5G communications are coming, but does the 5G experience really completely surpass 4G?

On the 28th, the 2023 Shanghai World Mobile Communications Conference (MWC2023 Shanghai) opened, and "5.5G" became a hot topic. Huawei Vice Chairman, Rotating Chairman, and CFO Meng Wanzhou also stated at the conference "Embrace the 5G revolution." In her keynote speech, she believed that 5.5G is the inevitable path for the evolution of 5G networks. “The network characteristics of 5.5G network include 10 Gigabit downlink, 1 Gigabit uplink, 100 billion connections, and endogenous intelligence. From 5G to 5.5G, it will better match scenarios such as the Internet of Things, sensing, and high-end manufacturing, and incubate More new business opportunities."

What does 5.5G mean to users? We don't know yet. When the industry is already discussing 5.5G? How is the experience of 5G, which has long been popularized?

5G experience controversy: Is it really better than 4G?

Counting from the issuance of 5G licenses in China in 2019, domestic 5G has been commercially available for four years. Data disclosed by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology shows that as of the end of April 2023, the number of 5G base stations built in the country has exceeded 2.73 million, the 5G network covers all prefecture-level cities and county cities, and the number of 5G users exceeds 600 million.

#The construction and development speed of 5G is far beyond our imagination, but everyone’s attitude towards 5G network is not consistent. Some people believe that 5G does bring faster network speeds and better user experience, allowing users to enjoy the fruits of advancements in communication technology; others believe that the actual experience of 5G may not be better than 4G, because it consumes a lot of power and has no corresponding new scenarios.

In daily actual use, does 5G have better signal and faster network speed than 4G? With such questions, Xiaolei conducted a PK test of 5G and 4G signals, simulating users' daily use scenarios and using actual experience to give answers.

The devices participating in the test are two Xiaomi 13s. They use the 5G package card of the same operator. One mobile phone network is set to 5G, and the other Set to 4G. The test scenarios are divided into static and dynamic categories. The former includes offices, parking lots, canteens and urban villages outside the office park where Xiaolei is located, while the latter includes subways and buses in driving conditions. The main means of network testing are to use SpeedTest to measure actual network speed and play online 4K videos to test fluency.

Static scene PK, 5G network speed has obvious advantages

Scenario 1: Office: High-frequency usage scenario, stay It takes a long time to experience the key points.

The test time was around 3 pm. The mobile phone with 5G network turned on reached a download rate of 30.9MB/s in SpeedTest, while the mobile phone with 4G network reached this speed. The data is only 3.3MB/s, there is a 10 times gap between the two. Moreover, the 5G network has lower latency, with a PING value of only 13ms, while the 4G network reaches 36ms.

(Photo source taken by Lei Technology)

So, 5G, There is such a big difference in 4G network speeds. Will there be a significant difference in smoothness when playing 4K online videos? We used these two mobile phones to play the programs of the Lei Technology Channel of Station B at the same time, and set the image quality to 4K.

#The results are quite surprising, they can both play 4K videos smoothly. However, under the 4G network, there will be a buffering pause time of several seconds after dragging the progress bar; under the 5G network, this pause time is shorter and harder to detect.

(Picture source mobile App screenshot)

This round of testing, The data advantage of the 5G network is very obvious, but the perceived gap in actual experience is relatively weak.

# Scenario 2: Parking lot: The physical environment is complex and indoor coverage requirements are high.

Generally speaking, due to the complex spatial structure and many building obstructions, it is easy for signal dead spots to occur in the parking lot. However, many operators now perform targeted signal optimization in parking lots and enhance coverage by laying multiple small base stations.

(Picture taken by Lei Technology)

Xiao Lei in the park During the parking lot test, we found that both 5G and 4G signals were relatively good. The 5G downlink rate remained above 30MB/s, and the 4G downlink rate was better than that in the office, exceeding 7MB/s. Interestingly, in terms of uplink speed, 4G surpasses 5G. In this scenario, whether it is 5G or 4G, watching 4K ultra-clear videos is a piece of cake.

(Photo source taken by Lei Technology)

Scene Three: The park canteen has a large flow of people during peak periods and requires high network capacity.

Many schools, enterprises and parks will set up canteens. Such places have two disadvantages for mobile Internet access: the large building area makes it difficult for outdoor base stations to fully cover; There is a large flow of people and the per capita bandwidth resources are tight.

After 12 noon, Xiao Lei came to the canteen in the park. During the peak dining period, the flow of people was quite large, and there were already long queues in front of many windows.

(Picture source taken by Lei Technology)

After opening SpeedTest, the network speed performance of 5G and 4G mobile phones is relatively average. . What’s even more interesting is that the 5G network is stretched at this time. Not to mention being overtaken by 4G, the downlink rate is only half of 4G, and the delay advantage is gone.

