Look at the top right corner of your phone. You might see an icon with “5G” and another with vertical bars showing the strength of your internet connection.
Those symbols don’t mean what you think they do.
If your phone shows “5G,” you’re not necessarily connected to the latest and zippiest cellphone network technology. It might just mean that 5G connections are available nearby.
And the bars are a cellular version of a shrug. There is no standard measure of how much signal strength each bar represents.
“The connection icon is a lie,” said Avi Greengart, president of the technology analysis firm Techsponential.
I’ll explain how to make sense of your fibbing phone and what you can do about it.
Why are we walking around hunting for more bars?!
The number of bars you see is a best guess and not a precise measurement of the strength of your phone’s connection. “It just means you’ve got a signal,” said Ken Hyers, director of device technologies for research firm TechInsights.
The information can still be useful. If you see one bar of mobile service on your phone, you probably won’t have a great experience streaming Netflix or hopping on a FaceTime video call.
I asked Hyers if we’re wasting our time when we have poor cellphone reception and walk around trying to coax another bar onto the phone. He said those signal-hunting perambulations can work, but you should think of them as hit-or-miss experiments.
If you’re somewhere with a lot of tree cover or many buildings nearby and have balky cellphone service, moving away from those impediments can improve your reception.
Hyers says he’s a regular at a state park where he doesn’t typically get mobile service — at least during warmer months. When trees are bare in the winter, it can make the difference between no signal and a marginal connection.
The bars on your phone might be a guide to when you’ve wandered into a cellphone sweet spot. Or they might not.
It’s also helpful to keep your phone’s WiFi on so your device can automatically flip to those more capable internet networks when they’re available. There are instructions in this article.
What ‘5G’ actually means
Greengart said the “5G” icon is “more an approximation of what type of coverage is available than an objective status indicator.”
The good news is you might not need 5G, anyway.
Most of the time, your phone calls, texting and web surfing are perfectly fine on the prior generation of wireless technology called 4G or sometimes “LTE.” Many phone networks will funnel you over 5G service when it makes a real difference, like if you’re on a video call or playing an intense video game.
If you see more specific types of 5G icons, like “5G UW” used by Verizon or “5G UC” if you’re on T-Mobile service, Hyers said you’re probably connected to a 5G network at that moment.
Those extra letters or symbols sometimes indicate types of 5G technology that are capable of faster and more reliable connections, but they aren’t always better, depending on your circumstances. Confusingly, AT&T has showed “5G E” icons on phones. That is not 5G service at all.
AT&T said its “5G” indicators on phones line up with a telecommunications standards organization that established the icon to mean 5G networks are available. T-Mobile said for most of its cellphone network, your phone accurately reflects if you’re on 5G. Verizon didn’t respond to my questions.
Greengart said the 5G icons are an imperfect shorthand for the complexity of cellphone service. The quality of your connection depends on a gazillion different factors, and it’s impossible to relay all that information.
Experts said most people should let their phones decide when you need 5G service and when it’s fine to skip it. Then you don’t have to think about 5G icons.
On iPhones, go to the Settings app → Cellular → Cellular Data Options → Voice & Data. Choose “5G Auto,” if you see that option.
The process varies for Android phones, or it might not be an option. I suggest searching your Android phone’s settings for “mobile network” and from there look for an option for “auto connect.” (T-Mobile has instructions for a Samsung device.)
Read more: Here’s how to limit distracting background noise on mobile calls. And location-tracking technologies such as Apple’s Find My app are also lying to you.