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Communications United States

Consumers are Confused by 5G (strategyanalytics.com) 150

Posted by msmash from the closer-look dept.
Awareness of 5G is relatively high in the US market but significant confusion exists. From a report: Overcoming the confusion among flagship buyers that believe they already have 5G is an industry created problem that needs to be addressed. A new report from the User Experience Strategies group at Strategy Analytics has assessed consumer awareness, expectations, and potential adoption of 5G and found that smartphone price was overwhelmingly the biggest factor for not buying 5G. Surveying consumers in the US via web-survey, key report findings include: Nearly two thirds of consumers surveyed claimed 'Basic Familiarity' or to be 'Very Familiar' with 5G, but of this nearly one fifth of consumers already thought they had 5G. While one in four consumers in the US listed 5G as an important feature, one in five didn't yet see a need for 5G, or wanted to wait until the benefits of 5G were proven before purchasing this technology. Apple fans in the US believe they are 5G leaders despite market reality. But when asked which brand they would buy for 5G capabilities, overall consumers ranked Samsung neck and neck with Apple as the most preferred.
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Consumers are Confused by 5G More

Consumers are Confused by 5G

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  • The only thing I'm confused about (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Dixie_Flatline ( 5077 ) <vincent@jan@goh.gmail@com> on Wednesday November 27, 2019 @11:53AM (#59462616) Homepage

    Is why anyone thinks that this is better, that I should care, or that I should want to upgrade my phone for this.
    Actually, I lied, I'm mostly not even confused about those things: this is a needless upgrade meant to line somebody's pockets. I guess I still don't know why I should want it, though.

    Every time I read a story about 5G I hear about how hard it is to roll out, the insane number of towers or relays it'll require, and how it seems to be a complete and utter logistical nightmare.

    • Re:The only thing I'm confused about (Score:5, Funny)

      by ElectronicSpider ( 6381110 ) on Wednesday November 27, 2019 @11:55AM (#59462630)
      It offers higher badnwidth with lower latencies, so you can watch that 4k video with youtube compression on a tiny screen that won't let you appreciate any change in quality beyond 1080p. I think it's worth every penny.

      • You just broke my sarcasm detector, friend!

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Ksevio ( 865461 )

        But new phones have better screens or can plug into a larger one. The big issue would be if phone companies still keep the ridiculous limits of a few gb each month then there wouldn't be any point in having the extra bandwidth since you'd hit the limit in a couple minutes

        • The big issue would be if phone companies still keep the ridiculous limits of a few gb each month then there wouldn't be any point in having the extra bandwidth since you'd hit the limit in a couple minutes

          In this day in age, who still doesn't have unlimited data on their phones?

          Heck, I didn't even know they still offered limited data on phones.

      • Easier yet- will cook your brains and alter your DNA faster than 4G.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sycodon ( 149926 )

      Most of the time my iPhoneX is using LTE.

      Didn't AT&T out out some kind of fake 5G marketing crap a while ago?

      • Didn't AT&T out out some kind of fake 5G marketing crap a while ago?

        Right, AT&T's "5GE" is probably adding to the confusion.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by godrik ( 1287354 )

      I am pretty unclear why we need this at this point. I never saturate my 4G. My phone pretty much reply to all network apps with little perceivable latency.
      5G answer problems of new applications. But out current applications don't need more bandwidth or lower latency.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by cusco ( 717999 )

        The point of 5G isn't phones (except for the marketing to push people to upgrade to a new one). The looming issue for 4G is the exploding growth of IoT devices and their need to communicate. There are already more IoT devices in use than there are humans on Earth, there will probably be 20 billion of them by this time next year. 4G networks can't handle that amount of traffic, even if most of them only transmit when needed.

        • So you're saying 5G is for IOT infrastructure, and not for people's phones.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by cusco ( 717999 )

            Congratulations! You've got it! Phones will see some benefit, principally that the network won't be saturated by non-phone traffic.

          • So you're saying 5G is for IOT infrastructure, and not for people's phones.

            Yes. Why do you think their primary goal was to reduce airwave congestion and increase subscriber count? I mean that has dramatic knock on benefits to phone users, but that's not the purpose of the rollout.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by dryeo ( 100693 )

          How many of those IoT devices need their own data plan and who's paying for it?

      • Re:The only thing I'm confused about (Score:4, Interesting)

        by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Wednesday November 27, 2019 @06:54PM (#59464462)

        I never saturate my 4G.

