Turn off 5g s21

[Jerseyman201]

Not sure why so many of you are assuming everyone's situation is the exact same as yours. The OP asked if there was a way to turn it off. They didn't ask for personal opinions of if you 'think' they should or should not. They want it off. There is a way that wasn't posted so I posted it. Why would you want it turned off? Saves battery and let's you choose the best connection. NO, our phone does not do this for us. It only searches for and attempts to connect to the newest network. In this case it will always search for and attempt to connect to 5G, even if it's the absolute slowest worst connection. The phone DOES NOT make the distinction between good and bad connection. It either connects or it doesn't. If it doesn't it will keep trying using battery constantly. It will select 5G if it's available regardless if it's 1 bar or 5 bar signal. Your 4g may be perfect in your area and 5g may be super spotty. Why have it constantly switch to a worse connection when a reliable and fast 4g network is available (but the selection is hidden within the phone). If this was 2 years from now, maybe there wouldn't be a debate leaving the 5g connection on/off but it's practically brand new. Some people will leave all their vzw apps enabled, all the games that came preinstalled along with all their other bloatware on their phones. Some will remove/disable all they can. Some will leave their sync/wifi/gps on even when not using anything that needs those settings turned on...others will keep what's not being used turned off. Can't say one is right or wrong. Just personal preference ladies n gents. If you're trying to save battery you turn off what you aren't using. Want the best battery life? You disable what you aren't using. This shouldn't be news to anyone in 2021 lol our phone absolutely does "optimize" for better battery life..It turns off (puts to sleep) apps we haven't used in a while and also stops some apps from constantly running in background. This is not what we are talking about here, but should be mentioned so it doesn't seem like I'm taking an entirely "manual only" approach. Since there are indeed automatic helpful options for SOME types optimization for our batteries.

 

[Jerseyman201]

Here is an example from a few minutes ago. My physical location/the phones location didn't change at all during these Google speedtests.

4G: https://imgur.com/gallery/xqP8X8P

5G: https://imgur.com/gallery/DOPyf9p

Few sidenotes: The Samsung band selector app forced 4g successfully but when I selected 5G, it didn't seem to want to revert (also tried turning off and on the mobile data connection). Tried a phone restart and it didn't revert to 5G then either...so then I just forceclosed the band selector app and it IMMEDIATELY went back to 5G. So the app may be little buggy but it does work. One other sidenote for anyone else using the app, the phone didn't register the band change from 5g down to 4g immediately. This was evident in the fact I got nearly identical speeds on speed test after switching the band. Might have just needed some more time, but instead of waiting I clicked the mobile networks button to disconnect from mobile network and then clicked it once more, and it did reconnect to the newly selected network (4G). Then the speed was nearly doubled.

5g is just too new to rely on it consistsntly so it's great to have this option to make our own selection. 5G overloaded? Great, switch to 4G. 4G having issues? Great, switch to 5G. If our phone knew when to switch, based on what was most efficient, that's one thing....but as far as I know that kind of under the hood feature/software function was never advertised.. so saying it does optimize connections constantly seems to be pure speculation unless evidenced otherwise. All it does it always try and connect to 5g if it can.

 

[htcrazy]

As I said, I am on AT&T with my S21 unlocked so there are no settings to turn off 5G. At home where the signal is 4G, I get 137 down. I drove to a nearby park where the phone switched to a 5G signal and I just got 327 down. So yes, if you use your phone mainly where no 5G is available, then some carriers will allow you to switch via a setting in mobile connections.

 

[Jerseyman201]

There are settings to turn off 5G on all Samsung S21's regardless of carrier...from within the Samsung Band Selector app that you can download via the Google playstore on your phone. It's just a hidden menu that isn't available within the stock software on that carrier (along with my carrier on VZW). Although you def seem to have some solid 5G available. But if you don't have good 5G coverage you can open that app, click "more network settings" and just click LTE instead of 5G and it switches instantly. Very spotty for me. I just did another test and came up 33Mbps 5G and 100+ 4G. Not even close for my area.

 

[mustang7757]

There are settings to turn off 5G on all Samsung S21's regardless of carrier...from within the Samsung Band Selector app that you can download via the Google playstore on your phone. It's just a hidden menu that isn't available within the stock software on that carrier (along with my carrier on VZW). Although you def seem to have some solid 5G available. But if you don't have good 5G coverage you can open that app, click "more network settings" and just click LTE instead of 5G and it switches instantly. Very spotty for me. I just did another test and came up 33Mbps 5G and 100+ 4G. Not even close for my area.

I like that app