At my age I don’t want to shift, change, upgrade. Happy with my OS and computers and older software. What am I going to be forced to change or upgrade?

Maybe nothing at all.

5G is nowhere near omnipresent and 5G-capable phones will be dropping back to 4G LTE nearly all the time unless you're lucky enough to be within eyesight of a 5G cell tower or repeater. This will happen automatically.

When you replace your phone in the ordinary course, you're eventually going to end up with a 5G-capable phone. When you have access to a 5G network, it might be faster at web-browsing or allow for faster framerates with certain types of online-games.

5G does suck more power. You might consider turning off 5G and to use 4G LTE to save battery.

4G hotspots are already pretty popular as an alternative to cable/DSL. (I wouldn't trade FiOS for 4G.) Since 5G is potentially faster than 4G, you may see more people replacing their cable/DSL Internet service with hotspots.

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"5G" only exists in city centers right now, and only a few cities. They kept 3G alive for 20 years. I expect 4G will stay alive as long.

Also some 5G has issues getting through walls.

my city supposedly went to "5G'... I see no difference in my 5G capable iPhone 13Pro on Verizon.

TV news is touting 5G problems shutting down lower G services. Many will be questioning like me.

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cbelt3
"5G" only exists in city centers right now, and only a few cities. They kept 3G alive for 20 years. I expect 4G will stay alive as long.

Also some 5G has issues getting through walls.

my city supposedly went to "5G'... I see no difference in my 5G capable iPhone 13Pro on Verizon.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/23/2022 08:36AM by samintx.

I am not an iPhone expert but it looks like any phone not new enough to support LTE will soon be dead. Any iPhone/iPad with primary EV-DO/EDGE connectivity will lose reception.

First models with LTE were:
iPhone 5
iPad 4

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In tha 360. MRF User Map

The one problem that 5G might cause for you is a side effect, and that's the shutting down of 3G networks to make room for 5G. If you have any older cellular devices they may not work anymore.

For iPhones, most carriers these days require an iPhone 6s or newer in order to be activated on their network.

Many vehicles built before the 2016 model year will lose built in accident notification/towing/roadside assistance/etc. This is assuming the manufacturer doesn't have an upgrade module. Mine doesn't the last I heard. They would rather you buy a new car than deal with that old piece of crap that's out of warranty.

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In tha 360. MRF User Map

Regarding coverage, I have to say I have it in most areas where I spend time, which are mainly suburban Northern and Western New Jersey, Bucks County PA, and New Haven.

I live in a very small, rural town, and we have 5G. I never used to have reception at my house, but now have one bar

ATT put a 5G box on a pole 100 yards away, but the solid brick walls of this old house will pretty much reduce any chance of using it. But I was not planning to change to ATT anyway.

Would love to have a little 5G detector to see if the service gets into the house, but mostly for curiosity sake. Would want to borrow the detector because once I know, I don't need to use it again.

Basically what Tiangou said. You DIDN'T say WHAT iPhone you currently have. Generally speaking, an iPhone has a usable lifespan of 5 ~ 7 years (I'd say anything over 5 years is pushing it AND, you might need to pony up $$ for a new battery after year 3). As mentioned, 4G will be with us and viable for years to come. You could watch for a GREAT deal on say an iPhone 11 or 12, possibly getting your carrier to cover some/most/all of the cost of said upgrade that you'll "earn" by committing to said carrier for 12 ~ 36 months.

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dk62
Regarding coverage, I have to say I have it in most areas where I spend time, which are mainly suburban Northern and Western New Jersey, Bucks County PA, and New Haven.

It's probably still 4G LTE.

They've "upgraded" service to "5G" primarily by relabeling 4G. They relabeled 3G as "4G" back in the day, too. "Instant upgrade!"

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Tiangou

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dk62
Regarding coverage, I have to say I have it in most areas where I spend time, which are mainly suburban Northern and Western New Jersey, Bucks County PA, and New Haven.

It's probably still 4G LTE.

They've "upgraded" service to "5G" primarily by relabeling 4G. They relabeled 3G as "4G" back in the day, too. "Instant upgrade!"

I've noticed that with my new phone. According to it, EVERYWHERE is magically 5G now. Even though it sucks just as bad as it did before. So I would think that's actually a disservice to 5G.

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