4G or 5G: the real difference in Belgium

4G or 5G? In Belgium the question is framed wrongly, because 5G does not replace 4G: it is added on top. Your phone stays attached to 4G and grafts 5G onto it. You gain peak speed, you lose a little battery, and on three networks out of four you pay nothing extra.

The fourth network is Proximus. We will come back to it, with figures.

What is the difference between 4G and 5G in Belgium?

On paper, everything separates the two standards. On your screen, far less.

5G uses a different radio interface, 5G NR, and above all a band 4G does not use: n78, between 3,400 and 3,800 MHz, where Proximus holds 120 MHz and Orange and Telenet 100 MHz each. That width of spectrum is what delivers speed. The second Belgian 5G band, n28 at 700 MHz, delivers reach and indoor coverage, with much narrower blocks.

A quick note for newcomers. Belgium has four mobile networks (Proximus, Orange, Telenet and the newcomer DIGI) and around fifteen brands. Many of those brands are MVNOs, mobile virtual network operators that own no antennas and rent capacity from one of the networks, which we call the host network. The BIPT (IBPT in French) is the Belgian telecom regulator.

The table below compares both technologies as they are actually deployed here, not as brochures describe them.

Read the latency row twice. The promise of near-instant response, the one behind cloud gaming and connected cars, requires a 5G core network. Only Proximus runs one, since April 2026, restricted to its Mobile Unlimited plan and a handful of phones. Everywhere else, your 5G responds with the timing of a 4G core, as explained in our article on 5G standalone versus 5G NSA.

Belgian 5G is added to 4G, it does not replace it

Non-standalone mode forces the phone to open a 4G connection first, known as the anchor, then to add 5G carriers when traffic justifies it. Signalling stays on 4G. So does voice.

A consequence rarely mentioned: 4G cannot disappear while this mode dominates.

Some Belgian guides nonetheless announce a gradual reduction of 4G by the end of the decade. They are mixing things up. The real deadline concerns 2G, which the BIPT confirms will be switched off during 2028 and 2029 on the three incumbent networks, after 3G was shut down between January 2024 and 31 December 2024. A 4G phone bought today will remain usable for years.

Does 5G drain more battery than 4G?

Yes, a little, and much more in a few specific situations.

The most quoted figure comes from Ookla, which compared Android phones and iPhones on 4G and 5G networks in July 2023: 6 to 11 % more battery used on 5G, depending on the chip. The study was criticised for its method, which controlled neither screen brightness nor background apps, and Proximus itself points this out on its blog post on battery use. Applied to a day, the maths is simple: a phone lasting 10 hours on 4G would last between 9 hours and 9 h 25 on 5G, since 6 % more consumption brings battery life down to 9.43 hours and 11 % more to 9.01 hours.

The mechanism itself is not disputed. In non-standalone mode the modem maintains two radio links in parallel, the 4G anchor and the 5G carrier, with two active receive chains and constant switching between them whenever the 5G signal weakens, which happens precisely where Belgian 5G coverage is weakest, namely behind walls, on lower floors and in recent buildings with insulated glazing. The energy cost is therefore not spread evenly. It concentrates.

A side note. The 5G page of yoin, a brand hosted on the Proximus network, describes 5G as "energy efficient". That is true at network level, which carries more data per kilowatt-hour. It is false at the level of your pocket.

Here are the five situations where 5G genuinely drains the battery faster:

• Indoors, on a weak signal. The modem pushes its transmit power and keeps switching between 4G and 5G. This is the most expensive case.
• Travelling fast, by train or car. Cell changes multiply, and network searches with them.
• During long tethering sessions. The modem runs flat out for hours, screen off included.
• During long video streaming. Apps use the extra speed to raise resolution, and so the volume processed. Our article on 5G data consumption covers this effect.
• On a first-generation 5G phone, released in 2020 or 2021, whose modem is less efficient than recent ones.

Conversely, for a short download, 5G finishes sooner and returns to standby earlier. On a one-off large file, the gap can cancel out.

Should you turn 5G off?

No, unless you face a long day without a charger. Let the phone decide.

On iPhone, Apple offers three settings documented on its 5G support page: "5G Auto", which falls back to 4G when 5G brings nothing, "5G On" and "LTE", which turns 5G off. On Android, the option sits under Settings, Connections, Mobile networks, Network mode, with labels that vary between Samsung, Xiaomi and Google. In both cases, battery saver mode often turns 5G off by itself.

The setting is free, reversible and instant. Remember that above all.

Turning 5G off costs one tap in the settings. Paying for a plan without 5G for the same battery saving costs euros every month.

The price of 5G, network by network

This is where the head-to-head moves from the phone to the bill. On 27 September 2026 we checked what 5G access costs at seven brands spread over the four Belgian networks. Month-13 price, host network shown, welcome discounts set aside.

The reading is unambiguous. On the Orange, Telenet and DIGI networks, choosing between 4G and 5G is a phone setting. The brands checked include 5G from their smallest plan, hey! at €5 included, and there is nothing to gain by refusing it.

On the Proximus network, it is a label. The same antenna delivers 4G only at Scarlet, 5G capped at 150 Mbit/s for one euro a month at yoin, 5G reserved for tiers from €15 at Mobile Vikings, and the country's only standalone 5G at Proximus for €49.99. Over a year, the yoin add-on comes to €12 and the Mobile Vikings tier jump to €60. Access to a native 5G core costs €41.99 a month more than Scarlet's 4G, over identical antennas.

Brand-by-brand host networks are listed in our host network table.

4G or 5G: which choice for your usage?

Four profiles, four answers.

You live and work mostly indoors, with an average signal. Stay on automatic mode and check your actual reception at home before switching brands: our method to test coverage at your address takes a quarter of an hour.

You end your days below 15 % battery. Switch to 4G or LTE on busy days. You lose almost nothing for browsing, messaging or standard video.

You download a lot on the move or share your connection. 5G helps, but pick a brand that does not cap it too low, and on the Proximus network read the "5G included" line before signing.

You are with Scarlet and your phone supports 5G. You pay €8 for 4G only on the Proximus network. hey! gives you 5G on the Orange network for €5, DIGI 60 GB on 5G for €9. This is not about technology, it is about the label.

Three networks, fifteen labels, and only one that sells 5G separately

The 4G versus 5G contest is settled in your phone settings, not in your contract, everywhere except on one network. That is the real Belgian difference, and no technical comparison shows it. To sort plans on their real price, the 5G plan ranking uses the month-13 rate, never the teaser price.

Sources: BIPT, 5G deployment in Belgium, mapping and network quality, January 2026 data published on 7 May 2026, accessed 27 September 2026; BIPT, switching off 2G networks, accessed 27 September 2026; Apple, use 5G with your iPhone, accessed 27 September 2026; Wikipedia, 5G NR; Proximus blog on 5G battery use, published 17 July 2024, citing the Ookla study of July 2023; yoin 5G page, accessed 27 September 2026; price checks for hey!, BASE, DIGI, yoin, Mobile Vikings, Scarlet and Proximus via Selectra, CallMePower, Test Achats and L'Avenir, 15 to 27 September 2026.