topic Re: Why The 5 G Icon Is Not Always Accurate in Samsung Lounge

Why The 5 G Icon Is Not Always Accurate

JAMES4578 — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 17:12:29 GMT

A study has shown that a true 5G connection is only present 62% of the time, with the rest being like a sticker placed on a 4G connection. Most Uk networks rely on Non standalone 5G which piggybanks on 4G as the control layer , phones are programmed to display 5G if any element is present. However if with Vodaphone or Three 93/94% of the time it is true 5G compared to only 32% with EE.

More detail here https://5gworldpro.com/blog/2025/09/01/the-5g-icon-isnt-always-what-it-seems/

Information was also covered on the BBC https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crexqyj7n5lo

Re: Why The 5 G Icon Is Not Always Accurate

arianwen27 — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 18:06:31 GMT

Mhm, there seems to be 2 ways uk carriers handle things.

Way 1 (I think, not experienced it on my own device), an icon that says 5g in normal white text. Shows 5g all the time, even if 4g is being used due to better signal strength. If 5g is totally gone, it'll say 4g.

Way 2, the 5g box icon. If you have a solid white box with black 5g lettering inside, that's really using 5g. If it's a white outline, black inside and white text, 5g is avaliable but 4g is being used.

From seeing people post on here, I think Vodafone uses Way 1. I know O2 uses Way 2 as that's my phone.

On android, you can always view the true connection method using a certain debug page. It even tells you if the phone is being told to display something other than the real connection mode

Re: Why The 5 G Icon Is Not Always Accurate

Star_girl — Tue, 28 Oct 2025 21:24:04 GMT

I am on Vodafone, when 5 G was launched I was on 3. I think 3 was more serious about 5 G because when the 5G icon appeared on my phone, the network speed was lighting and the phone was consuming more battery, none of that happens since I moved on Vodafone, eventhough sometimes the battery goes down faster, the network speed is the same all the time, so I doubt how often I am actually using real 5G on the phone.