5G doesn't always deliver faster connections than 4G: a study in 8 world cities

general1465 a day ago | parent | next [-]

It has been found out that using different tech on same frequency spectrum won't give you more bandwidth. And using higher frequency with more bandwidth (The ultra wideband - UWB - 5G running on 10GHz+) has a nasty problem with attenuation and effectively any solid object is becoming a steel wall for such 5G signal, including glass in windows or leaves on trees.

After sales realizing that attenuation is a real thing, marketing started pushing 5G mini BTS which you will put into every room or office. People obviously started pointing on their Wi-Fi routers asking why they need mini BTS.

5G has been grossly oversold in what it can do and drawbacks (like hideously unstable 5G UWB connection when you are not standing still) has been kind of omitted.

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ksec a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Well, AFAIK most telecoms are either doing spectrum sharing or still keeping majority of spectrum on 4G. M-MIMO not deployed as widely as expected, and 5G SA has barely started.

COVID along with Huawei ban and other national security concerns have at least delayed most plan by 2 years minimum.

So while most would have expected 5G to have a much quicker roll out than 4G, those reasons above make current 5G about the same stage of previous 4G.

I sometimes think if it would be better they craft out a subset of 5.9G with along with some efficiency improvement and then brand it as 6G instead.

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daveoc64 a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I can't read the original paper, but I don't see any mention of whether they are comparing 4G to 5G NSA or 5G SA networks.

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giuliomagnifico a day ago | parent [-]

They say simply "5G", I don't think it matters whether it is SA or NSA, the end user doesn't know the difference, the important thing is to see if there is an improvement.

I mean, even if it were all 5G NSA, we all see the 5G label and then pay more but in reality it’s a "fake 5G", the study simply tries to understand if there is an improvement between the 5G and 4G label on the phone.

	▲	NoiseBert69 a day ago \| parent \| next [-]
		> They say simply "5G", I don't think it matters whether it is SA or NSA, the end user doesn't know the difference, the important thing is to see if there is an improvement. 5G NSA dramatically reduces the battery runtime. That's something users will see. I recently was able to activate 5G NR with my provider and also my phone is compatible. The battery runtime is more that stellar now.
	▲	re-thc a day ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		> I don't think it matters whether it is SA or NSA, the end user doesn't know the difference, the important thing is to see if there is an improvement It does. It could be a hardware issue (need a new phone), software issue (e.g. OS support) or even configuration. It might not be turned on by default. I've also seen implementations where old physical sims needed be replaced. > the study simply tries to understand if there is an improvement between the 5G and 4G label on the phone Which misses a lot, e.g. modem changes on newer phones and bands supported, etc. As people keep buying new phones things will change.

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metalman a day ago | parent | prev | next [-]

there is little corelation between signal "type" and up/down data speed here in Nova Scotia. Personaly I have no fixed/wired services and find huge problems with maintaining a solid network connection with the internet and see realy wierd stuff where one phone will be able to access certain web sites, but the one next to it wont, until the phone company reset mumble something mumble mumble, registered my imie # again mumble own both phones, same provider nothing but hassles

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piltdownman a day ago | parent | prev [-]

tl;dr Consumer rags learn that contention-ratios exist, companies conflate marketing and technical terms, and that LTE-NR-NSA is a thing.

It's all a bit Spinal Tap - "Yeah, but its one extra G you see"

	▲	tetromino_ a day ago \| parent [-]
		> Consumer rags No. The linked article is summary of https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S01403...