T-Mobile was hawking its 5G network, and recently spent many extra billions to expand it, making it rather uncomfortable that it is also caught that users have to turn off 5G to save battery life (via Sascha Segan). Didn’t Verizon make the same gaff just a few days ago? It definitely did. But instead of learning from the example, it appears that T-Mobile has pulled a hold-me-beer: where Verizon has told users to switch to LTE, many of T-Mobile’s support documents tell users to go all the way back to 2G.
If you did not know it, your phone will switch to useless as a data device to 2G (which T-Mobile easily tells you how to do): the maximum theoretical speed you can get from a 2G connection , will be about 1 Mbps (although much higher than 256 Kbps). Even 1 Mbps is 25 times slower than what the FTC considers acceptable broadband speeds, and 300 times slower than the average 5G midband speed that T-Mobile boasted.
(Note that T-Mobile is also phasing out 2G signals for good, although the 2G shutdown was reportedly postponed until 2022.)
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22346365/Screen_Shot_2021_03_04_at_1.44.05_PM.png)
T-Mobile probably realized that this kind of advice was not a great look, but the coverage of the company was also amusingly slow. Earlier today, the advice removed “Switching from 5G / LTE to 2G” from the company first example PC Magazine found (the Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra 5G), and the second (the Samsung Galaxy S21 5G) support page was updated shortly before we wrote these words. It also did not take long to get the advice to eliminate 5G and / or 4G on the pages for the LG Wing, OnePlus Nord N10 5G, Galaxy S20 + 5G and the Pixel 4a 5G (which oddly enough call it 4G eliminate, not 5G). This is probably an incomplete list, but you get the picture: the hassle of choosing T-Mobile’s slow 2G network has shown a lot.
(Here’s a Google Cache version of the first T-Mobile support page from March 1.)
I would say that T-Mobile is right in one way: if I switch my phone to 2G, it will probably be so slow that I just try to use it, and my phone will probably last much longer. If you are struggling with the battery life on your phone, there are many things you can try, which do not brake properly.