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Verizon 4G appears to be getting even better than its national 5G network, according to new tests conducted by PCMag’s Sascha Segan. After last week’s tweet suggesting that users turn off 5G on their phones to save battery life, there appear to be a host of reasons for Verizon customers to stick with 4G right now.
The extra spectrum makes the difference for Verizon 4G right now, not the C-band spectrum that has been in the news recently. It’s CBRS, a set of frequencies that sits near the C band. Verizon offered $ 1.89 billion in CBRS licenses last year and made the newly acquired spectrum work for its 4G service in some. locations (there are probably technical reasons, which Segan explains in their article, why Verizon is not using this spectrum for 5G at this time).
Segan found a few of these places and tested CBRS assisted 4G speeds against 5G. With the exception of super-fast, limited-range ultra-broadband 5G, 4G won by a landslide. In one place, 4G download speeds were as high as 815 Mbps, while 5G based on dynamic spectrum sharing (this is the prevalent but slower variety known as DSS) only reached 358 Mbps. This was a test of a few locations of course, but Segan points out that this bodes well for the kind of improvements we can expect when C-Band becomes available.
So, is there a reason for someone on Verizon to keep 5G active rather than switching to 4G? Maybe, Segan tells us. “If you’re in a place with Verizon’s UWB 5G millimeter wave, that’s absolutely fantastic. UWB is the fastest form of 5G available today. But DSS’s “ national ” 5G is simply not providing any benefits at this time. I would say turn it off if you can and come back in a few months to see if they’ve improved the situation. “
The bright side, of course, is that Verizon 4G is actually good – and getting even better for some. In the long run, it will be the C-band spectrum that will likely make the difference for Verizon 5G. “If you’re buying a Verizon phone soon and you’re interested in future performance, make sure it has C-band,” Segan says. In the meantime, unless you live next door to an ultra-broadband cell site, you can probably turn 5G off and rest assured that you’re getting the best possible network performance right now.
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