5G Mobile Users Gobble up to 2.7 Times More Data Than 4G

Opensignal, which uses crowd-sourced data to benchmark mobile networks, has found that 5G connected users in 20 of the leading markets for the new mobile broadband tech see much greater mobile data usage than 4G users. The biggest increase was in Japan (2.7x), while the UK scores 2.0x and Ireland came last on 1.2x.

The report is based off data that was gathered from many hundreds of millions of devices (Android and iOS Smartphones running the Opensignal App etc.) between 1st January and 31st March 2021. In all but two of the twenty listed markets, 5G users consume more than 10GB (GigaBytes) of data a month.

Faster broadband speeds have historically always been linked with rising data consumption, so this doesn’t come as much of a surprise. Part of the reason is that a faster connection will often result in better quality services or content, which consume more data (e.g. streaming a video in 4K rather than HD etc.). You also complete tasks (e.g. downloads) more quickly, which leaves spaces for extra tasks to be run.

Equally, a lot of people will be finding that 5G can make for a good home broadband replacement, especially if FTTP isn’t an option. Except home broadband connections are much bigger data hogs, thus those making such usage will often place greater demands on their mobile network. But interestingly, congestion has not been the usual result.

“To date, 5G is severing the link between high mobile data traffic and network congestion. The markets for 5G data consumption also top Opensignal’s 5G global experience benchmarks. In effect, 5G users are able to enjoy both much faster download speeds and consume much more data. Historically, where mobile users consumed large amounts of data it causes network congestion which depresses speeds, but for 5G users we see no indication of slowdowns in markets with high 5G data consumption,” said Opensignal.