The iPhone 12 allows you to turn off 5G if you want to maximize battery life, but tests indicate that Verizon users might want to do so for a second and for some odd reason: getting faster mobile data speeds!
Tests were performed using an iPhone 12 Pro in eight locations around New York City, but similar results can probably be seen elsewhere …
PCMag performed the tests.
We ran tests on an iPhone 12 Pro that switched between 5G and 4G in the same places. In both cases, DSS 5G performed worse than 4G LTE […]
I took the iPhone 12 Pro to eight locations around New York City, comparing 4G and 5G speeds. In the first seven rankings, 5G was DSS and generally slower than 4G.
The reason for this is because Verizon uses a shortcut to achieve 5G coverage, known as dynamic spectrum sharing, or DSS.
[DSS 5G] recycles parts of 4G channels to 5G. Phones automatically prefer a 5G network over a 4G network, so Verizon customers will see the coveted 5G icon appear. But it’s all for show. Our latest tests using an iPhone 12 Pro in New York City show that DSS 5G is often slower than 4G and rarely faster. These results are similar to what we saw in October in Chicago with a Pixel 5.
Verizon did not admit that its 5G would typically be slower than LTE, but acknowledged that there is no real benefit to its current implementation of 5G.
“For most customers, the performance of our nationwide 5G network will equate to 4G. [DSS] is new technology and we continue to change it as we go. We expect performance improvement through 2021 and beyond, ”said a Verizon spokesman.
It’s different if you’m lucky enough to get mmWave 5G – there you have to see burning speeds – but since this is limited to wi-fi-like range, you will not see it very often even in big cities. The rest of the time, Verizon users are stuck with DSS.
If you do not have any dedicated channels, DSS allows you to use odds and ends up on your unused 4G channels for 5G. 4G and 5G phones compete for the same 4G channel. The only difference is that the 5G ones run the 5G encoding system on that channel. There are non-fast benefits of DSS – or it will be in the future when operators go for stand-alone 5G systems – but right now you just get slower performance […]
If you do not have UWB 5G coverage, you will probably get better Verizon performance for now by disabling 5G on your iPhone
In the UK, I found that I occasionally see high-speed data on 5G, but more often it is no different than 4G.
How to turn 5G on and off on your iPhone 12.
Photo: James Yarema at Unsplash
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