a while) when on the go.

 

On 4/24/2022 at 9:52 PM, TetraSky said:

I'd say not significant enough just yet to be worth it.

If you can still get a 4G phone that's cheaper than its 5G equivalent, I'd do that. But it's a bit hard in NA, unless you order on Amazon.

 

Personally, nearly everywhere I go has Wifi, so I haven't needed an expensive phone data plan. I don't use my phone in between places.

I literally only have 250MB (yes, that's a M), never busted it. So I can live perfectly fine with my 3G, 4G or whatever G my phone is on (says LTE+ at the top).
My next phone, in hopefully a few years, will likely be 5G ready. But I'm quite happy with my 4G A52 from Latin America that has built-in Call Recording, unlike the NA 5G models that do not.

Boi, that 250 MB would be out on mine for like, an hour.

Lol I even plan to get A52 instead because it's like $70 cheaper than it's 5G successor.

 

On 4/25/2022 at 1:51 AM, Stormseeker9 said:

Most of the time I’m on 5G and do notice a bit slower response on the browser when it goes to 4G in less covered areas. 

id say on average I’m around 270-300/110 -140 with ~15ms ping

Ah, the latency's indeed decreasing then.

 

On 4/25/2022 at 12:07 AM, volatus146 said:

I'm in Australia, me and my missus are with the big telco (Telstra), If you travel out bush, you dont have an option. you NEED to be with telstra. theyre the only company that has service in most country towns. We pay $130/mo just for the cell service, not including our two phones and signal booster which are another $150 a month.

Both of us have 5G capable phones (iphone 13, S21) but dont use it.

When we got the S21, we were living in a 5G coverage area (in the main city), the reception was spotty at best and quite slow. we've turned off 5G in software and still get a very respectable 200-320mbps on 4G, triple our home internet speed.

When 4G is providing me with speeds that high, I personally see no benefit to going to 5G, especially when the plans here cost more for 5G network access.

Man, that sign really caught me. Trip that long would be really sucks without any kind of signal.

[RoseLuck462]

It's not noticeable for me and there's always a wifi source where I go anyway. 

 

I can understand 5G being the next step due to tech advancement but its still dumb.

[Mark Kaine]

It is very important so ppl can use their 2GB monthly contingent in 5 minutes instead of 10 minutes,  fast internet is super important for these few minutes every month, well worth the extra cost!

 

 

Actually, i miss 3G, anyone know where it went?

 

 

Spoiler

thanks to this thread i just switched to "2g" - which didn't work a couple of months ago, but now it does... and it really works... no big speed difference... actually it kinda feels websites load more "properly " less jumping around while loading..  TYSM!!! 

 

[Lurking]

I would investigate what 5G coverage in YOUR area now and will be in a few years. I suspect urban areas will be nearly 100% 5G soonish. I also suspect the providers want to avoid maintaining 2 systems and will disable 4G once they have reliable 5G in an area. Maybe they move the 4g hardware into rural areas not covered yet. Not sure if the FCC requires some years of future 4G service. but providers will want to shut it off asap after they spent money on 5G. Maintaining multiple systems is expensive. 

 

IIRC, they recently disabled 3G and many owners of fancy cars that relied on outdated 3G lost those abilities. 3G was sufficient for them and they didn't "need"4G. But I bet they wish they would have gotten a newer standard (car electronics is decades behind normal use). I also suspect resale value of a non-5G phone will be crap. 

 

So consider all that and how long you intend to keep a phone into consideration. 

 

I'm actually surprised new phones still come without 5G. I usually buy the flagship phone and keep it till it falls apart, so I definitely would get the newest standard. If you are a person who buys new every year, all future predictions may not matter. 

 

Obviously you can't buy future-proof yourself and buy 6G or 7G phones, but at least get the most recent. That can add 5 more years of use to the phone. 

 

For me personally 4G is totally enough (only google navigation, downloading some podcasts, some surfing) and coverage is more the limit. But faster still = better. 5G requires many more antennas, so 4G may stay for a long time in rural areas. 

[medar]

I don't know about 5G but I know switching from 3G to 4G prooved a lot of perfromance increase. At least for me. So I would guess it's the same for 4G and 5G

[sof006]

When I have had access to 5G it makes the world of a difference, being able to download something or access internet with such little latency is just so nice.

 

I downloaded a 1GB game the other day on my phone via 5G and it was done in seconds.

[Imbadatnames]

Lol “5G is widespread” around here you’re lucky to get 4G with the best carrier 

[LAwLz]

It entirely depends on what your usecase is, how coverage is in your area, and how much more it costs compare to a service that only has 4G (if it costs more at all).

 

I'd say that for most people it does not really matter. 4G is fast enough that people on their phones can browse facebook and Instagram without their network being a major bottleneck. 

[LAwLz]

On 4/26/2022 at 5:17 AM, TukangUsapEmenq said:

Lol I even plan to get A52 instead because it's like $70 cheaper than it's 5G successor.

Please note that 4G vs 5G is not the only difference between those phones. 

 

The A52 5G also has a better processor and better screen than the 4G version of the A52. 

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

23 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

Please note that 4G vs 5G is not the only difference between those phones. 

 

The A52 5G also has a better processor and better screen than the 4G version of the A52. 

