Unlocking the power of 4G/5G mobile networks: An empirical dive into quality and energy efficiency in YouTube Edge services

The advancements in 5G mobile networks and Edge computing offer great potential for services like augmented reality and Cloud gaming, thanks to their low latency and high bandwidth capabilities. However, the practical limitations of achieving optimal latency on real applications remain uncertain. This paper investigates the latency, bandwidth, and energy consumption of 5G Networks and leverages YouTube Edge service as the practical use case. We analyze how latency, bandwidth, and energy consumption differ between 4G LTE and 5G networks and how the location of YouTube Edge servers impacts these metrics. Surprisingly, our observations show that the 5G ecosystems have average latency hikes of up to 2$\times$, demonstrating that they are far from achieving their proclaimed promises. Our research study reveals over 10 significant observations and implications, indicating that the primary constraints on 4G/LTE and 5G capabilities are the ecosystem and energy efficiency of mobile devices’ when receiving data. Moreover, our study demonstrates that to unlock the potential of 5G and its applications fully, it is crucial to prioritize efforts to improve the 5G ecosystem and introduce better methods and techniques to enhance energy efficiency.