When you have 5G-supported phone then there can be slight difference what is displayed on top of your phone screen. Sometimes it is just plain 5G, sometimes 5GUC or even 5GXR. Here are the main differences explained in simplest way possible.
Not all 5G networks are the same — you can get completely different experiences in different areas, both in terms of speed and range. Because the 5G spectrum is used differently in each area.
Put simply, 5G network can be low-band, mid-band, or mmWave. T-Mobile has two different brands to distinguish these flavors, namely XR and UC.
5G XR and UC stand for two different types of 5G.
The low-band 5G is the least exciting 5G band, as it operates at many of the same frequencies as the 4G LTE. This means you can’t expect ultra-fast speeds, but it does offer latency improvements. It also offers much better coverage than the other two bands. You’re more likely to find low-bands for 5G in less developed areas because it requires cheaper infrastructure.
5GUC
Understanding what 5G UC means is bit more complicated than you think, because there are currently different types of 5G that offer different speeds. What 5G UC means, also known as 5G Ultra Capacity, is an icon that tells us when we are connected to type of 5G network and can only be seen on iPhone or Android phones compatible with 5G network.
We must bear in mind that at the beginning of 2022 only iPhone 12 and iPhone 13 mobile devices were compatible with 5G, at the moment it is the opposite. So all new phones from respectable brands have 5G capability without question.
Notably, T-Mobile splits its 5G network into two types of 5G, the extended range is type of 5G that is about much faster than 4G LTE and covers most of the country.
We can even find it in many less urbanized rural areas, on the other hand, “5G Ultra Capacity” offers speeds that are far greater tha 4G LTE.
5GXR
5GXR stands for 5G Extended Reality
Extended reality is basically the same as virtual reality and its use cases require strict key performance indicators. Specifically, low latency, high reliability, lower power consumption, and high power.
Such requirements may include near-intermittent traffic in large pieces, irregular intervals and variable size, as well as high data rates, including uplink (UL) for AR services, simultaneous broadcasting of 3D video streams, and control data at the same endpoint.
In addition to advances in XR technologies such as optics, projectors, display systems, graphics, audio, tracking, and artificial intelligence, 5G standards with optimizations specific to XR and distributed computational architectures can enable infinite XR and provide photorealistic images. Future advances in ray sensing and artificial intelligence can bring new benefits to communication and make endless XR reality at scale.
If it is still confusing to you then I would recommend to view the following video that explains the differences rather well:
If you have any additional questions about 5G that you didn’t find answer for then feel free to add them in the comments below and we’ll do our best to get them answered!