How To Tell If Your Phone Is 5G Or Not
5G networks have expanded in both speed and coverage making now the right time to check whether your phone can connect or if it's time to upgrade.
5G has been around for a couple of years now but the rollout has been slow and plenty of iPhone and Android phones still don't have the capability to connect to a 5G network. A common question is whether a person's current phone actually supports 5G now that coverage is widespread. While any phone that mentions 5G in the product description has that capability, that detail might not have stood out if the user's local carrier didn't support it at the time of purchase.
T-Mobile currently has the fastest 5G connection for most users nationwide, based on recent reports. That might change in 2022 as a new frequency band has opened up for carriers. Verizon and AT&T will see the biggest benefit from this new addition. 5G C-Band splits the difference between the super-fast mmWave version and the slower, but more widely available, Sub-6 5G. That means the speed will be greatly increased over Sub-6 and the signal will be available to many more people than mmWave.
It's actually pretty easy to identify if an existing iPhone or Android phone has 5G connectivity and there are a few different ways to check. The most obvious is to look for a 5G symbol at the top of the screen where the network signal appears. Wi-Fi must be disconnected for the 5G symbol to appear, but if it is there, that means the phone is connected to a 5G network. Looking up the phone on the manufacturer's website is another way to find out while checking the settings is the third option.
How To Check 5G Settings
If an iPhone supports 5G, the option can be found in the Settings app on the Cellular tab under Cellular Data Options. If the model is known, it's actually very easy to know about 5G without the need to check anything, as only the iPhone 12 and 13 series support 5G at the moment. While there are rumors of an iPhone SE with 5G connectivity, only the flagships from the last two years have gained support for the fastest possible mobile internet so far.
With an Android phone, knowing the model number helps, but there are too many that support 5G to list them all here. However, a quick online search or a check in the phone's settings will be able to confirm 5G support. In the Android settings app, the user can search for 'Preferred Network Type' to see which kind of cellular connections are supported. If 5G is on the list, that means the phone can connect to the network.
