New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….

Qualcomm’s current gen 5G modem, i.e. the Snapdragon X50 is not part of any existing SoC. As it is fabricated as a separate module, it is theoretically possible to upgrade any regular 4G phone to 5G supported unit using an external X50 modem.

moto_z3_verizon_5g_mod
No kidding, as Motorola actually did it with the 5G moto mod and Moto Z3

However, the design suffers from a fundamental issue: network handoff. The Snapdragon X50 is not capable of handling legacy (3G/2G) connections, thus the first generation 5G phones need another modem (e.g. X24 LTE, part of Snapdragon 855 platform) for seamless connectivity.

Adding two power-hungry modems has a definite effect on the battery, thus OEMs are trying hard to optimize the power usage and bring more efficiency. For example, take a look at the changelog of the recent most OTA update for the OnePlus 7 Pro 5G.

oneplus_7_pro_5g_9.5.3_ota_changelog
Notice the 5G network related fixes and optimizations

Well, the first set of fixes are not enough to handle the network switching issues faced by the early adopters of OnePlus 7 Pro on EE’s network. Users are reportedly having frequent network drops, although the same SIM works without any hitch with a LTE phone.

I have recently got my op7 pro 5g with EE on a 5g plan, however my internet data is extremely unreliable, i can hardly get any connectivity and im offline most of the time because of this.

I have spoken to EE and they seem to think there is no issues whatsoever with the network. I proved this out by putting the same sim into my OP6 and the 4g worked flawlessly and was quick.

I think my op7 pro 5g might be defective since I couldnt find this issue on XDA nor here.

I am on the latest software.

(Source)

oneplus_7_pro_5g_network_issues_speedtest

I have the same issue. Data is very unreliable. I either get that icon showing no data or else apps get stuck at “connecting…”. Quite frustrating. Hopefully there’s an update soon. I saw they released a new update for the standard version so let’s hope there’s something coming our way.

(Source)

While it is perfectly normal to switch to LTE as the reach of 5G network is still in its nascent stage, the phone seems to have issues to switch to 4G fallback mode. Samsung Galaxy S10 5G users reportedly experienced similar anomalies in South Korea.

In areas where 5G signals are not detected, the Galaxy S10 5G is expected to be automatically switched to an LTE signal, connecting to the internet, but it was continuously disconnected, they said. They complain that that they have to reboot several times to connect to the network again.

We hope OnePlus is working closely with EE to resolve these issues. The upcoming software update should further improve the 5G modem, as well as fix the OTA installation issues.

Have you got your hands on the 5G variant of the OnePlus 7 Pro? Do you like it? Comment below.

Update (June 18)

OnePlus is finally rolling out the second OTA update for the 5G variant of OnePlus 7 Pro. OxygenOS 9.5.4.GM27BA, however, lacks camera improvements. The changelog does not mention anything about network connectivity issue fix as well.

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Kingshuk De
896 Posts

I came from a mixed background of Statistics and Computer Science. My research domains included embedded computer systems, mobile computing and delay tolerant networks in post-disaster scenarios. Apart from tinkering with gadgets or building hackintosh, I like to hop on various subreddits and forums like MyDigitalLife and XDA.

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