PSA: don’t run 5G speed tests on your phone, it will consume your 1GB/2GB data plan in a jiffy

Yes, we are excited to see 5G services finally in India. Jio and Airtel users understandably want to see just how fast 5G speeds are in their locality. The best way to see 5G speeds is through speed test apps like SpeedTest by Ookla and FAST Speed Test. But be warned, run a couple of quick 5G speed tests on your smartphone and you’ll find yourself exhausting your 1GB or 2GB data in a few minutes.

5G speed tests consume a lot of data

Knowing that 5G speed tests can exhaust your daily data limit in a jiffy, you should probably use it less. The problem right now is that Airtel and Jio are offering 5G with existing 4G data plans. This means that Jio and Airtel customers on 1GB, 2GB, or 3GB prepaid plans have very little data to play with on 5G as the next-gen mobile connectivity consumes massive packets of data.

While Jio has mentioned “unlimited 5G data” in its Welcome Offer, users will only be able to use 5G speeds only until their daily data quota is exhausted. Once you use up your 1GB, 2GB, or 3GB data plan, you will go back to 64Kbps speeds, which will feel like a massive drop after experiencing 5G.

Jio 5G Welcome Offer is available only in four cities right now: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Varanasi. In order to get a Jio 5G Welcome Offer invite, you will need to be in one of these four cities, own a 5G-capable device, and have an active base plan of Rs 239 and above on your number. You can then use the speed test apps without worrying about exhausting your data.

Airtel 5G services, on the other hand, work without any invitation. If you are an Airtel user in any of the 8 cities part of the initial rollout phase, you will be able to see the 5G network provided you have a 5G smartphone with 5G enabled via OTA update. Most OEMs have rolled out the OTA update that enables 5G, but Samsung and Apple are yet to release the update for their devices.