        So you've never been in a public place with a large group of people like a football stadium or a concert. That's why you think you've never saturated your 4G link? 5G isn't about speed to your device (that is simply a feature from the mm-band spectrum that 5G is *also* capable of). There's a metric fuckton* of changes under the hood between 4G and 5G that dramatically improve QoS, especially as subscriber counts on a tower rise.

        *metric fucktons are like imperial fucktons except when you divide them by the speed of light you get something I pulled from my behind.

    • 5G lets you get the tower's full bandwidth nearly all the time, instead of suffering slowdowns during high usage like with 4G. People are mocking it doing comparisons with 4G when the tower is under light load. But that's not the situation that 5G is meant to deal with. It's meant to deal with cases when an overwhelming number of people are trying to use the same tower. The higher bandwidth of 5G means that each individual user's bandwidth request can be taken care of more quickly (usually within a fractio

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by dryeo ( 100693 )

        So what you are saying is that like increasing highway lanes, it won't help bandwidth for long as the number of users will just increase to fill all those lanes as well as moving the choke points to a different location and increase our taxes or introduce new tolls.

    • Actually, I lied, I'm mostly not even confused about those things: this is a needless upgrade meant to line somebody's pockets.
      Every time I read a story about 5G I hear about how hard it is to roll out, the insane number of towers or relays it'll require

      There's a reason for this. It's because you are confused about what 5G actually is.

  • Can't they see its a whole G more than the last? That is their signal to consume not ask questions.

  • It's a distraction (Score:3)

    by Tablizer ( 95088 ) on Wednesday November 27, 2019 @12:06PM (#59462692) Journal

    Good service, such as coverage, customer care, and infrastructure support, can be had in 4g and below. Newer technology alone doesn't improve those. 5g may provide the potential for improving those, but if the service provider doesn't put in the necessary elbow grease, it's not an improvement from a consumer's perspective.

    It's comparable to giving a better programming language to lousy programmers: you'll still get lousy code.

  • Not just consumers ... (Score:5, Informative)

    by fahrbot-bot ( 874524 ) on Wednesday November 27, 2019 @12:06PM (#59462694)

    Consumers are Confused by 5G

    So is AT&T [att.com]

    5G Evolution is our first step on the road to 5G. We’re starting by enabling faster speeds on our existing LTE network—up to 2x faster than standard LTE.

    Dear AT&T, Faster 4G / LTE is *not* 5G. Your tech should be called 4G Evolution.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • 5G has been deployed in the US but most people can't use it yet and don't have a 5G phone. 4G uses frequencies below 6 GHz while 5G uses frequencies between 30 GHz and 300 GHz. Because of this 5G can support many more devices and deliver much better performance, a peak performance 20 times faster than 4G. It will also deliver lower latency which is important for the industry, with remote controlled machinery. But since it does require a direct line of sight between the antenna and the device simple things l

        • Where, outside, in a city, will you ever have line of sight to a base station??
          Might aswell use wifi.

          And rurally, with its tiny range for anything fast, it is even more unrealistic to ever deploy in a sensible fashion.

          Where the hell are those "personal virtual base station"s we were promised, by the way? Those created from multiple normal ones via interference.

          • Well there is a sub-6 GHz 5G (low-band) that is only 35% better than 4G but with very low latency ant that will be deployed in rural areas.
      • I don't see 5G as a huge driver for people upgrading their phones. I see it more as an alternative to wired ISP's for those who either 1.) can't get a traditional wired connection to their house for whatever reason, or 2.) those that are looking for an alternative to their local wired ISP monopoly. I could also see it being a big selling point for those who work remotely and like to travel a lot. In that case, having a 5G-capable phone tethered to your laptop would be nice.

        • Right now it wouldn't make a difference the closest area with 5G is 128 miles away and it took them about 5 years to get 4G into my area and even then it was spotty for a couple years. Most of the places I would enjoy traveling are probably not at the top of the list for 5G roll outs just like where I live.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by cusco ( 717999 )

          The reason the networks are upgrading to 5G isn't for their telephone customers, it's to support the 20+ billion IoT devices that will all need connectivity by this time next year.

      • With 4G to 5G... uhm. *crickets*

        The point of 5G is to enable more bandwidth in crowded locations like stadiums so that people in those locations can have a working connection, and for cellular-linked IoT devices which are increasing in number. It won't really make anything else better, but those are real things.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by dragisha ( 788 )

      Once upon a time, we had Embrace, extend, and extinguish [wikipedia.org].

