I'd like to tap into your tech expertise with respect to 5G...

We have really simple needs for our phones. Right now we use them as phones and for texting, but only very rarely for other applications.

One phone is through Xfinity Mobile and uses the Verizon network; it has unlimited talk and text and 1GB of data a month (that we never use up).

The other phone is through Tracfone and is also on Verizon. We buy a year of prepaid service on Tracfone and add minutes and/or texts as needed, which isn't very often. It comes with a very small amount of data for the year, which we also never go through. I know, I know...a couple of old Luddites we are...

Cellular service around here includes all the major carriers. We've always had trouble with the quality of calls at our house. Sometimes calls are clear and sometimes they're not and dropped calls are a bit of a problem. Our neighbors' experience mirrors ours, no matter who the carrier is, AT&T, Verizon, or T-Mobile, and no matter the phone.

I used to think it was our cheapo Motorola or Samsung phones, but my neighbors with iPhones and higher end Androids have the same issue. There's a tower not that far away but we have a lot of trees between us and it. A lot of people end up using wifi calling at home because of the cellular connectivity issues.

They're rolling out 5G service in my town. We're seeing equipment go up on poles in our neighborhood. There's one at the corner, maybe 500 feet away from our house with a clear sight line.

Our Motorola phone through Xfinity Mobile is getting pretty old and I'm thinking about replacing it. I'm also considering whether to try 5G internet service instead of the Xfinity internet that I'm using now.

So my questions are...

1) Have you heard anything about the stability of 5G internet service? Is it worth considering as a replacement for a wired connection like Xfinity? I do very standard internet surfing kind of work, no big data uploads or downloads. We do steam some video but it's all HD level, not the 4K stuff.

2) If I buy a new phone that supports 5G, is it reasonable to assume that my call quality at home will improve, especially given the proximity of the new 5G equipment in my neighborhood?

3) Are they specific tech specs I should be looking for when I go to replace the phone? My focus is on call quality, not cameras or video. Of course this time I'll make sure wifi calling is included.

Anyway, any and all info is appreciated!

1. "5G Internet service" vs. wired connection like Xfinity (cable Internet) ... what kind of speed are you getting with your current wired connection? If you're not sure, try hoping on to speedtest.net while on your home network and do a quick test. This gives you a baseline for comparison. Then after you get a new 5G-capable phone, try executing another speedtest.net test with your 5G-capable phone with it's Wi-Fi capability turned off (this ensures that the phone does the testing using 5G connectivity rather than using your home Wi-Fi). Then you will have two sets of performance data you can compare with each other, and see for yourself whether it will be worth switching your home Internet service.

2. Will a new 5G-capable phone improve voice quality? Don't know how old your old phone is, but assuming your enable VoLTE ("voice over LTE") and the network in your area supports it, that should be an improvement over older voice technology that uses very little bandwidth. (VoLTE is actually 4G/LTE technology ... if your current phone is already using VoLTE anyway, then there is little the new phone can improve over the old phone. "5G" targets improvements for data applications, not so much for voice, so going from 4G/LTE to 5G will not necessarily improve voice. As for the new 5G-capable tower being installed near you, it should also support backward-compatible 4G/LTE and thus should also benefit your old phone assuming your old phone does 4G/LTE too.)

3. Any specific tech spec to look for to get better voice quality? Not really, the industry is not really focusing much on improving voice for customers; in recent years the usual focus in on improving the data side. I use iPhone myself; for at least 3 or 4 generations of iPhones now, I find that the best way to improve voice quality is to use the iPhone with a pair of earbuds (or headphones) while making/taking voice calls rather than upgrading to the next generation of iPhone.

Thanks, Ax. I sort of figured that 5G was more a data thing than voice. My problem is static and dropped calls and unfortunately an earbud or headphones don't help that.

Both phones we have seem to run LTE. At least the info in Settings shows LTE for both data and voice.

I didn't know for certain that the 5G towers should be backward compatible; thanks for confirming that. Hopefully that means I'll have a more solid connection because now I have a tower so close to me.

Regarding the internet speed...So of course I don't get anywhere near the theoretical maximum I'm supposed to get with Xfinity. Rated for up to 300 Mbps, I actually get 100 Mbps; I check occasionally and it's pretty consistent. If I decided to go 5G wireless internet, I'd just overlap the the wireless with Xfinity for a month or two so I can get a feel for speed and reliability.

The other thing I have to consider is the cell phone we have through Xfinity Mobile. You have to be an Xfinity Internet subscriber in order to get the cell service.

Too many choices.

Great info, thanks again!

quote:

Originally posted by wtg:
… My problem was static and dropped calls …

Newer phone and new towers near you stand a good chance to help with static and “dropped calls”.

So not a 5G question, but...

We're seeing phone numbers show up in the call history for one of our mobile phones that we don't recognize. Of particular interest are outgoing calls that we didn't make. Calls to numbers we don't recognize, and some of the calls are of 10 to 20 minute duration.

We wondered if someone is spoofing our caller ID with our number and that the phone system thinks the call originated with us. But that guess is based on absolutely no knowledge of how the system tracks calls and is pure speculation. I did a search and it seems other people see this happening but I haven't found a reasonable explanation as to why.

Anyone out there have any idea what might be going on?

quote:

Originally posted by wtg:

We're seeing phone numbers show up in the call history for one of our mobile phones that we don't recognize. Of particular interest are outgoing calls that we didn't make. Calls to numbers we don't recognize, and some of the calls are of 10 to 20 minute duration.

We wondered if someone is spoofing our caller ID with our number and that the phone system thinks the call originated with us. …

Unlikely that third party spoofing of your phone number can result in entries showing up in call history in your phone. The call history is typically maintained locally, not synchronized with the service provider’s records.

Within Apple’s iPhone and Mac, you can get your Mac to make phone calls “using your iPhone” and phone calls thus made will show up in your phone’s call history. (Android has an equivalent, e.g.: https://computertroubleshooter...id-phone-to-your-pc/ ) But this requires that you to explicitly link your phone with your computer.

Thanks for the explanations. The local storage explanation makes a lot of sense. And we don't have the phone linked to a PC.

We're going to monitor the call history on a timely basis to see if any phantom outgoing calls show up. Since we don't get/make many calls, this will not be an onerous task.

Mr. Nina is working with a few wireless carriers who are testing various 5G "things." (Is it obvious I don't really understand what he's doing? ) According to him, the real power that 5G will offer has to do with creating much more powerful apps that can be run via your 5G device (phone or other). I'm not sure that it will enhance your phone as a phone (speaking device), though it may increase the connection range in between towers. Maybe. I'm not sure about that.