How to activate 5G

How to activate 5G: You’ve heard a lot about 5G and the high browsing speed (up to 2Gbps) that can be achieved using this type of connection. Since you have purchased a latest generation smartphone or tablet that supports this technology, you would like to understand how to activate 5G on a new SIM, or on the one you already own, so that you can enjoy the content you prefer without having to fear performance drops due to mainly the quality of the 4G / LTE network you use at the moment.

If this is your real need, know that you are in the right place at the right time! In fact, below I will list the best offers for 5G made available by Italian operators, after which I will explain how to enable the 5G connection on Android devices and iPhones.

Clearly, in order to take advantage of 5G, as well as subscribe to a dedicated offer, you must necessarily be in one of the cities covered by the service (which currently are not very many) and use a smartphone or tablet with support for 5G networks. Keep these things in mind before doing anything. If everything is clear to you, proceed with the reading.

Index

• Offers to activate 5G
  • How to activate 5G: TIM
  • How to activate 5G: WINDTRE
  • How to activate 5G: Vodafone
  • How to activate 5G: Iliad
• Activate 5G on compatible devices
  • How to activate 5G on Android
  • How to activate 5G on iPhone

Offers to activate 5G

At the time of making this guide, 5G technology is not yet widespread in Italy: in general, this type of network is available in large cities ( Rome, Milan, Turin, Naples and so on) and in some locations tourist; it is unlikely to be adopted in urban centers with a lower population density.

For this reason, before even activating any 5Goffer, check the coverage of the service using the tools made available by the manager of your interest and, in case of failure, repeat the check after a few weeks: it is still a continuous technology. evolution, so that the protagonists of the sector are actively working to expand 5G coverage as much as possible, on national soil.

How to activate 5G: TIM

Let’s start with the TIM operator’s proposals that include navigation with 5G connection: before activating the service, make sure you have a compatible device and that your main area of ​​interest (e.g. your city) is covered by TIM’s 5G network. .

To check it, connected to this website, press on the FAQ item located at the top (if you use a smartphone or tablet, first touch the ☰ button located at the top right) and press the + symbol corresponding to the question 5G is already in operation ? . Read carefully the paragraph that appears, in order to make sure that your city/place of interest is present in the list of those with 5G coverage.

If the check was successful, you can activate one of TIM’s 5G offers and take advantage of the fast network: below is a list of those available at the time of writing this guide.

• TIM Super 5G: includes unlimited minutes to national fixed and mobile numbers, unlimited SMS and 100 Giga of Internet in 5G (up to 2Gbps), of which 13 can be used in EU countries. The available Giga can be shared on a second TIM card, at no additional cost, and the TIMMUSIC service is included. TIM Super 5G costs € 19.99 / month, VAT included.
• TIM Super Unlimited 5G: includes unlimited minutes to national landlines and mobile phones, 250 minutes to abroad, unlimited SMS and unlimited Giga in 5G (up to 2Gbps), of which 24 can be used in EU countries and 3 in Switzerland, Monaco, USA and Canada. The available Giga can be shared on a second TIM card, at no additional cost, and the TIMMUSIC service is included. TIM Super 5G has a cost of € 39.99 / month, VAT included.
• TIM Super Young 5G: includes unlimited minutes to national fixed and mobile numbers, unlimited SMS and 50 Giga of Internet in 5G (up to 2Gbps), of which 13 can be used in EU countries. The available Giga can be shared on a second TIM card, at no additional cost and the TIMMUSIC and TIMGAMES services are included. The offer, which is dedicated to users under 25 , costs € 11.99 / month, VAT included.
• Promo 5G ON: this is an additional option, which can be activated on any TIM card that has Giga in 4G, which allows you to enable navigation in 5G with the same conditions as the active offer. It costs € 5 / month including VAT and, at the moment, the first 30 days of use are free.

If you are interested in one of the offers I have listed, you will surely find my guide on how to switch to TIM useful, in which I explained how to activate a new cell line with the operator in question.

How to activate 5G: WINDTRE

Would you like to activate 5G with WINDTRE? So, before proceeding, check the coverage of the service in your area of ​​interest: connect to this website, type your address (or your city ) in the appropriate text field and use the Network type menu to select the ‘ 5G Network option. Take a look at the map that appears immediately below, to verify that the specified address is covered by the WINDTRE superfast network.

If the verification is successful and you have a smartphone (or tablet) with a 5G module, you can opt for one of the offers available from the orange operator.

• Medium 5G Limited Edition: the offer includes unlimited minutes to all national fixed and mobile numbers, 200 SMS and 50 GB of Internet in 5G. It includes a 5G smartphone (eg OPPO A54) and costs € 12.99 / month including VAT, with direct debit to current account or credit card. If you opt for the payment with a debit on the remaining credit, the Giga are instead 25 and the 5G smartphone is not included.
• Large 5G Limited Edition: the offer includes unlimited minutes to all national fixed and mobile numbers, 200 SMS and 70 GB of Internet in 5G. It costs € 14.99 / month including VAT, with direct debit from your current account or credit card. If you opt for the payment with a debit on the remaining credit, the Giga are instead 35.
• XLarge 5G Limited Edition: the offer includes unlimited minutes to all national fixed and mobile numbers, 50 minutes to foreign countries, 200 SMS and 100 GB of Internet in 5G. For the first 3 months, Internet browsing is unlimited. It costs € 16.99 / month including VAT, with direct debit from your current account or credit card.
• Unlimited 5G: the offer includes unlimited minutes to all national fixed and mobile numbers, 200 minutes to abroad, 200 SMS and unlimited Giga in 5G. It costs € 29.99 / month including VAT, with direct debit from your current account or credit card.
• Young 5G: the offer is dedicated to under 30s and includes unlimited minutes to all national fixed and mobile numbers, unlimited SMS and 80 Giga in 5G (unlimited for chat, music and social networks). It costs € 11.99 / month including VAT, with direct debit from your current account or credit card. If you opt for the payment with debit on residual credit, the Giga are instead 40.
• Young + 5G: the offer is dedicated to under 30s and includes unlimited minutes to all national fixed and mobile numbers, unlimited SMS and 100 Giga in 5G (unlimited for chat, music and social networks). If you opt for the payment with debit on residual credit, the Giga are instead 60. It costs € 14.99 / month VAT included, with direct debit on current account or credit card.

