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I've just found that any time my phone says it's on 5G, it barely works at all. I've actually gone in and set the preferred network to LTE and every now and th

I've just found that any time my phone says it's on 5G, it barely works at all. I've actually gone in and set the preferred network to LTE and every now and then I try setting it back, and almost every time I set it back within the day. Doing some speed tests back and forth, LTE tends to have significantly less latency, higher bandwidth, and just works while every single web page load on 5G feels like a gamble.

yummypaint 3y ago
I think phones lying about their connection strength is a much broader problem. My phone isn't even 5G capable, but it will show me 4/5 bars or even 100% strength with full LTE when it is provably unable to transfer data. Carriers know that lying to people's faces makes them less likely to complain about poor service, just like how they lie to our faces about their service maps. There really needs to be some kind of legally codified standard for how phones report signal strength.
- JW_00000 3y ago
  Isn't that a case of the phone manufacturer lying, and not the carrier?
  - noisem4ker 3y ago
    See previous discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18737008 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18737008
    - buggeryorkshire 3y ago
      When I worked on femtocells many years ago it was Apple who did their own thing with the signal strength bars, it was a source of massive frustration. They were also the ones least receptive to reports of radio layer issues. Though coming back to the original discussion a lot of issues with 5g are backhaul problems which aren't indicated by the signal bar.
- dijit 3y ago
  it's also misleading in another way: namely that your connection to the cell site tells you absolutely nothing about that cell sites ability to forward your connection onto the greater internet; and absolutely nothing about the number of cells connected to the same cell site (some of whom could be consuming considerable airtime). Boiling it down to "connection strength to the cell site" is, literally, the same as using wifi strength bars to evaluate internet speeds at home: it doesn't even begin to tell the whole picture.
SSLy 3y ago
That's a problem with your UE (phone), what model is it?
- afavour 3y ago
  FWIW I’ve experienced this a lot with an iPhone on Verizon. 5GUW literally won’t load a thing. If I put it into airplane mode then out again it’ll reconnect to 5GUW and work fine.

yummypaint 3y ago

I think phones lying about their connection strength is a much broader problem. My phone isn't even 5G capable, but it will show me 4/5 bars or even 100% strength with full LTE when it is provably unable to transfer data. Carriers know that lying to people's faces makes them less likely to complain about poor service, just like how they lie to our faces about their service maps. There really needs to be some kind of legally codified standard for how phones report signal strength.

JW_00000 3y ago
Isn't that a case of the phone manufacturer lying, and not the carrier?
- noisem4ker 3y ago
  See previous discussion here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18737008 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18737008
  - buggeryorkshire 3y ago
    When I worked on femtocells many years ago it was Apple who did their own thing with the signal strength bars, it was a source of massive frustration. They were also the ones least receptive to reports of radio layer issues. Though coming back to the original discussion a lot of issues with 5g are backhaul problems which aren't indicated by the signal bar.
dijit 3y ago
it's also misleading in another way: namely that your connection to the cell site tells you absolutely nothing about that cell sites ability to forward your connection onto the greater internet; and absolutely nothing about the number of cells connected to the same cell site (some of whom could be consuming considerable airtime). Boiling it down to "connection strength to the cell site" is, literally, the same as using wifi strength bars to evaluate internet speeds at home: it doesn't even begin to tell the whole picture.

SSLy 3y ago

That's a problem with your UE (phone), what model is it?

afavour 3y ago
FWIW I’ve experienced this a lot with an iPhone on Verizon. 5GUW literally won’t load a thing. If I put it into airplane mode then out again it’ll reconnect to 5GUW and work fine.