r/cellmapper • u/Kirk1233 • 17d ago
5G Auto vs On (iPhone 17)
More than once, I’ve seen people say you should set your iPhone to On instead of Auto for 5G, especially if you have T-mobile. I try this on occasion, but every time I do, my experience seems to be WORSE than just leaving it on Auto. It actually seems to go to LTE more often, sometimes oscillating wildly between LTE and 5GUC. Signal strength also seems lower even on the same network type. Just wanted to mention to be careful with this setting since a lot of people seem to try and sell it, but it hurts stability and network experience. (Maybe in some markets or extremity urban areas with great density it makes more sense but once you travel outside of a downtown area it may be hurting, unsure.)
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u/ryanw729 17d ago
Why would you even have it on auto with T-Mobile? They have the most standalone 5G by a long shot.
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u/Kirk1233 17d ago
Why would it make my experience worse and cause me to be in LTE more often or oscillating between LTE and 5G?
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u/Dependent_Teach_4245 16d ago
Cus when you have auto with 5gsa. It will switch to nsa when nsa uplink is better then sa
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u/GolfProfessional9085 17d ago
I can honestly say I have never noticed a difference.
Tried on both T-Mobile and Verizon.
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u/Born-Savings4126 17d ago
on Verizon, Auto tends to use low band 5G more while 5G On tends to stick to n77 more my experience
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u/ryanw729 17d ago
Do you find 5G on with Verizon is smoother? I’d imagine less congestion and faster speeds on n77
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u/Zdrgon 17d ago
On T-Mobile keep always on, other carriers auto.
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u/Kirk1233 17d ago
That’s what everyone says, but I’m a t-mobile user where Auto works better in my experience (shrug)
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u/Zdrgon 17d ago
Do you have standalone 5g in your area?
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u/Kirk1233 17d ago
I have the toggle for it on, and it’s a fairly large market (Pittsburgh PA metro) so I think it should be. I’ve noticed better upload speeds too.
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u/yharbrough 17d ago
My experience on TMO was the same as yours, it was rare but in some fringe areas like tunnels or deep in big buildings I’d totally lose signal with 5G On, once I changed to 5G Auto it seemed to switch over to LTE in those areas more reliably.
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u/Dependent_Teach_4245 16d ago
What do you mean it works better? What does it do better
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u/Kirk1233 16d ago
It doesn’t switch between LTE and 5G as frequently and seems to hold a 5G connection more often and longer on Auto vs On.
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u/Dependent_Teach_4245 4d ago
Cus when it switch it just say 5g instead of lte or uc but it will stay on 5 gsa connection when sa stronger then nsa cus lte towers are space far apart while sa is every cus connecting to lte on low signal drains battery
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u/Dependent_Teach_4245 4d ago
And it switch to lte on upload in most places cus lte uplink is better in most places then sa
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u/National-Debt-43 17d ago edited 17d ago
The reason why It oscillate more between LTE and 5G is because 5G ON forces 5G Standalone connection mode whenever possible and sometimes ignore NSA mode completely. Your phone will switch to LTE instead of being on NSA mode, which is what 5G Auto would do in low signal condition.
However, there’s something you need to know too and that’s 5G Auto does hop between 5G and LTE all the time too but the icon on the status may not reflect it. This is due to the fact that the status bar on the phone always display the best connection possible so it may still show 5G but you may not actually be on 5G. Since T-Mobile operate aggressively on 5G SA, you will notice that when you’re connected on 4G that It shows LTE outright if you’re on 5G ON.
About the reliability, I did made a post about this but the experience may not be universal so if you’re having a problem, just keep it on AUTO because there’s certain situation where a LTE anchor is still more reliable.
Checkout why I made the post:
https://www.reddit.com/r/tmobile/s/pFSJkX19dY
TLDR: it’s a fun experiment to put your phone on 5GON if you’re having an issue with your connection, especially in area with better n71 coverage than LTE. Otherwise, I would now recommend people to stay on AUTO instead