Is my mobile lying to me? When 5G doesn’t mean 5G

When you see the 5G symbol on the top of your phone, you probably assume you’re getting the kind of faster internet speeds promised when it first arrived five years ago.

Mobile networks told us that 5G would deliver faster downloads, smoother streaming, and instant connectivity.

It has received a lot of investment from mobile operators and the government but has faced several setbacks, especially since 5G requires a large number of masts to provide faster speeds over shorter distances.

New research suggests that the 5G symbol you see on your screen may not match what you actually get in terms of internet speed.

Tests conducted by the Policy Tracker research group and shared with users BBC’s Morning Live Programmefound that almost 40% of the time a phone showed the 5G symbol, it was actually using a 4G connection.

This means you can pay for and see 5G while your phone quietly sticks to slower speeds.

The highest theoretical download speed for 5G is up to 20,000 megabits per second; That’s fast enough to download 18 HD movies in under a minute, but for most of us, our speeds are much slower than that.

The research comes as some mobile networks begin offering “standalone 5G,” a new service that promises true 5G speeds all the time.

To benefit from this, you will need to purchase a specific phone plan, which usually comes with a higher price tag.

If you have a contract that includes 5G but you don’t feel like you’re getting a regular and reliable 5G signal:

• Check your speed: use one online speed test to see your actual download and upload rates

• Check your coverage: Ofcom mobile coverage checker Shows you which network offers the best 4G or 5G signal in your area. Once you enter the postcode, you will see if a 4G/5G signal is available locally and whether the signal is good or variable. It can also show which provider has the best coverage for the area.

• Contact your provider: If you’re unhappy with your current provider’s coverage and signal strength, it’s worth contacting them to explain the problem and see what advice they can give you.

• Change provider: If you’re not locked into a contract, it may be simple to switch to another provider that offers better coverage.

Policy Tracker carried out 11,000 tests in central London, the outskirts of Birmingham and a village in North Lincolnshire, using four different phones connected to four different network providers.

It was determined that although the 5G logo was frequently displayed on the phones, the transferred data was still carried by the old 4G infrastructure.

The difference may not always be obvious to users, but it can mean slower downloads and buffering where they expect an ultra-fast network.

The issue comes down to how mobile networks currently define 5G.

Policy tracker Martin Simms explains that the symbol on your phone indicates the “presence” of a 5G signal in the area, but it doesn’t guarantee that your phone is connected to it.

Even with “standalone 5G” service, your phone may drop to 4G if a faster connection isn’t available, he says.

For most people, “standalone 5G isn’t worth it because the contracts are expensive so it’s not great value for money,” he says.

He adds that coverage is still patchy even in big cities like London, but says this new service means “you’re more likely to get better service in busy areas like train stations.”

Consumer expert Jasper Griegson, from complaints service Resolver, told the BBC that customers had a right to clarity.

“You think you’re getting something, but you’re not, and accuracy is so important,” he said. “Consumer law has very strict rules about how accurate things need to be in other contexts, so why is it different here?”

In response, Mobile UK, the trade body representing the UK’s leading mobile operators, confirmed that the 5G icon does not necessarily mean a live 5G connection.

He noted that the symbol indicates that a user is in a 5G-enabled area, and that the networks “dynamically and seamlessly direct customers to the best connection, whether 4G or 5G, based on real-time factors such as signal strength.”