      This new trend should be called Obscure, Buy Time and Survive.

  • I'd love to have 5G, but it's not going to be available to me for years. So why should I care?

  • What do you have for $10-$15 ? ...

  • 5G? (Score:5, Funny)

    by DontBeAMoran ( 4843879 ) on Wednesday November 27, 2019 @12:12PM (#59462728)

    I finally caved in and bought a SIM to get 3G data, only six months ago. This means I should switch to 5G in... about a decade.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by xlsior ( 524145 )

      I finally caved in and bought a SIM to get 3G data, only six months ago. This means I should switch to 5G in... about a decade.

      Enjoy it, while it lasts:

      - Verizon has already announced that it will end support for 3G devices on its network on Dec 31, 2019.
      - AT&T stopped permitting new 3G devices from entering its certification lab in June of 2019. This means device manufacturers can no longer develop new devices with 3G AT&T network support. Industry analysts expect that AT&T will soon follow this up with an official announcement that it will shut down its 3G network support.
      - T-Mobile CTO Nerville Ray told the Mobi

      • I'm in Canada. Probably one of the few country on this planet that is worst than the USA in terms of cellular networks and monthly plans.

  • I refuse to be a guinea pig for this technology.
  • From all the "5G" news headlines, it's easy to get the impression that 5G is going to cause health problems and interfere with critical systems like GPS. Unlike with 4G/LTE rolled out, there seems to be no industry-wide fanfare and support for 5G. It's like they're trying to sneak it in under the radar and only saying 5 > 4 so 5G > 4G.

  • I've had to explain to many non-technical people that the "5G" on the AP name of some dual band routers is not the same thing as 5G in terms of cell phone radios.

  • It doesn't help that 5G is also the branding some companies use for their 5Ghz Wifi products.

  • The time to adopt 5G will come when (a) you cannot buy a device that does not have it; and, (b) when the current device needs replacing. I place this time to be about the year 2030 or so. Otherwise it provides nothing of use that one does not already have.

  • We don't need 5G, or 4K HDTV for that matter (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Rick Schumann ( 4662797 ) on Wednesday November 27, 2019 @12:37PM (#59462846) Journal
    What do these things have in common? They aren't driven by the desire to innovate or improve end-user experience, they are driven by the need to continue profiting. Current HDTV is more than adequate unless you have a Jumbotron-sized TV -- which no one but a sports stadium has. 4G wireless is more than adequate; it's faster than many peoples' wired broadband service. All they're really after is making you toss your devices in the e-waste bin and buy an expensive new one, at a major profit to the manufacturer. That's all.
    • I dunno, sports in 4K is pretty bitchin'.

    • What do these things have in common? They aren't driven by the desire to innovate or improve end-user experience, they are driven by the need to continue profiting.

      What we really need is an end-user performance benchmark. All I care about is performance that I can see in terms of the apps that I use. I don't care about bits per second unless that noticeably improves browser latency, total download time, buffering, etc. If the bottleneck is the server, my device's processor or memory, or the software, then the network speed could be infinite and my user experience wouldn't improve. Of course, the really practical benchmark is what my eyes can detect. If the benchm

    • What do these things have in common? They aren't driven by the desire to innovate or improve end-user experience, they are driven by the need to continue profiting. Current HDTV is more than adequate unless you have a Jumbotron-sized TV -- which no one but a sports stadium has. 4G wireless is more than adequate; it's faster than many peoples' wired broadband service. All they're really after is making you toss your devices in the e-waste bin and buy an expensive new one, at a major profit to the manufacturer. That's all.

      I really didn't need HDTV either, to be honest. Crappy writing and acting are not improved by getting to see every last body hair.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by cusco ( 717999 )

      You're looking at the wrong target market. You're right that there won't be many if any benefits for consumer telephone customers, but for IoT deployments. The estimated 20+ billion IoT devices that will be deployed by this time next year will swamp the 4G networks.

      • This makes no sense whatsoever. Why on earth would an "Internet of Shit" device have a cellular data connection? The mind boggles. Perish the thought. And who is going to be PAYING for all this cellular network connectivity?

        Clearly you have drunk the kool-aid!

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by cusco ( 717999 )

          Do you intend to pull cable to every smart streetlamp, every traffic camera, every truck scale, every automated weather station, every fish counter, every vending machine, etc. etc. ? I hope not, and yes, the mind boggles at the amount of data this is all going to produce, all of which needs to be carried from Point A to Point B.

