Carrier Does millimeter wave 5G actually work for anybody?

[zach-coleman]

I have a 13 Pro and AT&T. I have never had the “5G+” appear and have my connection work correctly. It either drops my speed to a crawl (speedtest will report 1Mb/s or less and things will load at speeds that seem to rival EDGE) or I completely cease getting internet despite it saying I have several bars until it returns to the regular 5G icon. I have a friend with AT&T who has had similar experiences, but he doesn’t live near a MMWave tower so it doesn’t come up much.

I have had this experience in several different states, including most recently New York. It actually happened even while I was in the process of typing this post on a train.

 

[now i see it]

It works for @Knowlege Bomb

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/this-phone-just-keeps-getting-better.2373123/?post=31795491#post-31795491

 

[dominiongamma]

Verizon here and my UW works amazing, I get it actually a lot of places where I go now even not in the city parts now, it’s great, no complains on speed or issues

 

[avanpelt]

I haven’t had any issues with mmWave on AT&T or Verizon with a 13 Pro. Anecdotally, I’ve found the download speeds for AT&T’s 5G+ network and Verizon’s UWB network to be fairly similar (between 400-600 Mbps) though Verizon has much more mmWave coverage than AT&T for now. I’ve seen reports of people getting download speeds approaching 2 Gbps on Verizon’s UWB network, but I have yet to see anything like that.

 

[Apple_Robert]

It works fine for me on T-Mobile.

 

[zach-coleman]

Just now got this test result. It loaded pages at an above average rate for when I get 5G+. Am I just unlucky with what towers I’m hitting or is my phone physically damaged?

I’m using an apple leather case, before anybody asks if I’m covering the cutout with aluminum or something lol.

 

[Apple_Robert]

View attachment 2126461
Just now got this test result. It loaded pages at an above average rate for when I get 5G+. Am I just unlucky with what towers I’m hitting or is my phone physically damaged?

I’m using an apple leather case, before anybody asks if I’m covering the cutout with aluminum or something lol.

More than likely, it is a location problem.

 

[KaliYoni]

PSA: Most of T-Mobile's 5G network is not mmWave, even when the UC indicator is on. Mid-band 5G is the core of T-Mobile's 5G strategy.

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Addendum
Some fairly recent info about the state of 5G in the US is here, for anybody interested:

T-Mobile's winning secret is mid-band 5G, which it calls "ultra capacity." The math of wireless network performance can be pretty simple: Use more airwaves with more reach and you have more performance.

With its purchase of Sprint in 2020, T-Mobile nabbed a massive cache of spectrum that it has quickly repurposed for 5G. That spectrum can reach a few miles from a tower, in best-case circumstances, so it's good for covering cities and suburbs.

T-Mobile's mid-band is present not only in cities and suburbs, but in rural areas too. Many interstate corridors nationwide showed T-Mobile's "UC" icon, which signifies mid-band connections, and they also showed mid-band speed in our testing.

Best Mobile Networks 2022

We drove more than 10,000 miles across the US, speed-testing AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon 4G and 5G in cities, towns, and rural areas to crown our 13th annual champion.

www.pcmag.com

and

What Is 5G, and Does It Actually Make a Difference?

5G may seem like a confusing mess of buzzwords, but it’s not all marketing hype. We explain the situations where it can provide tangible benefits.

www.nytimes.com

 

[dotnet]

What sort of speeds is 5G+ supposed to give? I’m seeing 1Gbps with regular 5G on my 12 Pro. I don’t think millimeter wave is available here, and our phones don’t have the extra antenna cutout.

 

[zach-coleman]

What sort of speeds is 5G+ supposed to give? I’m seeing 1Gbps with regular 5G on my 12 Pro. I don’t think millimeter wave is available here, and our phones don’t have the extra antenna cutout.

Where do you live? Europe? Where I have lived regular 5G rarely gives me speeds better than LTE, meaning it's between 15 and 60Mbs on most occasions. I frequently consider just turning it off, but considering I visit NYC often I'd imagine the congestion of the LTE bands is probably much more severe than 5G.

