Buy a new phone in 3 months or wait for 5G phones?

[TheAngryDog]

I am in the position of wanting a new phone. Is it worth getting one of the current models or waiting for 5G enabled handsets?

[anonymous-user]

Where would you use a 5g phone in anything other than 3g or 4g mode?

[Mr-B]

^^^ Wot 'e said. Unless you live in a big city you might have to wait a while.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-46195282

[alorotom]

I’m expecting that the first couple of waves of 5G handsets will be on super sized tariffs ... personally I’d just get a current flagship

[J4CKO]

Just read about 5G, sounds like it will hammer home broadband performance wise, will people start doing away with normal wired internet in favour of 5G or will the data be really expensive ?

[mmm-five]

It will depend on where you're using it too.

On the same phone (iPhone 8)..

London (Brentford office)


Liverpool (home)


But don't use it much for downloading at home as I've got a very good broadband connection from Virgin (phone tested over wifi):


Although Three are doing their 'unlimited everything' SIMs for £20/month - so I'd buy a phone separately and add one of their SIMs.

Edited by mmm-five on Friday 12th April 16:24

[orhan]

Just moved from EE 3G to 3mobile living in West London and been honest EE was actually faster compared to 3. I am disappointed actually.

[megaphone]

J4CKO said:

Just read about 5G, sounds like it will hammer home broadband performance wise, will people start doing away with normal wired internet in favour of 5G or will the data be really expensive ?

In ten years time 'wired' home internet will more or less be gone, everyone will be using a wireless connection.

[fatboy b]

megaphone said:

In ten years time 'wired' home internet will more or less be gone, everyone will be using a wireless connection.

13 years in our house has seen us go from having no mobile signal, to having no mobile signal. So we’re not holding our breath.

[JonChalk]

megaphone said:

In ten years time 'wired' home internet will more or less be gone, everyone will be using a wireless connection.

Not unless I can download 2 xbox one games a month (say 60GB each) & approx 450GB worth of films, plus assorted streaming of BT Sport (inc 4K), Eurosport, Nat Geo & Discovery all in HD, for about £20 per month.

My router says I have used 86GB just today.

How long has 4G been around?And that still isn't cheap in volume bandwidth. For that sort of data consumption, I would be paying £100's per month (and probably being throttled as well).

[TonyRPH]

J4CKO said:

Just read about 5G, sounds like it will hammer home broadband performance wise, will people start doing away with normal wired internet in favour of 5G or will the data be really expensive ?

Wired internet will still reign supreme for gamers due to the much lower latency.

I can't see 5G replacing it wholesale any time soon.

[bloomen]

4G didn't arrive at my local mast till about 2015/16. 5G I'm expecting never. I assume it comes in a different form for the countryside as a repeater every handful of metres is a truly ludicrous idea.

When it comes to tech I might hold out for a feature I was interested in. I'd never hold out for a fundamental architectural upgrade. By the time it's actually in place the phone you get now would be long dead. And 4G is more than enough for my purposes.