It's a shame no one in the mobile space calls Samsung out on doing the same naming shenanigans as Nvidia and AMD when it comes to GPUs. Samsung's current naming scheme is just a complete mess. They've flipped flopped between using model years, then sequential numbers, and eventually drawing names from a hat. 

[Laborant]

From a user standpoint, most people do not really require 5G for their own - but for cellular service companies, 5G provides huge advantages.

 

4G in general radiates more or less uniformly across the whole antenna-area (note that one mast most often carries multiple antennas facing in different directions). By Frequency- and Time Division Duplexing (FDD and TDD), each cellphone gets its own frequency sub-band (within the frequency band of the antenna) and a certain time-slot in which transmission on this sub-band is allowed (Multiple cellphones share the same sub-band and get multiplexed by giving each cellphone a time-slot in which it can use the carrier).
This basically limits the number of devices one Antenna can handle (Limited amount of time-slots and limited amount of frequency sub-bands).

In 5G, a spatial division duplexing approach is used - as each 5G Antenna-Module consists of multiple physical antennas which perform "beamforming". Just like in stereo hearing, multiple "sensors" (in 5G, an antenna - in hearing, your ears) are used to determine from where (in space) a signal comes. This helps a human to better understand the voice of a conversation partner in a loud environment.

In cellular technology, this helps increasing the antenna gain (weaker signals get detected) and also allows sending the data into a certain direction (increasing the signal strength for the individual cellphone with less "spam" on other areas). This approach allows more devices per antenna.

 

The limitation of 4G was not too bad - but with more and more people wearing smartwatches, cellular-equipped cars and industrial devices using the same network, space gets crowded. Offloading devices to the 5G network also offers space to a (probably still increasing number of) 4G smartwatches.

This problem emerges mainly in crowded areas - like city centers - giving the carriers another reason to focus mainly on these areas.

 

Lower latency of 5G also gives advantages alongside railway lines, by giving a faster handover to the next antenna.

 

In my opinion, the gain of speed is a nice-to-have, but 4G was already fast enough to load websites in a useful time. The only advantage the "non-techie" sees, is the speed and latency gain - but the problems 5G solves in the background are much more important.

[rrats]

Depends on the usage

[TukangUsapEmenq]

On 4/28/2022 at 2:48 PM, Laborant said:

From a user standpoint, most people do not really require 5G for their own - but for cellular service companies, 5G provides huge advantages.

 

4G in general radiates more or less uniformly across the whole antenna-area (note that one mast most often carries multiple antennas facing in different directions). By Frequency- and Time Division Duplexing (FDD and TDD), each cellphone gets its own frequency sub-band (within the frequency band of the antenna) and a certain time-slot in which transmission on this sub-band is allowed (Multiple cellphones share the same sub-band and get multiplexed by giving each cellphone a time-slot in which it can use the carrier).
This basically limits the number of devices one Antenna can handle (Limited amount of time-slots and limited amount of frequency sub-bands).

In 5G, a spatial division duplexing approach is used - as each 5G Antenna-Module consists of multiple physical antennas which perform "beamforming". Just like in stereo hearing, multiple "sensors" (in 5G, an antenna - in hearing, your ears) are used to determine from where (in space) a signal comes. This helps a human to better understand the voice of a conversation partner in a loud environment.

In cellular technology, this helps increasing the antenna gain (weaker signals get detected) and also allows sending the data into a certain direction (increasing the signal strength for the individual cellphone with less "spam" on other areas). This approach allows more devices per antenna.

 

The limitation of 4G was not too bad - but with more and more people wearing smartwatches, cellular-equipped cars and industrial devices using the same network, space gets crowded. Offloading devices to the 5G network also offers space to a (probably still increasing number of) 4G smartwatches.

This problem emerges mainly in crowded areas - like city centers - giving the carriers another reason to focus mainly on these areas.

 

Lower latency of 5G also gives advantages alongside railway lines, by giving a faster handover to the next antenna.

 

In my opinion, the gain of speed is a nice-to-have, but 4G was already fast enough to load websites in a useful time. The only advantage the "non-techie" sees, is the speed and latency gain - but the problems 5G solves in the background are much more important.

Love that detailed technical explanation. Actually agree with how on the ISP side it can really improve the usage efficiency.

 

On 4/28/2022 at 12:52 PM, LAwLz said:

Please note that 4G vs 5G is not the only difference between those phones. 

 

The A52 5G also has a better processor and better screen than the 4G version of the A52. 

I know, but with the reviews that said A52 is 'enough' for me who don't do much on phone, and with that extra money if I get the 5G version, I could just simply get a decent 3rd party charger, perhaps Anker/Aukey (simply because they opt to have really detailed reviews like so, I killed an iPhone 6s because I used a 5V 2A $0.6 charger so, lesson learned enough, never go cheap on any power-based thingies, and I use both Aukey's 18W charger and (really thick) Type C cable for the last 3 years and... Damn, this thing is waaaay more reliable than the one came from the OEM, it simply just never break at all).

 

On 4/28/2022 at 1:14 PM, BlueChinchillaEatingDorito said:

It's a shame no one in the mobile space calls Samsung out on doing the same naming shenanigans as Nvidia and AMD when it comes to GPUs. Samsung's current naming scheme is just a complete mess. They've flipped flopped between using model years, then sequential numbers, and eventually drawing names from a hat. 

To be fair, Samsung's naming still less confusing than China-based brands like Vivo/Oppo/even sometimes Xiaomi/else for me....