Like Verizon, T-Mobile has also told users to turn off the 5G connection of their phone as a tip to save battery life.
Despite the marketing of T-Mobile with 5G, the support pages for the Samsung Galaxy S20 and S21 from the service provider pointed out the benefit of disabling the 5G technology on a smartphone.
The support pages say so far that a user ‘can switch from 5G / LTE to 2G’ as a battery saving tip. In other words, you need to downgrade the connection of your phone to cellular technology, which was originally introduced three decades ago.
Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G Support Page (Credit: T-Mobile)
The advice is also quite explicit. In the case of Verizon, the carrier on Sunday merely posted a now-removed tweet implying that deactivating the 5G would drain a battery. T-Mobile’s support pages say just to turn off the technology.
The messages fly in the face of the marketing of T-Mobile around 5G, which has been designated as a game changer for speed on the phone data. Christian Smith, founder of the cellular consumer advice website CoverageCritic.com, noted the support pages and mailed about them on Twitter to point out the hypocrisy.
T-Mobile did not immediately respond to a request for comment. However, the company offers the same advice for 4G smartphones, including Apple’s iPhones. The tips also recommend that users can turn off the device’s Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS, in addition to lowering the phone’s brightness to save battery life. In essence, T-Mobile tells users to turn off non-essential items to keep their phone running.
Samsung itself has also warned consumers that 5G could put more energy into a Galaxy smartphone. ‘You may notice that the phone’s battery drains faster than usual while connected to a 5G network. This is a limitation of the current 5G networks, and will be improved as the networks expand, ‘the company wrote in a support page.