Verizon support’s suggestion to turn off 5G to extend battery life backfires

US telco Verizon advised its users to turn off 5G to preserve battery life on their devices. The suggestion, however, soon backfired as many users pointed out that the telco had aggressively promoted 5G services.

“Are you noticing that your battery life is draining faster than normal? One way to help conserve battery life is to turn on LTE. Just go to Cellular > Cellular Data Options > Voice & Data and tap LTE,” Verizon support said in a now-deleted tweet.

A user pointed out Verizon had aggressively pushed 5G services and handsets. The telecom replied to the user saying, “It's important that we complete many troubleshooting steps to find the root cause of any issues with speed. We are quickly launching more 5G areas, and making updates constantly to improve speeds. If you have other questions or concerns, please feel free to follow and DM us. *ACA.”

Even as 5G is becoming increasingly popular in the US, battery life has remained one of the pain points for users and smartphone companies. According to a Tom’s Guide report in October last year, iPhone 12 with 5G enabled drained battery at a much faster rate than using 4G. The report also pointed out the same pattern in the battery drain on iPhone 12 Pro with 5G enabled. Multiple posts on forums like Reddit reveal a similar battery drain issue on non-Apple handsets as well.

For instance, here is what Samsung’s official support page for the 5G battery drain issue says: “At this time, the 5G networks are only used for data connections, and are not yet capable of carrying phone calls and messages. Your phone will need to maintain a connection to the 3G or LTE network in addition to the 5G network so that phone calls, text messages, and data will be delivered consistently.” The post goes on to say that the battery drain issue may be resolved as the 5G network grows in capacity and capability.