Does 5G use up more data than 4G networking?

[Syrus]

There has been alot of contradictions online, I have just bought the Samsung A15 5G, from the A13. It's my first time having 5G network and I don't have WiFi at the moment, thus I am aiming to conserve data for now. But Google is a horrible place full of lies so I thought I'd come to the experts for this query. 

[BandOfBrothers]

Hi @Syrus and may I extend a Warm Welcome to the Samsung Community Forum 👍 

5G allows faster downloads of larger files and Carrier Aggregation. 

i.e films etc. 

Also people may have used more data due to running speed tests to see how fast their connection is. 😳 

https://5g.co.uk/guides/how-much-data-does-5g-use/ 

In my opinion 5G can also use a bit more battery too. 

I hope that helps. 

If i can be of any further help please don't hesitate to ask  😎 

[JamesS24]

If anything 5G uses more battery in my experience

[Piper123]

Hey there and welcome to the Samsung UK and EU Community Forum

Interesting question.

In my view 5g itself doesn't use more data BUT the user does as they typically use their device more, especially for speed tests 🤣🤣.

Totally agree about battery though, 5g is a battery hogger.

[-Robot-]

If you are running speedtests, that hasn't got anything to do with the connection speed, except you want to test it the speed so you will use more data by choice

5G doesn't use more data than 4G. You are downloading the same thing

[PaulC59]

Your network speed has no impact on the amount of data used to download files so 2g, 3g, 4g and 5g will all use exactly the same amount of data to download the same files etc. It is your apps that determine how much data is used.

What can happen though is you probably will end up doing more stuff e.g browsing, downloading more apps, or files or choosing higher quality media due to it being much faster to do over 5g which will increase data use. You can counter this by putting apps you don't use into deep sleep sleep or uninstall them to reduce background activity

Battery use will increase though due to 5g as the higher the Number before the g then the signal range is shorter so your phone uses more power trying to maintain a good signal. You can counter this by switching to 4g if the 5g signal is poor.

I'm not sure if you can set your phone for example to make background activity and certain apps to use 4g but only use 5g for user input browsing and downloads but it would be a very useful feature that could be added as we move onto 5g and then 6g when it comes out

Hope this helps

[ynneL]

I worded it wrong basically I was meant to say yes 5G uses more data if you're doing 5G speed tests but everyday browsing it doesn't

[Sonora]

5G by itself will not consume more traffic than 4G or LTE, but there is a catch. My experience is that now I still spend more on 5G than on 3G or 4G. Due to faster downloads or streaming, 5G allows the consumption of more content at a higher quality in the same time spent, so - yes, more traffic can be consumed on 5G in the same period of time compared to 3G or 4G. On 3G or 4G, my monthly traffic rarely exceeded 30GB, now on 5G I have already used 31GB in 15 days. I don't count WI-FI consumption in that, it's mobile data consumption.

[Sonora]

that's my experience, on 5G I spend twice as much as on 4G, and my habits have not changed, I use the Internet as before. the trick is in the higher quality of content that 5G allows, even if for just browsing.