Consumers are much savvier now when it comes to knowing their rights – particularly around refunds. So, will the rollout of 5G cause headaches for network providers? Will 5G mobile users who can only get a signal in parts of the UK feel they have been overpromised and undelivered?
The arrival of 5G has been greeted with much fanfare by the telecoms sector and early adopters who want to take advantage of the latest technology. It promises to deliver speeds of up 100 times faster than 4G and 1000 times faster than 3G. These lightning fast speeds will revolutionise web streaming and downloading/uploading both for business and the consumer.
However, the catch is that it is only currently available in parts of the UK, not many handsets will work with 5G and even iPhone hasn’t yet provided a handset which can use the service.
So imagine how disappointed you, as a consumer, would be if you have already bought or are thinking of buying a 5G compatible phone but are still only getting 4G or 3G coverage. If you have bought a 5G handset you may well be sometime away from getting the service in your area.
EE has been promoting 5G on its network for sometime with a helpful list of locations where it is available – initially the big cities and later larger towns https://ee.co.uk/why-ee/5g-on-ee
Vodafone too has been heralding its 5G coverage https://www.vodafone.co.uk/network/5g, again with a location checker. At time of writing it is currently live in 15 UK towns and cities. Three and O2 are also launching their 5G services this year.
Testing the quality of coverage is something Roscom has been doing since the early days of mobiles.
With such a decrease in landline usage, ensuring the quality of service for your mobile is so important. That’s why we use Test Call Generation to not only test event success rate, but also quality. We carry out stringent checks on network availability and signal strength. To understand more about how we do this, see our Service Assurance page
The general view of 5G is the speed is good but the coverage inconsistent. You can look on a checker map but that doesn’t guarantee anything. Whilst this may not bother early adopters who want to have a 5G phone to be ahead of the curve, as more providers jump on the 5G bandwagon the pressure to improve the service will increase and this is where robust testing can help make sure they don’t overpromise and underdeliver.
Mandy Blackburn,
Operations Director,
Roscom