          Who's paying for it? The cost savings from improved efficiencies. You don't need some poor college student sitting at a fish ladder all day counting fish, the driver doesn't have

          • I see. So instead of a poor college student sitting at a fish ladder all day counting fish, you want to have that poor student starving to death and let the rotting corpse smell up the place worse than the fish? Same for the driver that is now at home starving to death because his job, which used to be full time, is now only 5 minutes per week, at the same hourly rate?

            And you expect the "cost savings" to go anywhere other than executive bonuses? You are a naive one, aren't you?

      • As a back-of-the-napkin estimate, I'd say we don't need 99% of so-called 'Internet of Things' crap, either, so that pretty much invalidates your statement. ;-)

    • Whereas HDR is a much better improvement than 4K, I still also like 4K.

      I have a 50 inch screen. I notice the diference.

      I wear glasses , my eyes are not that good. I worry that people who cannot notice the difference are allowed to drive.

      Still, same old.

    • What do these things have in common?

      I know this! There are cynical end users who have no fucking idea what the point of the technological development was in the first place just because they think it applies to their phone or their TV. (hint: it doesn't, and it doesn't).

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Wednesday November 27, 2019 @12:39PM (#59462852)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Consumers are confused by a network cable (Score:4, Insightful)

    by smooth wombat ( 796938 ) on Wednesday November 27, 2019 @12:42PM (#59462866) Journal

    I can't count the number of times I hear people I work with talking about wireless connectivity issues they're having at home. This is regardless of whether they work from home all the time or on a day or two depending on their schedule.

    Invariably I tell them to plug a network cable into their router and then their machine so they won't have those problems. I get a blank stare, the kind you can wave your hand in front of and they don't blink. It's as if having a physical connection is foreign to them.

    And yet, we're supposed to expect these same people to have the vaguest idea of what 5G is?

    • I have met those people, they are the same people that put a fury pillow in their lap and place their laptop on it then are confused when it over heats and fan get's loud.

  • Chances are we are getting scammed all the time and we don't know it.

    To become an expert in something it takes 10,000 hours of practice in it. After 8th grade we normally begin to focus our studies in more of a narrow area and grows more and more narrower as we gain more education.

    Society tells me as a consumer that I should know how ethically sourced my food is, all the nutrition specs in it. To go to the gym every day and exercise in a special way that is optimal. Knowing all the side effect of any medi

  • Of course they are (Score:3)

    by twocows ( 1216842 ) on Wednesday November 27, 2019 @12:51PM (#59462908)
    It's a moderately complex technical topic. It's not a flat upgrade like the carriers would like to present it as, it's a tool that's useful in certain situations and undesirable in others. The nuance of that is obviously going to be lost on people who aren't familiar with the topic, that's hardly surprising.

    • Everything is not simple, news at ten.

      FFS. anyone here who does not know that is probably dead and should stop posting.

    • To be fair to consumers, it would appear that about 75% of Slashdot posters also have no idea what 5G is or what it's purpose is either.

  • 5G won't ever be that big of a benefit for mobile cell service. It will ultimately become a needed platform once future technologies become embedded in our lives. These can include IoT, augmented reality, self driving cars, etc..

    Here are some forward-looking use cases of 5G: https://www.sdxcentral.com/5g/... [sdxcentral.com]

    • Lovely kool-aid, but all complete rubbish! Who exactly is going to pay for all this cellular connectivity? Not me, that is for sure. I doubt the Ford Motor Company will be paying for a cellular data service contract for each of the cars they sell either.

      • Who exactly is going to pay for all this cellular connectivity?

        You know that cellular connectivity is effectively free in much of the world right? I mean I spent $10 on a SIM card 9 months ago for a project and hasn't chewed through it's data limit, and I have a buying power of one, not the buying power of an IoT company.

    • Actually it is a use case for cell services too, particularly in congested areas like sports arenas.

  • The actual issue that will come about as we shift to 5G speeds, is that users will gobble up their data limits much more quickly, and start paying more for their "Unlimited" or "Truly Unlimited" plan when they get throttled back to 3G speeds for the last three weeks of the month.

    The issue is similar to having Gigabit speeds at home, when you have a 1TB cap on your up/down data in a month. Telecoms in general are pushing us faster, so we can hit that data cap quicker and be forced to pay more to up the cap

    • I have pointed that out on a couple occasions two and a half hours to download 1TB on a gigabit connection the cable sales guy that was trying to get me to upgrade had no idea.