(photo source taken by Lei Technology)

Use two mobile phones When playing 4K videos, 4G phones can basically play smoothly, but 5G phones sometimes freeze and the signal quickly drops to 4G.

(Photo source taken by Lei Technology)

From the speed test and Judging from the situation of 4G, Xiaolei speculates that the 5G connected to the mobile phone at this time should be in NSA mode, that is, the core network of the base station is still 4G, and the network speed, delay and actual experience are not as good as the SA mode.

Scenario 4: Urban Village: High population density, dense housing, and poor network environment.

Urban villages have dense buildings and handshake buildings everywhere, which can easily form signal dead spots. For 5G networks with higher frequencies and smaller radiation radius, coverage is more difficult.

When Xiaolei was conducting signal tests in urban villages, he found that the network conditions in different areas were very different. For example, at the entrance of the urban village, the 5G signal is stable and the downlink rate reaches 20MB/s; the 4G signal is congested and the downlink rate drops to 0.5MB/s, which is a decent 3G network speed. At this time, watching ultra-high-definition videos on 5G is very smooth, while the 4G network can basically only watch 720P.

(photo source taken by Lei Technology)

and enter the urban village Deep in an alley, the network conditions of 5G and 4G reversed again. The 5G downlink speed dropped to about 2MB/s, while the 4G network speed was more than 5MB/s. Although the 5G and 4G network speeds are upside down, both mobile phones can watch online videos smoothly.

(Photo source taken by Lei Technology)

Briefly summarize the static Test results in the scenario: When the base station coverage is in place and the network resources are sufficient, the upper limit of 5G network speed is higher, the downlink rate advantage is obvious, and it can widen the gap with 4G; when the network is congested, the performance of 4G is sometimes better than that of 5G Well, there is a counter-intuitive phenomenon that 4G network is faster and smoother to use.

In dynamic scenarios, is 4G more stable than 5G?

The dynamic test scene we selected is the subway and bus in driving state, which are also two commonly used means of commuting. Compared with static scenarios, dynamic scenarios pose greater challenges to operators' base stations. In a static scenario, the distance between the user equipment and the base station is relatively fixed, and it will only connect to one base station for a long time; in a dynamic scenario, the device moves with the vehicle at high speed, and the connection distance between the device and the base station changes in real time, and will Frequently switching between different base stations will make the network environment more complicated.

# Scenario 1: Subway: A scenario where high-speed mobile networks are just needed and indoor coverage is sufficient.

Located in Xiaolei, Guangzhou, the test subway line selected is the section from Tianhe Passenger Station to Zhujiang New Town of Line 3. Friends in Guangzhou must know that the famous "Death Line 3" has a large passenger flow, and the carriages in the morning and evening peaks are like sardine cans.

However, when Xiao Lei set foot on Line 3 at 4 p.m., the evening rush hour had not yet begun, and the flow of people on the platform and in the carriages was not large.

(Photo source taken by Lei Technology)

But the test result is still To Xiaolei's surprise, on the high-speed train, the 5G and 4G network speeds were once again reversed. The 4G downlink speed soared to 17MB/s, while the 5G speed was less than 5MB/s. The advantage of the 5G network at this time was basically that it was faster. The upward trend.

## (Photo source photo taken by Lei Technology)

Of course , on the subway during leisure time, the 5G and 4G networks are very smooth to use, and the usage experience is basically the same as on the ground.

(Photo source taken by Lei Technology)

Interestingly, When the train arrived at Wushan Station and stopped, the 5G network immediately came to life with a downlink rate of nearly 60MB/s, completely crushing 4G.

(Picture source: Lei Technology Photography)

After the time came to 6:30, Guangzhou Line 3 entered the evening rush hour , traffic restrictions began outside the gates, and the platforms such as Tiyu West Road and Shipaiqiao were crowded with people.

(Photo source photo taken by Lei Technology)

Enter After entering the carriage, Xiao Lei felt a sense of crampedness. The extremely tight space was so small that I couldn't even take out a third mobile phone to take pictures and record the network speed test results. I can only present them here in the form of screenshots. Not surprisingly, the 5G signal quickly dropped to 4G, and the downlink speed of both phones did not exceed 1MB/s. At this speed, let alone watching videos, it was a little laborious to stream information. What's more, in this extremely uncomfortable state, Xiao Lei will no longer have the enthusiasm to play with his mobile phone.

(Picture source mobile App screenshot)

Scene 2: Bus , in mobile scenarios, there is no dedicated coverage and relies on outdoor base station signals.

After "escaping" from the crowded subway, Xiao Lei took the 126 bus in Guangzhou. Even though it was the rush hour after get off work, the density of people on the bus was far less exaggerated than that of the subway. However, the roads were congested and the bus speed was not fast. When he took out his mobile phone to test the signal, Xiaolei found that the 5G network had regained its strength, with a downlink rate of more than 20MB/s, while the 4G network was only a little over 1MB/s.

