Over the weekend, I was in a great spot to do a little mobile network speed testing. I did a 5G speed test, then switched the phone to 4G LTE and ran another. You can view the results below, but they led me to say, “5G is a lie” on Twitter, which is just me having a bit of fun. 5G is definitely not a lie, though, I’m sure I can’t be the only one who still has yet to see real benefits from all of the money these carriers are spending to upgrade their networks.
5G (46Mbps download) vs. 4G LTE (108Mbps download)
I’m using a Galaxy Fold 2 on T-Mobile’s network in the Portland, OR area. Portland is not a mmW city, so while I’m not expecting 1Gbps downloads, I was at least expecting an easy victory for 5G over 4G LTE. Since conducting this test over the weekend, I haven’t allowed my phone to reconnect to the 5G network. Why would I opt for slower speeds?
Now I would like to see your 5G vs. 4G LTE test results. Using the speed test app or service of your choice (we recommend Ookla’s), conduct a 5G test, switch off 5G connectivity on your phone, then run a 4G LTE test. I’d love to see how the two speeds differ. To switch off 5G on your device in the settings menu, go under Connections > Mobile networks > Network mode > LTE/3G/2G. Pixel phone owners, sorry, you can’t play with us currently.
Let me see those speeds!