Should you upgrade your 5G package? Read this article before deciding

Recently, I often receive such calls on my two mobile phones. The customer service of China Unicom and China Telecom will subconsciously ask you to upgrade your package to 5G, but I directly refuse every time.

First of all, my city is not yet covered by 5G, and I have been using a 4G mobile phone. Upgrading to a 5G package is not only expensive, but also useless. Those who follow Xiaojia know that I have always advocated that everyone should not follow the crowd and be a deep thinker.

Whether you should upgrade your 5G package or not, make a decision after reading this article.

[[347331]]

What is 5G network

On June 6, 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology officially issued 5G commercial licenses to China Telecom, China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Broadcasting Corporation, and my country officially entered the first year of 5G commercialization.

5G is known as the "new engine of digital economy". It is not only a mobile communication technology, but also an important force that affects human progress and social development. It will be the foundation of new industries such as artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, cloud computing, and blockchain. Many people only see the arrival of the 5G era on the Internet, but what is 5G?

Let’s first look at the explanation from Baidu Encyclopedia:

5G Network is the fifth generation of mobile communication network. Its peak theoretical transmission speed can reach 20Gbps, or 2.5GB per second, which is more than 10 times faster than the transmission speed of 4G network. For example, a 1G movie can be downloaded within 4 seconds.

What are the advantages of 5G network

1. Faster Internet speed

This should be everyone's deepest understanding of one of the characteristics of 5G. How fast can it be? To give a more intuitive example, if you use 5G to download a high-definition movie, it will take no more than 5 seconds.

2. Widespread application of cloud technology

For us, 4G may still mainly solve the problems of watching movies online, chatting, playing games, etc., but 5G is more about solving data problems.

High speed is very important for cloud technology. In the future, all data will be uploaded to the cloud, and our work, life and entertainment will be entrusted to the cloud.

3. Development of the Internet of Things

Internet of Things and cloud computing are both big consumers of speed and capacity. After the development of 5G, IoT terminal devices will also undergo corresponding changes, and smart cities, smart homes, logistics and other aspects will become more intelligent. For example, our logistics information in the future may not be as simple as simply arriving in a certain city, but may be as detailed as which street it is.

4. The maturity of driverless technology

Although driverless cars are already on the road, the technology is still relatively immature, which is largely related to the network. As we mentioned above, one of the great features of 5G is low latency. This is crucial for autonomous driving. Imagine that once there is danger ahead, if the network environment does not meet the requirements, the system cannot respond quickly, and the tragedy of car crash and death is inevitable.

5. Development of VR

The concept of VR was very popular in the past two years, but as more and more people have experienced VR, the popularity has gradually declined. The reason is that VR technology is obviously not mature yet. After experiencing it, you will find that some VR helmets will make you feel dizzy, and the longer you play, the more severe the dizziness will be.

In fact, it is because the speed of data transmission cannot keep up with the reaction time of our brain and eyes, and a time difference is created between the two. Although it seems very small, it can produce a big reaction in our body.

The low latency of 5G has broken through the bottleneck in the development of VR, so it is hard to say whether we will be able to roam freely in the "Oasis" like in "Ready Player One" in the future.

5G Package Analysis

The following picture clearly shows the price comparison of 5G packages among the three major operators. The lowest-priced 128/129 packages are almost identical; the only difference is that there is suddenly an additional rate limit.

The cheapest is China Mobile's 128 yuan package, which is 1 yuan cheaper than China Unicom and China Telecom. The most expensive is the 599 yuan package of China Unicom and China Telecom. China Unicom also has more 5G packages.

Each package comes with 200-500 minutes of talk time, but to be honest, how many people communicate via phone nowadays? Anyway, my mobile phone comes with 500 minutes of talk time every month, and it’s difficult to use it for 50 minutes.

Basically, we communicate through WeChat voice or video calls, so the minutes of voice calls are actually not very valuable. However, this varies from person to person, but I believe that young people are all similar.

Let's talk about the price of traffic after exceeding the limit. China Mobile is 5 yuan/G, China Unicom and China Telecom are 3 yuan/G. Don't underestimate this data. 5G speed is so fast. Do you think the traffic data in the package is enough? With this charging standard and traffic situation, do you still dare to watch movies and short videos?

To sum up: In the 4G era, a package of 100 yuan per month is enough for you to play. In the 5G era, a package of at least 150 yuan per month can meet the most basic needs, and the future is still uncertain.

Is the 5G package worth upgrading?

First check whether your usual location is covered by 5G network. If not, there is not much point in upgrading to a 5G package. If there is coverage, then decide whether to upgrade.

If you have a 5G mobile phone, upgrading to a 5G package will definitely give you the best Internet experience. The download speed is indeed much faster than 4G, and you won’t be stuck or have frame drops when playing games.

In addition, there are now 5G applications such as cloud gaming and cloud VR. Stand-alone games in the Switch can be played on mobile phones. The 5G network has lower loading delays and the experience is better than the 4G network.

If you have a 4G phone, you can upgrade to a 5G package, and the network speed will be faster than the 4G package. However, since the hardware of the 4G phone cannot keep up, the advantages of the 5G network cannot be maximized.

To sum up: if you are in a first-tier city, 5G coverage is relatively high, and you currently have a 5G mobile phone, you are not short of money and want to experience high speed, then you can upgrade. If the 5G coverage in your city is low, I do not recommend you to upgrade even if you have a 5G mobile phone, and 4G is even more unnecessary.

5G mobile phones are worth buying, but 5G packages should wait

Xiaojia still recommends everyone to buy a 5G mobile phone, because 5G mobile phones do not interfere with the use of current 4G networks, nor do they interfere with the use of future 5G networks.

However, when you buy a 5G mobile phone, you should know the standard parameters of the 5G mobile phone:

• It must support NSA and SA, support 5G frequencies: n41, n78, n79, n1 (the 5G frequency in Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea is n77, and support for this rate must also be considered), and 120Hz mobile phone screen refresh rate.
• I recommend you to buy a 5G mobile phone, but I don’t recommend you to subscribe to a 5G package.
• Now the 5G network is not yet popular in some places. Otherwise, even if you activate the 5G package and use a 5G mobile phone, you can still only enjoy the 4G network.

Even if you live in first-tier and quasi-first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and places around well-known universities, where 5G base stations have begun to be deployed, it is recommended that you buy a 5G mobile phone and use the 4G network.

To sum up: If you buy a mobile phone in 2020, you should buy a 5G mobile phone. Unless you are a local tyrant, it is not recommended that you upgrade to a 5G package. Many 5G networks are actually useless except for measuring network speed and showing presence.

Final Thoughts

Finally, I want to complain about these operators. Now many customer service staff are hired from outside. They are extremely unprofessional when making phone calls. It’s okay for them to promote 5G, but many of them directly tell you that they will help you upgrade to 5G instead of asking for your opinion. Money doesn’t come from the wind, so please respect your users.