A lot of people say the first step is admitting you have a problem, and I have many. One in particular is iPhones, for which I am the ultimate sucker. I have owned every iPhone released by Apple since 2007.

It is a privileged affliction — spoiled materialism and geekdom that I get whisked up in every year. Apple has my number, but not as much as Amazon. That’s another story altogether. Enough with the confessions.

This year’s iPhone is different. It’s the first iPhone that supports 5G, arriving just as the trio of major U.S. carriers claim “nationwide” coverage, meaning most people are finally experiencing 5G for the first time.

5G is a big deal, so I’ve been told. I’ve written hundreds of articles about it: how it works, who thinks it’s important, the unmet dreams it could finally fulfill, and why it just might be the most important technology advancement since the dawn of the smartphone era. 

I had to buy this shiny new iPhone to see what all the fuss is about. It is a professional endeavor. These are the stories I tell myself.

I got my first personal experience with 5G on an iPhone 12 Pro the day it was released. My enthusiasm and curiosity about this 5G business, like many of the hopes we had before this year warped into one of unrelenting despair, fleeted abruptly. The epic letdown that is 2020 strikes again.

My first 5G speed test at home near downtown Long Beach, California, delivered 0.75 Mb/s on the downlink and 2.67 Mb/s on the uplink with 24 milliseconds latency on T-Mobile US’ 5G network. The speed test I did three hours prior, in the same spot, on an iPhone 11 connecting to T-Mobile’s 4G LTE network retrieved 15.3 Mb/s download and 20.1 Mb/s upload with 21 milliseconds latency.

What gives? This can’t be my first personal impression with 5G. Now I’m a sucker for iPhones and 5G? That’s just perfect.

I’m not asking for much. 5G should, at an absolute minimum, be better than 4G right? Apparently not, and for most of us 5G might not be better than 4G LTE for a long time.

Multiple tech outlets have published articles explaining how iPhone 12 users can toggle between 5G and 4G LTE to ensure they get the best performance. Consider the implications of this and the stank it leaves on 5G.

Many early 5G iPhone customers just gained access to freshly paved 5G highways and they’re confronting a traffic jam due to ongoing unfinished construction almost immediately. What happens when more 5G users join these networks or more of us start going out, traveling, and commuting to work again? 

I understand why these networks are weak in so many places, and the reasons are myriad, but most people don’t and shouldn’t have to care about any of that. Many of the overhyped industry buzzwords I write and think about almost every day are still untethered from reality.

This is the real world, and I’m not alone in not feeling any enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), ulra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC), massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna strength, or T-Mobile’s industry-first 5G standalone core. Is my iPhone connecting to a 5G New Radio (NR) or some antiquated quad-band GSM antenna like the first iPhone?

First impressions matter and this is not a good look for anything calling itself 5G. This lackluster first wave of 5G should damage the outlook for 5G among consumers. Moreover, the gambit that mobile network operators are making for new business with enterprises on 5G could be all for naught.

Imagine the CIO that’s been studying 5G for years with increased excitement. They just got their hands on a 5G iPhone, activated it, connected to a 5G network for the first time, only to get less than 1 Mb/s on the downlink with latency that’s even higher than what they received on 4G LTE. They wouldn’t be wrong to dismiss 5G outright, or at least push their dreams of a 5G-equipped factory or any one of the many unproven use cases extolled by operators out for many years.

Worse yet for mobile network operators, maybe enterprises should continue to rely on WiFi and wait for 6G.

Operators and vendors have consistently claimed that 5G is about so much more than higher bandwidth and capacity, but it’s not even hitting the mark on that. Many CIOs I’ve interviewed are generally leery of 5G. Sure, it sounds good but operators need to prove it and replicate it at scale. And on that front, U.S. operators have failed spectacularly in far too many places so far.

This problem isn’t unique to any operator. A quick search will demonstrate how poorly operators’ 5G networks are performing in places all around the country, let alone much of the world where 5G exists. There are bright spots, but reliable and consistent coverage has not been demonstrated at large.

Until network operators and vendors get their act together and deliver an experience deserving of the 5G designation, 4G LTE and WiFi will be the best we’ve got.

My experience with 5G thus far has been so bad that I’m almost exclusively relying on WiFi or 4G LTE. I’ve conducted dozens of 5G speed tests at home during the last two weeks, and while the results aren’t all bad, the average is undeniably absurd. The best download speed I’ve experienced to date was 46.1 Mb/s and the lowest was 0.09 Mb/s.

I’m not asking for the world, and I don’t expect my experience to even be at the upper range of what T-Mobile is delivering on its 5G network on average, but the experience I’ve had thus far is abysmal. I know things will improve, but 5G as it stands today is half baked and woefully inadequate.