It appears that Verizon 4G is doing even better than its nationwide 5G network, according to new tests done PCMag’s Sascha Segan. After last week’s tweet suggesting that users should turn off 5G from their phone to save battery life, it appears that there are a multitude of reasons for Verizon customers to stick with 4G now.
Additional spectrum currently makes the difference for Verizon 4G, and not the C-band spectrum that was in the news recently. This is CBRS, a set of frequencies that sits close to the C-band. Verizon offered $ 1.89 billion on CBRS licenses last year and made the newly acquired spectrum work for its 4G service in certain places (there are probably technical reasons, which Segan explains in his post, why Verizon did not offer this spectrum for 5G does not use. Just yet).
Segan found some of these sites and tested CBRS-assisted 4G speeds versus 5G. With the exception of the super-fast Ultra Wideband 5G, which is limited to the range, 4G has won a rush. At one point, the download speed of 4G reached 815 Mbps, while 5G based on Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (this is the widespread but slower range known as DSS) achieved only 358 Mbps. It was, of course, a test of just a few places, but Segan points out that it is a good predictor of the kind of improvements we can expect if C-band is available.
So is there any reason for anyone on Verizon to keep 5G active rather than switching to 4G? Maybe, Segan tells us. “If you have a spot with Verizon’s ‘UWB’ millimeter wave 5G, it’s absolutely awesome. UWB is the fastest form of 5G available today. But the ‘nationwide’ 5G of DSS currently offers no benefit. I would say, turn it off if you can and see in a few months if they have improved the situation. ‘
The silver lining, of course, is that Verizon 4G is actually good – and for some, even better. In the long run, it will be the C-band spectrum that is likely to make the difference for Verizon 5G. “If you’re buying a Verizon phone soon and are interested in future performance, make sure it has a C-band,” says Segan. Unless you live next door to an Ultra Wideband mobile website, you can probably turn off 5G and rest assured that you are currently getting the best network performance.