(Picture source photo taken by Lei Technology)

This At this time, there is no pressure to watch 4K videos on a 5G mobile phone, and it can be basically smooth on a 4G mobile phone. If you just drag the progress bar, it still needs to buffer for a while.

(Photo source photo taken by Lei Technology)

Subway Comparing the two bus scenarios, I feel that 5G is somewhat inadequate on the subway. The reason is not complicated. Subway trains travel much faster than buses. Moreover, in underground environments, the number of 5G base stations is also much smaller.

5G has certain upgrades, but 4G is sometimes better to use

After the above series of tests, for 5G , We can already get some conclusions on the question of who has a better 4G network experience.

First of all, in static scenarios, most of the time, 5G has an obvious speed advantage, which can leave 4G behind. After all, 5G is a new generation of mobile communication technology with a higher upper limit and generation gap advantages.

Secondly, in dynamic scenarios, 5G is not as stable as 4G. On the one hand, this is due to the technical characteristics of 5G. The shorter radiation radius causes equipment to frequently switch base stations in high-speed mobile scenarios. On the other hand, the number of 5G base stations continues to increase, but the coverage density is still not as good as that of mature 4G. Therefore, It is easy for 5G to drop out of 4G.

#In addition, 5G’s network speed advantage lacks new application scenarios to digest. In many test scenarios, the network speed gap between 5G and 4G can be as wide as 10 times, but 5G is often in an awkward state of being useless. Although we are already in the 5G era, most of the applications we use daily come from the 3 and 4G era. Even if online 4K video seems to require high network prices, 4G can handle it most of the time. It is difficult to translate the network speed advantage of 5G into an experience advantage. Moreover, the disadvantage of 5G stability makes the 4G experience actually better in many cases.

In fact, many times, 4G is enough. Xiaolei found that sometimes the 5G signal is not good. If you turn off 5G on your phone and only use 4G, the network experience will be more stable. Some.

Based on the above conclusion, our Lei Technology also provides a purchasing guide for 5G related products.

It’s hard not to buy a 5G mobile phone, but you can choose a 4G package

1. Should I buy a 4G mobile phone or 5G The proposition of mobile phones is no longer valid.

# Data released by the Academy of Information and Communications Technology shows that my country’s 5G mobile phone shipments accounted for 78.8% in 2022. Moreover, most of the new phones on the market are 5G models. 5G has already been popularized in lower-tier markets. Nowadays, even low-end models priced at less than 1,000 yuan support 5G networks.

# Therefore, whether you need a 5G network or not, there is a high probability that you will buy a 5G mobile phone next time you change your phone.

2. 4G package is more cost-effective.

For users, both 4G and 5G cards can access the 5G network normally. However, there will be different treatments in terms of specific speeds. Most of the time, high-priced 5G packages can obtain downlink speeds of up to 500Mbps (62.5MB/s, 5G maximum speed) or even 1000Mbps (125MB/s, 5G premium). Low-priced 5G packages or 4G packages generally only have a maximum of 300Mbps (37.5MB/s). s, 5G basic) downlink rate.

(Photo source operator’s official website screenshot)

But from us Judging from the tests, most of the time, the 5G network speed is difficult to exceed 37.5MB/s, and only once reached a network speed close to 60MB/s. From a cost-effective perspective, continuing to use the 4G package is a more cost-effective option.

#3. You can choose 5G or 4G flexibly.

Although most mobile phones are now 5G models, you can actually downgrade to 4G manually. Many people around Xiao Lei take the initiative to downgrade their signal when using their mobile phones, mainly for the purpose of extending battery life.

As far as the above test is concerned, 5G and 4G have their own advantages and disadvantages in different subdivision scenarios. If you are pursuing low power consumption and stability, of course, 4G is more suitable. Good; but if it is a scenario such as opening a mobile phone hotspot and downloading and updating large files, 5G's high network speed is definitely more advantageous. After all, we still have the right to choose the network type, and we can flexibly switch according to the actual situation.

At the beginning of 5G commercialization, users and all walks of life have placed too many expectations on it. Everyone hopes that 5G can become the carrier of the next generation of Internet and new killer application scenarios. . But with the actual implementation of 5G and the rapid growth of the number of users, the myth of 5G is gradually shattered, and our attitude towards it is gradually becoming more rational. After all, it takes time to create revolutionary applications and products based on the new generation of communications technology.

At this point in time, the biggest role of 5G for most users is faster network speeds in some scenarios, allowing you to download files, Be quick when updating your game. Moreover, in terms of stability and maturity, 5G still lags behind 4G. As for the big pie created by 5G, we won’t be able to eat it in the short term.

Of course, operators and communication equipment manufacturers are now promoting 5.5G and 6G. What new experience can it bring us? Let’s look forward to it together.

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