5G Phone Hype?

[NW-Bound]

Many. Including nerdy me.

On the other hand, 5G will allow Mark Zuckerberg to track me in real time. So, there is that.

OMG! What despicable things they will do to us now?

I already have to turn off GPS in my Android phone, when I do not need to use the Google Map. They bother me all the time about what I do, and how I like the places that I visit.

 

[dirtbiker]

OMG! What despicable things they will do to us now?

I already have to turn off GPS in my Android phone, when I do not need to use the Google Map. They bother me all the time about what I do, and how I like the places that I visit.

You can change your notification settings to avoid these bothers, without having to turn on and off your GPS. Though, turning off the GPS saves battery life, so there is that.

 

[NW-Bound]

Thanks for the reminder to turn off notifications. I just did that.

PS. With the notifications turned off, I am no longer reminded that they are keeping track of me.
But they still are, and what they are going to do with that info, who knows?


PPS. If they keep seeing me frequenting Good Will and various dollar stores and not fancy stores, perhaps they will get discouraged and stop collecting data about me?

 

[eytonxav]

I am not as interested in a 5G phone as I am in 5G home internet service. Its been rolled out in some big cities, but not in many suburbs. Speeds expected to be up to 900+ MB and that will put pressure on the existing cable/fiber providers. I would say its something akin to a mesh network that covers a city.

 

[cooch96]

I'm not much interested in 5G for the phone. I am curious to see what it may do for home internet service. Increased competition for Comcast can't be a bad thing.

+1

 

[pj.mask]

4g speeds are sufficient for most - when they work. In times of high congestion (public events, city centers) they can be slow and non-responsive.

Improving bandwidth should help that. The move towards higher speeds will make it easier for more things to gain access to the internet (self driving and even regular cars) - as capacity increases, low use services (built in navigation and software updates in cars), should be able to negotiate cheap access as opposed to current.

I think the need to max speed 5G vs max 4G pretty limited - but I don’t think I have ever gotten max speed 4G in the office. Sometimes it struggles to load YouTube through the concrete walls and population density.

The people who go out and buy a new phone for 5G will probably fine a just as unique different reason the year after to get another new phone. Don’t blame some feature for people’s consumption habits. Also, for the amount of time people spend on their phones vs computers (probably 50:1) - why do people complain they they spend more per year on phone hardware?!

 

[Helios]

Caught a news flash that the chinese had already set up a 5G area. No indication as to size, location etc.

 

[NW-Bound]

I think the need to max speed 5G vs max 4G pretty limited - but I don’t think I have ever gotten max speed 4G in the office. Sometimes it struggles to load YouTube through the concrete walls and population density.

Not up-to-date on this stuff, but I read that some 5G phones use very high frequencies in the millimeter wavelength range. Signals in this spectrum do not penetrate walls, and have very short ranges. They are practically for line-of-sight communications only.

And so, I am curious to see how it will be deployed.

 

[NW-Bound]

Ah, there's also a low-frequency 5G, in fact quite lower than the existing signals even. The low frequency will penetrate buildings much better.

T-Mobile’s nationwide 5G network — built on the company’s 600 MHz band of spectrum — will launch on December 6th, company CEO John Legere announced today. This marks the largest rollout for the carrier’s 5G plans yet.

T-Mobile has also started rolling out its 5G network on a smaller scale with faster (but short-range) mmWave technology in a few cities, similar to Verizon. The 600 MHz half of the network looks to help make up for the shortcomings of mmWave networks, like the short range and difficulties of getting signals into buildings.

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Caught a news flash that the chinese had already set up a 5G area. No indication as to size, location etc.

When I was in China in 2015, Internet speed was painfully slow, even in Shanghai and Beijing. I believe the main impediment to speed in that network is government surveillance, not technology.

Of course, the countries that buy Internet technology from China would benefit from its innovations.

 

[drb391]

I know the tin-foil-hat crowd has added it to their list of things that will get you