Turning off 5G

6G is probably right around the corner!

What? You thought phones kept getting bigger because people wanted bigger screens?

My phones have remained essentially the same size. I have noticed the heat more in the last couple of generations. Samsung has the three sizes that haven't changed much over recent years. I get the smallest one as I'm not a fan of larger phones, and the size of the smallest hasn't changed meaningfully in many generations.

Now imagine all that thermal energy in a little black soap chip looking plastic wafer small enough to hide in your hand. A full Android phone, but incredibly tiny.

Is your battery being sucked dry using 5G?

Are you struggling to get signal in places where 4G could reach easily?

Have you noticed lately your phone no longer provides the option to turn off 5G?

Does this post seem like a cheesy TV ad?

Ahem... Sorry about that. So yeah, 5G uses more power and has shorter range than 4G, so it can be helpful to turn it off. But after a recent Android update, the option to turn off 5G was removed from a lot of phones.

So here's how you turn it off anyway:

In your phone app, dial
*#*#4636#*#*
This will bring up a hidden menu called "Hidden Menu." No, really. That's what the name of the menu is. The first item in Hidden Menu is 5G/LTE debugging. In 5G/LTE debugging, tap the options button in the top right to bring up the option to toggle turning on and off NR and LTE. LTE is 4G and NR is 5G. So if you turn off NR, your phone will only use 4G LTE.

And just like that, my phone started using LTE and saving battery again. Yay!

I dunno. This is all sounding very conspiratorial to me, Lynx. A hidden menu titled as "Hidden Menu"? Why would the programmers so obviously out themselves? Are you sure you haven't changed?

I swear it is called hidden menu, right there on the screen. Go to your phone app and dial that code and you will see it.

And then immediately close that app, because you don't want to accidentally hit anything that will completely mess up your phone being able to connect.

Joking. I'm so conspiratorial, I never believed that 5G would improve phones in the first place.

Well 5G is in fact blazing fast. If you are in a place with a good 5G signal you can get amazing download speed.

The problem... Aside from shorter range, higher battery consumption and more heat... Is that very few people really need it. 4G is dependable, longer range and fast enough to stream videos. Maybe not 4K videos, but if you're watching on a phone how good does the video resolution need to be?

It's the same problem HD DVDs had back in the day. The main competition was not Blu-ray, it was regular DVDs. Most of us were happy with regular DVDs, they were cheaper and they did the job just fine.

I didn't know that. I guess most of the people I talked to were trying to use it at mid-range, and were greatly disappointed.

Well 5G is in fact blazing fast. If you are in a place with a good 5G signal you can get amazing download speed.

The problem... Aside from shorter range, higher battery consumption and more heat... Is that very few people really need it. 4G is dependable, longer range and fast enough to stream videos. Maybe not 4K videos, but if you're watching on a phone how good does the video resolution need to be?

It's the same problem HD DVDs had back in the day. The main competition was not Blu-ray, it was regular DVDs. Most of us were happy with regular DVDs, they were cheaper and they did the job just fine.

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I'm ok with 4G. I'm using it right now because my DSL is broken. Faster speed would be nice, but not essential. Does anyone know why 5G generates more heat? I'm considering a Pixel 9 pro as my phone is now 5 years old and has no 5G.

If your area has good 5G coverage from your provider, and if you are downloading files or watching HD videos and wish your speed was faster, definitely get a 5G phone.

Otherwise, don't bother. 4G isn't going anywhere anytime soon. You've got years still to use that 4G phone you are currently using. By the time it breaks down your new phone that replaces it will almost definitely have 5G anyway.

Otherwise, don't bother. 4G isn't going anywhere anytime soon. You've got years still to use that 4G phone you are currently using. By the time it breaks down your new phone that replaces it will almost definitely have 5G anyway.