Different 5G Bands

[ThinkMe]

 

[firesong]

This is generally why I won't get a 5G phone for now.

For those who remember, 4G went through similar - the first 3 or 4 generations were limited in their band support, but as chipsets mature and technologies trickle down to midrange and even lower, the band support became more "universal". In addition to better support, the power efficiency also increases so you get either better battery life or smaller+lighter phones. In addition to this, there is also the deployment of 5G hardware. The poorer the signal/coverage, the higher the battery drain. A bit of a catch-22.

There're a lot of people who are happy to be early adopters. Do what makes you happy. Just know that it's still at placebo levels with slightly improved speeds, but nowhere near the Gigabit speeds 5G is capable of. In fact, you're still getting 4G level data transfer speeds on supposed "5G" networks.

Just be aware of Singapore's rollout plans:
- Half of Singapore expected to be covered by end-2022.
- Islandwide Coverage is only expected by end-2025

Also note that these dates were published in April 2020, and we all know the Covid-19 pandemic has caused delays in construction, so contractor work is both more expensive and delayed. I won't be surprised if it gets delayed further.

By end-2022 or early 2023 (when Samsung typically announces new phones), we would be on 3rd/4th generation 5G chips already. That's still not really mature enough imo. And you're only getting coverage for half the island for at least 3 more years. In fact, I'd say follow Apple's product pacing - it's slightly "slower" compared to competitors like Samsung (who always push the latest and greatest specs as part of their marketing model), but Apple also is more in line with real-world deployment patterns.

During that time, there will be technological advancements to increase speed (because it's never enough) and efficiency, and again that will come with even newer chipsets. Until 2023, it's pretty safe to say there's still a lot of "early adopter" work going on while the technology is being refined and upgraded for efficiency. As some of you remember how LTE-A soon got added to boost LTE, then all these became mainstream on midrange chipsets, then soon became standard even on budget Snapdragon 400-series chips.

What we should be waiting for is full 5G SA support, along with both full sub-6 and mmWave support for all bands globally on one chipset, out of the box, on entry-midrange chipsets. That's when you know the technology is beginning to be stable. Then as advancements are added to the flagship level chips, they will trickle down faster.

https://www.imda.gov.sg/news-and-ev...apore-Forges-Ahead-with-Nationwide-5G-Rollout
tl;dr: Get 5G if you want, but know that coverage isn't optimal enough for battery life and max speed/performance. Also, 5G tech is still maturing and evolving, so wait if you can.

 

[fxsg123]

This is generally why I won't get a 5G phone for now.

For those who remember, 4G went through similar - the first 3 or 4 generations were limited in their band support, but as chipsets mature and technologies trickle down to midrange and even lower, the band support became more "universal". In addition to better support, the power efficiency also increases so you get either better battery life or smaller+lighter phones. In addition to this, there is also the deployment of 5G hardware. The poorer the signal/coverage, the higher the battery drain. A bit of a catch-22.

There're a lot of people who are happy to be early adopters. Do what makes you happy. Just know that it's still at placebo levels with slightly improved speeds, but nowhere near the Gigabit speeds 5G is capable of. In fact, you're still getting 4G level data transfer speeds on supposed "5G" networks.

Just be aware of Singapore's rollout plans:
- Half of Singapore expected to be covered by end-2022.
- Islandwide Coverage is only expected by end-2025

Also note that these dates were published in April 2020, and we all know the Covid-19 pandemic has caused delays in construction, so contractor work is both more expensive and delayed. I won't be surprised if it gets delayed further.

By end-2022 or early 2023 (when Samsung typically announces new phones), we would be on 3rd/4th generation 5G chips already. That's still not really mature enough imo. And you're only getting coverage for half the island for at least 3 more years. In fact, I'd say follow Apple's product pacing - it's slightly "slower" compared to competitors like Samsung (who always push the latest and greatest specs as part of their marketing model), but Apple also is more in line with real-world deployment patterns.

During that time, there will be technological advancements to increase speed (because it's never enough) and efficiency, and again that will come with even newer chipsets. Until 2023, it's pretty safe to say there's still a lot of "early adopter" work going on while the technology is being refined and upgraded for efficiency. As some of you remember how LTE-A soon got added to boost LTE, then all these became mainstream on midrange chipsets, then soon became standard even on budget Snapdragon 400-series chips.

What we should be waiting for is full 5G SA support, along with both full sub-6 and mmWave support for all bands globally on one chipset, out of the box, on entry-midrange chipsets. That's when you know the technology is beginning to be stable. Then as advancements are added to the flagship level chips, they will trickle down faster.

https://www.imda.gov.sg/news-and-ev...apore-Forges-Ahead-with-Nationwide-5G-Rollout
tl;dr: Get 5G if you want, but know that coverage isn't optimal enough for battery life and max speed/performance. Also, 5G tech is still maturing and evolving, so wait if you can.

