Despite its continued push for 5G smartphones and the $45 billion it spent on the new high-speed spectrum, Verizon is advising people to turn off access to 5G to make their batteries last longer.
Apparently, Verizon support staff posted a tweet on Sunday morning saying that if users have noticed their phone's battery draining faster than usual, they should "turn on LTE." This, of course, means turning off 5G (where available). In fact, there's no need to "turn on LTE," as it's always on as a fallback to the network . However, Verizon apparently didn't want to directly tell customers that they "need to turn off 5G."
However, Twitter users immediately commented that switching to LTE would mean disabling the next-generation network (which is available on some new phones). Verizon didn’t dwell on the battery issue at the time , but said it was important to take steps to find the root cause of any speed issues, adding that the company will bring 5G to other areas as well, while also continuously rolling out updates to improve speeds. Verizon’s 5G network uses a technology called DSS, which is slower than LTE in many cases. That’s what it’s trying to replace.
Verizon announced its big plans for 5G last month, after officially launching the next-generation network in October 2020. One of its top priorities is expanding its ultra-fast mmWave coverage, which is currently limited to parts of some U.S. cities.
As Mashable points out, 5G could be the cause of battery drain for some phones. When a technology is new, it makes sense that some unforeseen problems will be discovered. 5G is a project that is currently underway in the US. However, it is definitely something that could disappoint users.
However, it seems that other companies have also faced this issue. Samsung, for example, said that there is a problem with the battery when using 5G, but stressed that there will be improvements as the networks expand. A similar issue was also mentioned by Huawei.
Source: The Verge
