I mean, even if it were all 5G NSA, we all see the 5G label and then pay more but in reality it’s a "fake 5G", the study simply tries to understand if there is an improvement between the 5G and 4G label on the phone.
It does. It could be a hardware issue (need a new phone), software issue (e.g. OS support) or even configuration. It might not be turned on by default. I've also seen implementations where old physical sims needed be replaced.
> the study simply tries to understand if there is an improvement between the 5G and 4G label on the phone
Which misses a lot, e.g. modem changes on newer phones and bands supported, etc. As people keep buying new phones things will change.
5G NSA dramatically reduces the battery runtime. That's something users will see.
I recently was able to activate 5G NR with my provider and also my phone is compatible. The battery runtime is more that stellar now.
COVID along with Huawei ban and other national security concerns have at least delayed most plan by 2 years minimum.
So while most would have expected 5G to have a much quicker roll out than 4G, those reasons above make current 5G about the same stage of previous 4G.
I sometimes think if it would be better they craft out a subset of 5.9G with along with some efficiency improvement and then brand it as 6G instead.
After sales realizing that attenuation is a real thing, marketing started pushing 5G mini BTS which you will put into every room or office. People obviously started pointing on their Wi-Fi routers asking why they need mini BTS.
5G has been grossly oversold in what it can do and drawbacks (like hideously unstable 5G UWB connection when you are not standing still) has been kind of omitted.
piltdownman•4mo ago
It's all a bit Spinal Tap - "Yeah, but its one extra G you see"
tetromino_•4mo ago
No. The linked article is summary of https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S01403...