Anyways, maybe I just need to get off AT&T and try Verizon/T-Mobile.

 

[eicca]

I've never seen over 100mbps on 5G, and LTE in my area is perfectly acceptable at around 40mbps (for what I do at least) so I just turn 5G off to save battery.

 

[Apple_Robert]

I have gotten over 800Mbps on the down.

 

[dukebound85]

5g has been so overrated in my experience in using the device. It is arguably no faster in day to day use than LTE

 

[mfram]

5G mmWave can be awesome. VZW at Petco Park in San Diego....

 

[IanShyu]

I have Verizion and have seen both mmWave and C-Band 5GUW. On mmWave 5GUW I've seen speeds inside (and outside) from 800MBs to 3GBs I've seen speeds from 50MBs to 600MBs on C-Band 5GUW.

 

[SumYoungGai]

View attachment 2126461
Just now got this test result. It loaded pages at an above average rate for when I get 5G+. Am I just unlucky with what towers I’m hitting or is my phone physically damaged?

I’m using an apple leather case, before anybody asks if I’m covering the cutout with aluminum or something lol.

Are you using 5G auto or on? Also make sure you are aware of the difference between C-Band and mmWave

This is an example of a test on 5G+ on AT&T with C-Band.

 

[Tyler O'Bannon]

What sort of speeds is 5G+ supposed to give? I’m seeing 1Gbps with regular 5G on my 12 Pro. I don’t think millimeter wave is available here, and our phones don’t have the extra antenna cutout.

Where the heck do you live? 5G is a few mbps at best everywhere I’ve ever tested it (13 PM AT&T)

 

[dotnet]

Where do you live?

Australia.

 

[jaytv111]

5G+ will usually mean mid-band, not MMWave. Mid-band speeds can be good in my experience (AT&T as well) but not mind-blowing, about 150 Mbps down in my tests. Sometimes it’s much slower too, depends on signal strength and network congestion.

What’s the difference between 5G, 5G Plus, 5G UW, and 5G UC?

New network technology means new terms to learn.

www.theverge.com

 

[Chinch07]

Works for me. AT&T in western Long Island. 14 pro max.

 

[profcutter]

Best I’ve gotten just outside the Italian market in Philly:

 

[ndouglas]

Where do you live? Europe? Where I have lived regular 5G rarely gives me speeds better than LTE, meaning it's between 15 and 60Mbs on most occasions. I frequently consider just turning it off, but considering I visit NYC often I'd imagine the congestion of the LTE bands is probably much more severe than 5G.

Anyways, maybe I just need to get off AT&T and try Verizon/T-Mobile.

Just curious, what are you using to measure speeds? I am no expert just an average user, but to me it really seems like just another marketing ploy, whether it’s 2 or 3G, LTE, now 5G and 5G+, etc etc.

I mean on laptops there’s still ways to monitor speeds like Activity Monitor but with phones … wait… you are talking / asking about phones right?

Edit: Hmm okay I guess there are others above who show there are apps to monitor phone speed. Nevermind my post then.

 

[Böhme417]

I can't speak for AT&T, but I can get over 3 Gbps on Verizon using mmWave. I just wish there was some indication of when you are using it versus just c-band. Saying 5G UW in the status bar for both all the time is annoying. Am I going to get gigabit speeds or just 500 Mbps? It's a mystery! Regular 5G, on the other hand, is no better than LTE. In fact, I'm pretty sure upload speeds are worse.

 

[AlixSPQR]

I turned 5G off the first day I got the phone. It's utter battery draining crap. Even if you get it to work properly, and carry a powerbank or two, then why? What's it for? Uploading hours of RAW video?

 

[Böhme417]

I turned 5G off the first day I got the phone. It's utter battery draining crap. Even if you get it to work properly, and carry a powerbank or two, then why? What's it for? Uploading hours of RAW video?

I definitely wouldn't use it for uploading anything of considerable size.