    • You make the errant assumption that greater bandwidth equals larger volume. While in fact this may be the case up to a point, it does not hold.

      If you have a water pipe capable of delivering 8 oz of drinking water per day, you will only be able to consume 8 oz of water per day. The volume is limited by the bandwidth. As you upgrade your plumbing you will eventually reach the point at which it delivers the gallon per day that you can consume. Further upgrades in the bandwidth will not result in you consum

  • I just replaced my 4-year-old cell phone that won't take a charge any more (and nearly more to repair than replace-with-refurbished) with a refurbished one that is a slight downgrade.

    It manages the bandwidth needed for communications and surfing and maps, so I'm about done with actual "needs". Watching TV on a phone is a bad joke except for 1-minute clips for humour.

    I think the problem with 5G is a real lack of reason for it; what do you DO with that bandwidth, except watch video on a tiny screen? WiFi p

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by xlsior ( 524145 )

      I think the problem with 5G is a real lack of reason for it; what do you DO with that bandwidth, except watch video on a tiny screen? WiFi provides that in a lot of popular locations right now, but most people aren't using it. 5G would have a lot of people behind it if the trains and coffee shops of the world were filled with customers cranky that everybody was maxing out the wifi with all their coffee-shop video watching.

      People would "know about 5G" because they were looking for solutions to a problem. They're not. Because they don't see a problem.

      5G needs a killer app that requires it; hi-rez video does, but it's just not popular enough to add a hundred to your phone and tens of dollars a month to your mobile bill.

      Aside from that: how many of the people who think they 'need' 5G realize that it comes at a cost of significantly reduced battery life and phones that run a lot hotter? In many areas, it seems like a solution looking for a problem.

    • It manages the bandwidth needed for communications and surfing and maps, so I'm about done with actual "needs".

      Bet you that you can't make a phone call from a football stadium.

      You can with 5G.

      Also 5G has a killer app, but you and your phone have nothing at all to do with it. There's a reason the primary goal of the standard was orders of magnitude increases in subscriber count per tower, and it's not because they expect everyone to buy 10 cell phones.

  • Has for several years, what's the problem? Any confusion they brought upon themselves, first using a name that is already in use for a related technology, then calling things 5G when it isn't, oh hi AT&T!

  • 5G ... passes through almost nothing, almost like light. ... Has a range almost as bad or even worse than wifi ... but is much slower than light.

    5G -- The worst of all worlds!

    Which, looking a how people buy SUVs and fixie bicycles and Apple jewelry, and generally nowadays bad is good, will proably make it wildly popular!

    But still ...

    5G -- Reach your data cap in under 10 seconds!

    Or go with the former 4G slogan:

    5G -- "Up to" means "Never"!

  • Consumers are confused by... (Score:3)

    by JoeDuncan ( 874519 ) on Wednesday November 27, 2019 @02:13PM (#59463398)

    ...bagged milk. What's new?

  • 5G implies that you'll have much faster data transfer - when you get 5G coverage, which, so far, is not very likely to happen. Also, 5G phones are much more expensive. than ordinary ones That's it. What's the confusion?

  • What people are confused about is the hype.

    2G was crap, base 3G was bad, top end 3G and especially 4G is actually quite reasonable, if not damn near good.

    It's very rare for me to complain about my throughput or latency anymore on my cell phone. Infact, often in Australia with only 20MBit home / work internet connections, if urgent, I switch to my cell phone for faster down or uploads.

    5G is going to be faster (duh) and there's absoloutely nothing wrong with that, in time we will need 5G and I'm sure it uses

    • So that when the grubbermint announces that they are going to make you pay a subsidy to the telco's to implement it, you will be all cheery and pay without protest.

  • at$t is really confusing their customers by replacing 4g with 5ge at the top of the phones. Customers who don't know think they are getting 5g.

  • Apple (Score:3)

    by nasch ( 598556 ) on Wednesday November 27, 2019 @04:25PM (#59463942)

    Apple fans in the US believe they are 5G leaders despite market reality.

    That's hilarious since Apple makes zero 5G devices.

  • Investors react to quarterly profits so no company on the stock exchange can do anything long term â" especially given the consumers greed when it comes to getting service. Given that a majority of people are dumb, AT&T and other telcos were forced to put out confusing 5G info. You canâ(TM)t blame AT&T for being addicted to getting short term profits. The publics greed for phone services caused this. Iâ(TM)m sorry but you have to blame consumers and the public in general for being the

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