topic 5G NSA network prioritisation in Mobile Network discussions

5G NSA network prioritisation

wmj — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 18:40:41 GMT

Hi,
My 5G NSA download speed more than 1/2s of an evening which is really frustrating, I just wondered if anyone knows if I switched to a business account whether my network prioritisation would increase over that I already have with a consumer unlimited/600Gb All Rounder plan?
Router stats look pretty good I think?
LTE RSRP -80
LTE RSRQ -12
5G RSRP -71
5G RSRQ -12
During the day I get 130 down 120 up but that more than 1/2s evenings and weekends.

Re: 5G NSA network prioritisation

Chris_B — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 18:57:14 GMT

@wmj No it wouldn’t increase.

Re: 5G NSA network prioritisation

Northerner — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 20:47:40 GMT

Hi @wmj

If you're already receiving a good signal and in a good signal area then the network prioritisation doesn't activate.

Thanks.

Re: 5G NSA network prioritisation

wmj — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 21:07:37 GMT

Sounds like all it does then is increase your chances of connecting to a tower during peak times but if it's already saturated to the point of turning away customers without priority then you're not going to end up with much.

Re: 5G NSA network prioritisation

Northerner — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 21:22:52 GMT

@wmj wrote:
Sounds like all it does then is increase your chances of connecting to a tower during peak times but if it's already saturated to the point of turning away customers without priority then you're not going to end up with much.

That's it 👍🏻

Re: 5G NSA network prioritisation

bristolian — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 21:58:22 GMT

Not quite, to the above comments.

My understanding is that the network priority feature is QoS-based. In theory, you get priority access to congested sites/sectors. I have no direct experience of its practical value.

The RAN has to be congested seriously beyond most regular levels, to prevent phones from connecting to idle. I've only experienced idle-connectivity issues when in a 5-digit size crowd covered (at the time) by a single 20Mhz carrier.

Re: 5G NSA network prioritisation

Northerner — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 07:56:33 GMT

@bristolian

if at any one time there are 1000 people with this service in say central London then who out of those 1000 gets priority in the event of congestion?

The only example I can recall of using this service was at Wembley, then again EE sponsor Wembley and expectations are high that even a full stadium and residents signal and access to EE service works.

Thanks

Re: 5G NSA network prioritisation

bristolian — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 09:42:11 GMT

Wembley Stadium has an internal antenna system and is well-scoped for a full stadium - Twickenham is the same, and I usually experience good matchday service at TW2.

The stadium I often struggle at is the Millennium in Cardiff, where EE performs reasonably on matchday, until KO <20minutes, and HT, when data is usually impossible, and VoLTE has been known to struggle. The on-screen bars are always present & correct, but when texts start taking upto a minute to send....

A QoS setup essentially decides who gets priority when RAN resource is limited. Those with higher priority are given places further up the queue for resource, and effectively push "normal" users to a point where service can become unusable in extreme cases.