5G doesn't work properly (15x slower than 4G)

Good day!

I received the new Samsung Galaxy S20 yesterday and was naturally hoping that I would have a fast internet connection with the 5G network. Unfortunately, I noticed right from the start that, on the contrary, it took much longer to load videos and that the quality of video calls was massively worse. This feeling was then confirmed by the SpeedTest app: constantly worse internet connection!

I’ve tested this several times now (different times of day/locations), but S20/5G is consistently and always significantly worse than S9/4G. Here is a representative example from this morning (both with the same location/same setting):

With S9 via 4G network:

  1. Ping=15ms;
  2. Upload=34.86Mbps
  3. Download=127.13Mbps

With S20 via 5G network (same time, same location, same position):

  1. Ping=19ms so 21% worse! ☹️
  2. Upload=6.74Mbps so 5.2x slower!! ☹️☹️ > 😱
  3. Download=8.27Mbps so 15.4x slower!!!☹️☹️☹️ > 😠

Frame details:

  • Subscription: “inOne mobile go” with “Option Premium Speed”
  • In the S20/5G variant, “5G” is displayed on the device
  • I live in a location that is covered by 5G+ according to the Swisscom website

Questions:

  • Does “5G” on my device mean that it is not “5G+”?
  • Is it possible that “5G” is slower/worse than “4G”?
  • And most importantly: What can I do besides switching back to S9/4G?

Unfortunately, this is of course very disappointing. Unless I have overlooked something and this problem can be solved, I will probably have to return the device because the hoped for higher speed was a main reason for the change!

Too bad! I like the device itself…

Nevertheless, thank you in advance for your feedback!

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Hello @MPG1313

Thank you for your report. That sounds pretty weird to me. First of all, briefly about your questions:

  • “Does “5G” on my device mean that it’s not “5G+”?”
    No - regardless of whether you have 5G+ or 5G, 5G will be displayed on your cell phone.
  • “Could it be that “5G” is slower/worse than “4G”?”
    That definitely shouldn’t be the case and doesn’t match my experience.
  • “And most importantly: What can I do except switch back to S9/4G?”
    What you can try anyway: What does the result look like if you set the technology to 4G in the network settings of your Samsung Galaxy S20?

What else would interest me regardless:

Which app did you test this with?

Do you have the latest software installed on your device?

Where were the tests? (Outdoor or indoor? How far away were you from the 5G+ antenna? The general locations would you [here](https://map.geo.admin.ch/?topic=funksender&lang=de&bgLayer=ch.swisstopo.pixelkarte-farben&layers=ch.bakom.mobil-antennenstandorte-5g,ch.bakom.radio- Fernsehensender,ch .bakom.mobil-antennalocations-gsm,ch.bakom.mobil -antennenlocatione-umts,ch.bakom.mobil-antennenlocatione-lte,ch.swisstopo.swissboundaries3d-gemeinde-flaeche.f ill&catalogNodes=403,408&layers_visibility=true,false,false,false,false,true&E=2627900.02&N=1198450.00&zoom=1) - there is definitely a location that overlaps well with the coverage, otherwise just contact me via PM with the address details).

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Hello @RubenR

I had tested all possible locations, but never came up with the idea of ​​doing the “S20/5G vs. S20/4G” test and in fact your results in this test are comparable (poor). Therefore the problem may really be with the S20 and not with the network.

Thanks - I’m one step further, but unfortunately I’m not there yet:

  • Updates: After I received the new device from Swisscom yesterday, I installed all available updates
  • App: Use “SpeedTest Master” from the Android Shop - is there another recommendation (but apparently the app is not the source of the error)
  • 5G antenna: As I said, I’m in a town where I should have 5G+ and on your map the (absolutely) nearest 5G antenna is 409m away, the next antenna in the same community is 660m away from my position.
  • The tests were comparable outdoors and indoors (and since the S9 works well indoors, that doesn’t seem to be the cause).

Is there anything else I could do?

Do I have to assume that the device is defective? Or is that just standard on the S20?

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1. Chrome and Google search don’t work well on the S20 series yet. So I had enough and switched to the Firefox browser. Now the 5G is running again!

2. I live right on the border of 5g and 5g+. You notice this when the S20 5g symbol often changes from transparent to filled!

3. You can switch from 3g/4g/5g to 2g/3g/4g on the S20 under Settings-Connections-Mobile Networks then it uses a maximum of 4g!

greetings Albatross

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Exactly! Parliament recently rejected the reinforcement of the 5g antennas, which would mean that 30,000-40,000 new antennas would be necessary for Switzerland-wide coverage! Almost impossible!

Albatross

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So reinforcing doesn’t do much more. Basically, higher frequencies (as is the case with 5G up to 60 GHz) can be broadcast less far and can also penetrate fewer objects, so they are also harmless to people, but unfortunately there are still a few aluminum hat wearers

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@Albatros2 wrote:

correct at high ghz. but the current swisscom 5g and 5g+ uses the same frequencies as 4g 800mhz and 1800mhz ;-)

No. The frequency band in which the mobile signal for 4G/LTE, 5G and 5G+ is broadcast by the Swiss mobile phone providers can be found on the Wikipedia page:

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobilfunkfrequencies_in_der_Switzerland

visible.

