5G is not always faster than 4G, study finds

5G has been part of our lives for several years now, while the industry is already looking ahead to 6G — but can we say it is fully implemented? An international research team led by Northeastern University, with participation from IMDEA Networks, TU Berlin, the University of Porto, the University of Oslo, Politecnico di Torino, the Technical University of Denmark and Hewlett Packard Labs, recently sought the answer.

Over the course of a year, the team measured performance in several cities across Europe and North America. Their conclusion, published in the journal Computer Communications, was that 5G is widely deployed in major urban centres, but its benefits do not always translate into a better experience than 4G.

“We collected controlled and crowdsourced data in eight cities [Berlin, Turin, Oslo, Porto, Madrid, Vancouver, Boston and the Bay Area] and found a striking geographic and operator-level variation: some networks offer excellent 5G uplink performance, while others show little or no improvement compared to LTE,” said Imran Khan, a predoctoral researcher at Northeastern University and the study’s first author.

The study combined large-scale crowdsourced measurements with a controlled millimetre-wave campaign, providing both breadth and depth to the findings. In many places, 5G did not offer clear latency benefits over LTE, ostensibly due to operator decisions such as spectrum band, deployment density, and the use of cloud and edge infrastructure.

“For many users and real-world applications, switching to 5G will not automatically guarantee lower latency or better responsiveness,” said Claudio Fiandrino, Research Assistant Professor at IMDEA Networks. “Some 5G cells offer lower latency, but in others performance may be similar or even worse than LTE, depending on the operator and location. Decisions regarding latency-sensitive services should therefore be based on actual measurements, not just the technology generation.”

The study thus highlights the risks of moving prematurely to 6G, Fiandrino stated.

“There is a risk of wasted investment and unmet public expectations; misallocation of resources toward promoted features instead of addressing operational issues (coverage gaps, backhaul/edge location, spectrum fragmentation); and potential policy and market decisions based on optimistic promises rather than tangible reality,” he said. “This could also undermine trust if future generations (6G) are promoted prematurely.”

The solution, according to the study authors, lies in large-scale, forward-looking measurement. The focus must be on the real user experience before advancing, and operational and implementation issues should be resolved before moving to the next generation. Policies and 6G investments should also be guided by transparent and reproducible results.

The study concluded that while 5G rollout and stability look mature in many urban areas, performance advantages (particularly latency) are still uneven. Fiandrino explained, “In terms of coverage and deployment stability, 5G seems mature in major cities, but full maturity has not yet been reached regarding reliability, clear performance advantages and user experience compared to 4G, especially in latency. Therefore, maturity is conditional: deployed, yes; consistently superior performance, not yet.”

Image credit: iStock.com/Panuwat Dangsungnoen