To learn more about how to activate a WINDTRE SIM, I refer you to reading the in-depth analysis I have dedicated to the topic.

How to activate 5G: Vodafone

Even Vodafone is part of the operators that allow customers to get surfing 5G, even unlimited. Before even activating one of the available offers, I suggest you check the coverage of the service: visit this website, click on the 5G symbol next to or above the map, indicate your municipality of interest in the appropriate field and enter to get an idea of ​​the coverage available in the area. Vodafone’s 5G offerings are as follows.

• Vodafone RED: the offer includes unlimited minutes to all national landline and mobile numbers, unlimited SMS and 50 Giga of Internet in 5G, with unlimited Giga for social networks, chats, maps and music. It costs € 18.99 / month including VAT with direct debit to current account or credit card.
• Vodafone Infinito Gold Edition: the offer includes unlimited minutes to all national and EU fixed and mobile network numbers, 1000 minutes to non-EU countries, unlimited SMS and unlimited Giga in 5G (of which 2 giga in non-EU roaming). It costs € 29.99 / month including VAT with direct debit to current account or credit card.
• Vodafone Shake it easy: the offer, which is dedicated to customers under 30, includes unlimited minutes to all national fixed and mobile network numbers, unlimited SMS and 60 Giga of Internet in 5G (of which 10 in EU roaming), with Unlimited gigabytes for social, chat, maps, music and meetings. It costs € 14.99 / month including VAT with direct debit to current account or credit card.

All offers include an activation fee of € 6.99, for new customers, or € 22.50 for existing customers, in the event of an offer change or switch from subscription to rechargeable. If you need precise information on how to activate a Vodafone SIM, you can take a look at the tutorial I dedicated to the topic.

How to activate 5G: Iliad

Let’s now pass to the Iliad operator. To verify that the area of ​​your interest is covered by the 5G network, connect to this website and take a look at what you find immediately under the heading 5G Iliad is arriving in the first cities.

At the moment, Iliad’s offer for 5G navigation is called GIGA 120 and offers unlimited minutes to all national fixed and mobile numbers, fixed numbers in Europe and fixed and mobile numbers in the USA and Canada and 120 GB of Internet in 5G (of which 6 GB in EU roaming). The offer costs € 9.99 / month and includes a one-time activation fee of € 9.99. To learn more about how to activate Iliad, take a look at the tutorial I have dedicated to the topic.

Activate 5G on compatible devices

Clearly, in order to take advantage of the 5G connectivity provided by the various providers, it is necessary that the smartphone or tablet in your possession is compatible with this technology. In general, you can easily verify this by consulting the technical data sheet of the device, the user manual or the “short specifications” printed on the sales package. In case you don’t have a smartphone of this type yet, check out my guide on why to have a 5G smartphone.

However, if you are in an area covered by 5G, you have activated an offer of this type, you are using a compatible device but you continue to browse in 4G, it is very likely that the option for browsing in 5G is disabled by setting. default, for energy saving purposes: the use of 5G, in terms of battery consumption, is in fact much more incisive than 4G. That said, let me tell you how to activate 5G on Android and iPhone.

How to activate 5G on Android

To activate 5G on Android, proceed as follows: to start, open the operating system Settings, by tapping on the gear symbol located on the Home screen or in the drawer of the device, touch the items Network and Internet and Mobile network, do tap on your SIM name and then on the Preferred network type option.

Once you have reached the next screen, tap on the 5G / LTE / WCDMA / GSM, 5G / 4G / 3G, Prefer 5G network option or, again, 5G / 4G / 3G / 2G (varies depending on the Android version and the model of device in use), in order to enable reception of the 5G network. If necessary, restart your device for the change to take effect.

Please note that, for some versions of Android, the path to follow may be slightly different: on Xiaomi smartphones, for example, you have to go to Settings> SIM cards and mobile networks> [SIM name]> Preferred network type; on Samsung, the path to follow is Settings> Connections> Mobile network> [SIM name]> Network mode.

How to activate 5G on iPhone

If you are using iPhone 12 or later models, you can enable the 5G network in a very simple way, using, if you wish, also a particular mode optimized for battery and data use.

To proceed, open the iOS Settings, by tapping on the gear symbol located on the Home screen or in the App Library, touch the Cellular> Cellular Data Options> Voice and Data items and choose one of the available options: 5G active, to use always the 5G network when it is available; or 5G Auto, to activate intelligent data consumption and battery optimization (in other words, if the speed of 5G does not perform better than LTE, iPhone will automatically switch to the latter mode, to save energy).

Furthermore, if you wish, you can also intervene on the options for data consumption: go back to the Cellular menu > Cellular data options, tap on the Data consumption item and choose the option Allow more data on the 5G network, to allow greater use of the data for compatible apps and system activities (e.g. higher quality FaceTime, high definition content on Apple TV, Apple Music songs and videos ); if, on the other hand, you want to authorize the download of automatic updates and background data only, leaving the standard quality for streaming contents, select the Standard item.

Note: If you have activated the second virtual SIM on your iPhone, once you open the Settings> Cellular menu, you will first need to select the number of the SIM for which to enable 5G.