Are carriers blamed for the iPhone 'fake 5G' signal controversy?

Some time ago, Xiang Ligang, the founder of Feixiang.com, posted a very interesting Weibo:

Source: Weibo

A simple summary is: When Xiang Ligang was riding the subway, he discovered that the guy next to him was using an iPhone, and the iPhone interface actually showed a 5G network. As a comparison, his Mate 40 only had 4G. This made him very surprised. After many comparisons, After asking relevant operator leaders, they found that Beijing Subway Line 10 has not yet completed the 5G signal deployment, and questioned where the iPhone's 5G signal comes from.

Is iPhone’s 5G fake 5G? As a well-known person in the field of domestic communications, Xiang Ligang’s Weibo quickly attracted attention from all parties, and the debate about the authenticity of iPhone 5G also began. There are many relevant industry insiders in the comments on Weibo, analyzing the possibility of "fake" 5G from the perspective of communication protocols. However, judging from the atmosphere in the comment area, it is obviously not a place for friendly discussion.

Of course, everyone knows that the iPhone signal is poor, but compared with 5G fraud, the latter is obviously more unacceptable. After all, when the signal shows 5G, but various web pages cannot be opened on the mobile phone, it always makes people wonder if there is something wrong with my mobile phone again?

So, what is the fake 5G iPhone that Xiang Ligang questioned? After searching a lot of information, I asked Xiao Lei to tell everyone.

Real 5G, fake 5G?

In terms of the popularity of 5G alone, China should be number one globally. Now most cities have completed the deployment of 5G networks in major urban areas. Most people are probably familiar with 5G signals. . In first-tier cities like Guangzhou, except for places with poor signals such as underground, elevators, and subways, it is basically difficult to see mobile phone signals drop to the 4G standard.

Perhaps I have become accustomed to the existence of 5G signals, so I seldom pay attention to whether the signal on the mobile phone shows whether it is 5G or 4G. In my opinion, there are only two situations for the iPhone. One is that it can access the Internet. One is that you can’t access the Internet.

Friends who have used the iPhone as their main phone should understand my feelings. As the bottom of the mobile phone signal despise chain, I am afraid it will be difficult to find a second mainstream mobile phone manufacturer that has been criticized by users for signal problems. . In addition, during the years when Apple and Qualcomm were at odds, several generations of iPhones using Intel basebands can be said to have further "consolidated" domestic users' perception of poor iPhone signals.

Source: Apple

Seeing signal problems being complained about by users, Apple was also forced to negotiate with Qualcomm Reconciled and signed a contract to purchase a large number of Qualcomm basebands for the iPhone 13 series. Judging from the test results of Lei Technology in the past few years, the signal performance of the iPhone 12 series, as the first generation of 5G iPhones, is indeed far inferior to that of the iPhone 13 series and iPhone 14 series, with significant improvements in power consumption and signal strength.

However, the problem of iPhone’s fake 5G has actually been discussed once as early as the iPhone 12 era. The 5G standard at that time was not as clear as it is now, and the country was still in the initial stage of switching from 4G to 5G. , the NSA standard was the mainstream at the time.

Compared with today's mainstream SA standard, the NSA standard is upgraded and deployed based on the 4G network. Although the theoretical bandwidth is improved compared to 4G, the actual experience is not much different from 4G. Therefore, many users were complaining at that time. Although they had upgraded their 5G package and the mobile phone also showed 5G, why could they still freeze when watching a video?

At that time, a vigorous 5G "witch hunt" operation began on the Chinese Internet. However, without the operator taking the initiative to explain, the whole thing ended hastily. After all, 5G is not 5G. Users actually only care about whether their videos can be dragged normally and whether web pages can be refreshed normally. As long as the network is not stuck, not many people will go out of their way to see whether their network is 5G or 4G.

However, there is no precedent for the iPhone to display an error signal. In the early days of converting from 4G to 5G, some people discovered that the iPhone would display 5G communication in places where there was no 5G network. However, in addition to the iPhone, there were also Samsung, LG, and Motorola All other phones have the same problem.

To be precise, the culprit that caused many mobile phones to display 5G in 4G networks was not the mobile phone manufacturers, but the American communications operator AT&T. At that time, it was in the deployment stage of the 5G network. In order to attract users , AT&T upgraded its 4G base station so that mobile phones using AT&T mobile cards will display "5G".

##Source: Wikipedia

This operation has indeed made American AT&T users gain experience, but Some old users are emotionally stable, because this is not the first time AT&T has done this, because Ya already has a criminal record. When 3G was switching to 4G, AT&T upgraded its base stations to make mobile phones mistakenly think they were within the coverage of the 4G network. After the incident was exposed, it was criticized by users at the time before it restrained itself.

So is it possible that the iPhone’s fake 5G will encounter the same situation?

"5G" on mobile phones

Generally speaking, we all think that when 5G appears on a mobile phone, the mobile phone uses the 5G network. In fact, this is not the case. According to the four types of user equipment (UE) given by GSMA ) 5G status display settings (Config), the phone can display the 5G symbol in some states, even if it is actually connected to a 4G network.

The four options are A, B, C, and D. Among them, option A is the most rigorous and requires the mobile phone to be connected to the 5G network of NSA or SA and receive NR signals before it can display 5G, while option D It is the most relaxed. It only requires the base station to feedback that it "supports" 5G. Even if the 5G network is not detected, the mobile phone can still display the 5G signal.

Source: GSMA Industry Alliance

Some people in the industry said that the base station does not even need to truly support 5G, only It is necessary to rewrite the feedback information from the base station to the personal device, so that the mobile phone executing the Config.D solution can display the 5G signal. Therefore, even within the coverage area of ​​the same base station, two 5G mobile phones may have completely different signal signatures.

On Weibo, Xiang Ligang said that he had asked relevant leaders of China Unicom, and they all replied that 5G was not deployed on Line 10, but he also mentioned that 5G deployment was in progress. In a test by a Zhihu user, some stations on Line 10 actually already have China Unicom 5G signals. Considering the 5G base stations at intersection stations and some underground commercial plazas, the possibility of connecting to different base stations during the subway is not clear. Not small.

So is the Config.D solution only used by iPhone? Judging from the information collected from social platforms such as Weibo, Zhihu and Douyin, this is not the case. Some of the current mainstream mobile phone brands on sale such as Xiaomi, Huawei, Samsung, and Apple have used the Config.D solution. When connected to the LTE data network, some models of Huawei mobile phones will also display 5G instead of 4G. .

Picture source: Zhihu user Nestumi Qiu

Therefore, many times we will find that even though the mobile phone displays a 5G signal, the actual speed is very slow. The real reason behind this may be that you are connected to an anchor station. As an auxiliary to the NSA 5G base station, the anchor station allows the 5G base station to operate in the 4G core network. Limited by the bandwidth and congestion of the base station, your network speed may still be 4G level or even semi-disconnected, but it still displays 5G signal.

It can be said that the causes of fake 5G are very complicated. Various reasons such as mobile phone manufacturers, base station deployment, operators, etc. may cause mobile phones to display the 5G logo when there is no 5G signal. At least from the GSMA From a perspective, it is compliant.

In my opinion, instead of paying attention to whether the iPhone is true or false 5G, it is better to pay attention to when the iPhone can get its signal better. The 5G disconnection situation is not an exception.

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