The difference between 5G and 5G+ is below:

[/t5/Mobile/5G-vs-5G-fast-What-is-the-difference/td-p/601667](https://community.swisscom.ch/t5/Mobile/5G-vs-5G-fast -What-is-the-difference/td-p/601667)

described in detail.

The current state of knowledge is that Swisscom’s mobile phone antennas broadcast the 5G signal on band 1 (2100 MHz) and the 5G+ signal on bands 42 & 43. Anyone who finds out that other mobile phone bands in Switzerland are used for broadcasting 5G/5G+ Please feel free to update the Wikipedia website mentioned.

To use 5G+, an undisturbed line of sight to a “Massive MIMO” antenna from Swisscom is required. See:

/t5/Mobile/HTC-5G-Hub/m-p/620380

Which data transfer rates and packet turnaround times (RTT => ping test) can be achieved depends largely on which mobile radio frequency bands the mobile phone can bundle (carrier aggregation => CA). See:

[/t5/Mobile/5g-wo-ist-die-Geschwindigkeit-mainten/m-p/575010#M5974](https://community.swisscom.ch/t5/Mobile/5g-wo-ist-die-Geschwindigkeit-mainten /m-p/575010#M5974)

The more bandwidth the mobile phone can use at the same time, the more likely it is that high data transfer rates with short packet turnaround times will be achieved.

The bandwidth of all Swisscom’s 5G mobile signals to cover city regions is still very low. For proper mobile phone coverage in city regions, the use of mobile signals < 3000 MHz is necessary!

For proper mobile phone coverage in rural regions, the use of mobile signals < 1000 MHz is required. Therefore, rural regions in Switzerland can only be provided with 5G mobile communications with the use of band 28 (700 MHz) or band 8 (900 MHz)!

After switching off the 2G/GSM mobile network (end of 2020), Swisscom will probably broadcast a Switzerland-wide, 10 MHz wide 5G mobile signal on band 8 (900 MHz). This 5G mobile signal enables the coverage of rural regions with 5G mobile communications.

[https://community.swisscom.ch/t5/Mobile/5G-functions-not-right-15x-slower-than-4G/m-p/620471](https://community.swisscom.ch/t5/Mobile/ 5G-doesn’t-work-properly-15x-slower-than-4G/m-p/620471)

When using a 5G-capable cell phone, the issue of “DSS” must also be taken into account.

[https://community.swisscom.ch/t5/Mobile/Samsung-S20-5G-poor-connection-with-jede-Netz-und-Wireless/m-p/655812] (https://community.swisscom.ch/t5/Mobile/Samsung-S20-5G-besser-Connection-mit-jede-Netz-und-Wireless/m-p/655812)

[https://community.swisscom.ch/t5/Mobile/Sehr-tiefe-Download-Geschwindigkeit-mit-4G-und-5G/td-p/654100](https://community.swisscom.ch/t5/ Mobile/Very-deep-download-speed-with-4G-and-5G/td-p/654100)

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sorry for the mistake. I just consulted the service menu of my S20 Ultra again:

The 5G oscillates between band N1 (2100Mhz) and band 78 (3500Mhz).

Show original language (German)

5G wide runs at 2100 MHz and currently only offers 5 MHz bandwidth; whereas here with 4G LTE we have 70 MHz bandwidth (in Netstal, Glarnerland) - but that should be similar throughout Switzerland. With these few 5 MHz, 5G cannot offer really good data rates; 4G LTE far exceeds that.

But 5G wide should soon be able to use 30 MHz bandwidth via DSS on 2100 MHz, then things will look much better.

5G almost at 3600 MHz naturally runs much better/faster, there is also 120 MHz bandwidth available.

I hope that the 5G and 4G technologies can soon be used in combination and that the 5G bands can also be interconnected, as we can already do with 4G.

But there are also false displays on the devices: Both my Oppo and my Samsung S20 show 5G here in Netstal, although definitely and 100% definitely no 5G is being broadcast here. The same also applies to other locations that do not broadcast 5G; 5G is supposed to start at the locations soon, but there is some fibbing from Swisscom. In Netmonitor you can see exactly what is really going on.

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6 days later

When purchasing a 5G-capable cell phone, you should make sure that 5G is supported in Band 28 (n28 => APT band FDD)! In 10 to 20 years, Band 28 will be the most important cellular frequency band for basic cellular coverage worldwide (excluding Canada and the USA). See also:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia-Pacific_Telecommunity_band_plan_in_the_700_MHz_band

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5G_NR_frequency_bands

Band 28 will replace today’s most important mobile radio frequency bands 8 (900 MHz) and 5 (850 MHz).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM_frequency_bands

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UMTS_frequency_bands

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LTE_frequency_bands

https://www.spectrummonitoring.com/frequencies/

For more information on the mobile frequency bands to be supported for basic mobile phone coverage, see:

[/t5/Mobile/2G-Abschaltung-2020-neue-weisse-Flecken-no-Empfang/m-p/618372](https://community.swisscom.ch/t5/Mobile/2G-Abschaltung-2020-neue-weisse -Stains-no-reception/m-p/618372)

5G-ready mobile phones supporting band n28 are listed on the GSMArena website:

https://www.gsmarena.com/results.php3?s5Gs=28

For basic 5G coverage in the USA+Canada, the cell phone must also support the cellular frequency bands n12, n13, n14 and n71. These mobile frequency bands are in the range of 600 - 800 MHz.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_5G_NR_networks

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_LTE_networks

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