I have similar thinking.
5G is not mature basically but theres no lack of early adopter.

for these adopter they can either paid for said SingTel 5G SA or go for “free 5G “ like giga.

 

[Jirachi]

This is generally why I won't get a 5G phone for now.

Same sentiments.

 

[steven168z]

 

[Hi1307]

This is generally why I won't get a 5G phone for now.

For those who remember, 4G went through similar - the first 3 or 4 generations were limited in their band support, but as chipsets mature and technologies trickle down to midrange and even lower, the band support became more "universal". In addition to better support, the power efficiency also increases so you get either better battery life or smaller+lighter phones. In addition to this, there is also the deployment of 5G hardware. The poorer the signal/coverage, the higher the battery drain. A bit of a catch-22.

There're a lot of people who are happy to be early adopters. Do what makes you happy. Just know that it's still at placebo levels with slightly improved speeds, but nowhere near the Gigabit speeds 5G is capable of. In fact, you're still getting 4G level data transfer speeds on supposed "5G" networks.

Just be aware of Singapore's rollout plans:
- Half of Singapore expected to be covered by end-2022.
- Islandwide Coverage is only expected by end-2025

Also note that these dates were published in April 2020, and we all know the Covid-19 pandemic has caused delays in construction, so contractor work is both more expensive and delayed. I won't be surprised if it gets delayed further.

By end-2022 or early 2023 (when Samsung typically announces new phones), we would be on 3rd/4th generation 5G chips already. That's still not really mature enough imo. And you're only getting coverage for half the island for at least 3 more years. In fact, I'd say follow Apple's product pacing - it's slightly "slower" compared to competitors like Samsung (who always push the latest and greatest specs as part of their marketing model), but Apple also is more in line with real-world deployment patterns.

During that time, there will be technological advancements to increase speed (because it's never enough) and efficiency, and again that will come with even newer chipsets. Until 2023, it's pretty safe to say there's still a lot of "early adopter" work going on while the technology is being refined and upgraded for efficiency. As some of you remember how LTE-A soon got added to boost LTE, then all these became mainstream on midrange chipsets, then soon became standard even on budget Snapdragon 400-series chips.

What we should be waiting for is full 5G SA support, along with both full sub-6 and mmWave support for all bands globally on one chipset, out of the box, on entry-midrange chipsets. That's when you know the technology is beginning to be stable. Then as advancements are added to the flagship level chips, they will trickle down faster.

https://www.imda.gov.sg/news-and-ev...apore-Forges-Ahead-with-Nationwide-5G-Rollout
tl;dr: Get 5G if you want, but know that coverage isn't optimal enough for battery life and max speed/performance. Also, 5G tech is still maturing and evolving, so wait if you can.

I disagree. Most of the global (ITU Region 1 and 3) 5G bands are supported by flagship or even mid range phones now

Example: Xiaomi 12 Pro

Even last gen phones support most global bands
Example: Samsung A52s (2021)

Example: Google Pixel 6 (2021)

These current and last gen devices even support some ITU Region 2 (Americas) bands, making them truly global phones. For example, T-Mobile USA uses Bands n41 and n66 for 5G, which both devices already support. The Pixel 6 even supports n71 for long range 5G.

In my experience, when roaming with TPG, I managed to connect to NSA 5G overseas, on Telecom Italia (TIM) with my Mi 11 Lite 5G (a last gen mid range phone), and I had no issues with range or connectivity.

Power consumption is a concern, but most 5G phones already have beefed up batteries so you won't really experience less battery life, especially as we're on our 5th gen of 5G modems already (X50, X55, X60, X65, X70 just released).

As for coverage, in my experience we have full outdoor (SA) coverage. I haven't dropped 5G signal once while outdoors, and that's with the "worst" telco M1. Speeds are excellent too, on 5G my minimum speed is 500Mbps, around 10x my average 4G speed on the same telco. NSA (DSS) 5G is just a modern day scam, but on Band n78 I'd say the ecosystem is now fairly mature (because Singapore was already late to the party). And with 3GPP Rel 16 equipment and modems being rolled out widely by both SingTel and Antina, as well as phone vendors, we should see further refinements to the 5G standard. While it will never reach the power efficiency of 4G (like how 4G isn't as efficient as 3G), I think 5G is now worth buying into for any phone above $500.

 

[alex22]

Why hv 50cent thread digger today