Any good reasons to get a 5g phone?

[spiritess]

I will be getting a new phone in the near future and trying to figure out if there is a good reason to get a 5g phone. When smart phones came out, i immediately saw the benefits over dumb phones and did not wait to long to get one. But what can 5g do for me that a 4g phone cant? The only thing I can think of is using the super fast 5g for internet gaming.

[flying_pan]

Sounds like the only advantage is internet speed. I am not sure about latency, but download/upload speed should be enormous.

Personally, I don't even need LTE (4G), although I think you can't escape it today, for my purposes 3G worked just fine. Granted, internet is more bloated now thanks to increased bandwidth, but you definitely don't need it right now. So, if you need to pay premium for 5G, I wouldn't do it. It might be important in the future, but it will matter only when adoption rate is high (so you have at least several years, like ~5, and it is a lifespan of a typical phone anyway).

[chenda]

Give it a few years then review.

[Alphaville]

i have no need for this right now but i imagine people who like trading financial instruments on their phone (not me) might want every last bit of speed in the network.

i would not pay extra to get 5g but i would not pay extra to avoid it either. e.g, resale value/depreciation might be part of the calculation for some phone buyers who trade in often.

also, people wanting to get rid of home internet bill might find that 5g meets all their needs.

[C40]

IMO, no. If you don't have a specific reason for it, you don't need it. As far as I can tell, 5G is for sophisticated AI devices, and huge data transfer rates for something like, for example, VR video in really high definition.

[slsdly]

My main criteria would be network longevity, but in this case, you are probably fine.

I looked up the dates for Rogers Wireless here in Canada -- they rolled out EDGE (2.5G) in 2002, HSPA+ (3.75G) in 2006, LTE in 2011, and LTE-Advanced (4G) in 2015. They are finally getting rid of EDGE support in 2021. I think carriers were/are calling HSPA+/LTE = 4G, and LTE-A = 5G. The marketing terms are a mess and not consistent at all with the standards or each other .

EDGE was pretty slow, and smartphones really caught on with the general public with UMTS/HSPA+, so I'd expect that network to last longer than EDGE did. At least 5-10 years? The phone itself might be dead by then. If by 4G you mean LTE, then I'd say the phone will definitely be dead by then .

[spiritess]

I am getting a VR headset, maybe playing it online will be reason to get 5G. Otherwise, I agree with what everyone is saying. I want the samsung galaxy s10e and am hoping people are going to start trading theirs in for 5G phones so I can pick one up a used for cheap

[tsch]

This is an extremely naïve question: is this a change in the network, the tech on the phone, or both?

Here's the hypothetical situation I'm thinking about for myself: I look at a property, and I find that I get crappy signal with my 3G phone. Is there any chance that there's good 5G coverage there, but I just can't "see" it?

[spiritess]

its both, they are upgrading the network and you need a 5g phone to access it. but your old phone will still work fine, your not forced to switch. thats a good question about coverage and I have no idea