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Joe Fedewa / How-To Geek

5G is the newest and (supposedly) best wi-fi normal. With speeds that may typically rival residence web, it’s possible you’ll be questioning if utilizing 5G means you’ll burn by means of much more knowledge. However is that truly true? Let’s discover out.

The primary smartphone with 5G—the Samsung Galaxy S20—was launched in March 2020. Since then, we’ve seen an enormous variety of smartphones and different units with 5G help. Quicker web speeds are nice, however is it price it should you use extra knowledge within the course of?

RELATED: What Is 5G, and How Fast Is It?

5G Doesn’t Use Knowledge

Right here’s the factor—your web connection doesn’t even have something to do with how much data you use. 5G—or LTE, 3G, Wi-Fi, and so on—don’t use knowledge, they decide the pace of which the information travels.

Consider 5G or every other web connection just like the pace restrict on a highway. The pace restrict determines how briskly the automobiles can drive; not what number of automobiles may be on the highway. 5 automobiles is 5 automobiles, irrespective of the pace restrict.

The identical may be stated for 5G. In the event you’re downloading a file that’s 1GB, that’s how a lot knowledge you’re utilizing. It doesn’t matter if the file downloads in 30 seconds or 5 minutes. 1GB is 1GB. So in case your web utilization habits are the identical with 5G as they had been with LTE, you gained’t use any extra knowledge.

Quicker Speeds Let You Do Extra

That final assertion is the important thing to this query. Doing the identical issues on 5G as you probably did with LTE gained’t use extra knowledge, however the sooner speeds of 5G can let you do extra issues, and that’s what can eat up data.

Let’s say you want to observe Netflix in your telephone whilst you’re away from Wi-Fi. With LTE, you would possibly stream in 720p to keep away from buffering. The sooner 5G speeds might let you watch in full 1080p with none stuttering. Streaming 1080p undoubtedly will use more data than streaming 720p.

Quicker speeds provide you with a little bit extra freedom. You would possibly stream music from Spotify at a better high quality. Browse extra webpages whereas ready for a practice. Watch extra movies in your Fb feed. Having the ability to do extra of these things is what provides as much as utilizing extra knowledge.

RELATED: Why Unlimited Mobile Data Isn’t Actually Unlimited


To reply the query straight, 5G does have the potential to make you utilize extra knowledge. Nonetheless, it’s probably not about 5G itself—it’s how 5G allows you to use your machine. 5G isn’t forcing you to make use of extra knowledge, it’s merely a byproduct of with the ability to do extra stuff in the identical period of time it took to do much less with LTE.

The excellent news is that iPhones and Android devices have instruments built-in that can assist you control how a lot knowledge you’re utilizing. You may arrange alerts when you reach certain limits or allow “low data mode” to decelerate how a lot knowledge you’re utilizing.

RELATED: How to Track Your Data Usage on Android


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