this post was submitted on 30 Dec 2023
146 points (83.8% liked)

Technology

73602 readers
3126 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 84 points 2 years ago (9 children)

I haven't even bought a 5G phone yet. My carrier keeps threatening to cut 4G coverage in various areas, and has already axed 3G entirely, rendering large swathes of otherwise perfectly functional devices useless. So far my 4G Moto Z still works. For now.

At this point my conspiracy opinion that the constant "generation" changes are mostly to just force people to buy/lease new phones and devices. Even pokey old 4G has always been more than fast enough for all of my mobile internet activities. Hell, even 3G was.

I have no less than four otherwise flawlessly functional phones in a desk drawer that just won't work with my cell carrier because they've either turned off 3G or discontinued the specific 4G bands those devices need.

[–] lyam23@lemmy.world 49 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I live in a medium size city with extensive Verizon coverage. 5g here is still dogshit. It's always slower than LTE and even though towers are everywhere, my phone is constantly switching back and forth.

[–] fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.world 15 points 2 years ago (1 children)

mmwave 5g or "5g"? On T-Mobile near me I get anywhere from 200Mbps down to over gigabit down depending on the location.

A few areas are the shitty 5g that's essentially 4g+. But most areas around me have really good coverage with pretty insane speeds.

[–] yamanii@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

How would anyone know? Why is it even possible to "fake" 5G? Just makes everyone that doesn't know about it to just complain and think it sucks.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Pregnenolone@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

I totally agree with you that generation changes are either currently or going to be used as a form of planned obsolescence. I reckon that within 10 years or so we’ll have sub generation types (things 6.5G) that will force people to buy new devices.

[–] iopq@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago (6 children)

What percentage of people use 3g only phones? If it's 1%, does it make sense to keep those services running just for those people?

[–] dual_sport_dork@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

It's not necessarily phones. It's trackers, monitoring devices, laptops, access points, and tablets that all run over 3G bands.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (5 replies)
load more comments (6 replies)
[–] krakenx@lemmy.world 66 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (6 children)

4G, 5G and now 6G are worthless if cell providers don't provide enough bandwidth to the towers. The range also keeps decreasing as the generations increase, so now there are these big gaps that 3G used to cover.

In my area, 5G is slower than 4G and both have lower signal and slower speeds than 3G used to have. I need a dual SIM phone and to constantly switch my phone between AT&T and T-Mobile, and both are crap. I only use about 1GB in total too, and I'm lucky if I can pull more than 1 megabit on either service. I miss 3G speeds, coverage, and competition.

Worst of all, AT&T is forcing home users to switch to a 5G hotspot from DSL. It's probably a big part of why the cell towers are always overloaded too. Imagine running your home internet on 1 megabit with constant drops...

[–] user224@lemmy.sdf.org 5 points 2 years ago

That thing with 3G sounds right. I usually switch to 3G when I want faster speeds than 4G, which gets me only around 1-3Mbps during the day in my location*. If I do want even faster speeds, I have to use the internet between 1-4am when I can reach pretty nice 40Mbps.

Unfortunately, when connected to 3G of Orange in national roaming, I can only use 20GB as stated in the FUP (my carrier doesn't offer 3G). However the carrier has confirmed they unofficially allow up to 40GB for some reason.
But that's not enough for me. I use around 80GB per month on mobile data, but sometimes I reach up to 150GB.

*In some areas with lower population (typically small villages), I get almost the maximum theoretical speeds of 75Mbps.

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] solrize@lemmy.world 53 points 2 years ago (14 children)

"This is an important research question because we can see mobile traffic going up over the next decade by a factor of 10 or even a factor of 20. "

Wtf are they going to do with that? Always-on video from wireless devices everywhere? Holographic movies on every web page? It sounds terrible. I remember having to make phone calls for basic communication. These days you send a text or email, except now and then you want the higher bandwidth of a voice call. That is, we have been moving toward LESS bandwidth rather than more.

Whatever is imagined being done with all the new bandwidth can't be good.

[–] echo64@lemmy.world 55 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Your personal usage does not align with the majority. Look at tiktok, it's social media based around endless video files. It's not an occasional text or email, it's hundreds of videos that your constantly scrolling through.

[–] Max_P@lemmy.max-p.me 38 points 2 years ago (1 children)

The carriers love to brag about high capacity and fast speeds but they're still unwilling to deliver the bandwidth. They're all advertising "unlimited" data but if you scroll TikTok for a while they'll block your line for "excessive" data usage or throttle you down to 256kb/s.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] solrize@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

OK, good point. Are people using mobile data for that? Yes you're right I'm not on social media etc. Also I'm on a super cheap mobile plan with enough monthly data to check email and look at some occasional web pages, but if I want to watch a video I almost always use home internet for that. I guess if this super high bandwidth mobile stuff kills Comcast though, some good will have come out of it. The Register article talks mostly about IoT and "AI/ML" rather than social media though.

Is 5g mobile data cheaper for the end user than 4g in practice? The sticker prices and advertised data caps for monthly plans look to me to be about the same as before, but maybe more of the data cap is usable in practice.

[–] fuckwit_mcbumcrumble@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago (3 children)

OK, good point. Are people using mobile data for that?

Unlimited data. You do whatever you want, whenever you want, wherever you want.

I haven't seen any carriers charging extra for 5g but I don't see why it would be more expensive since the quicker you're done using the data the quicker the tower can serve someone else.

load more comments (3 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[–] CeeBee@lemmy.world 41 points 2 years ago

Wtf are they going to do with that?

Show more ads

[–] jonne 16 points 2 years ago (1 children)

They're making the data faster, but most plans are still limited to something ridiculous like 20G/month. What's the point of being able to stream 4K video or whatever if that's going to burn through your data allowance in seconds?

[–] SkyeStarfall@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

A huge part of newer mobile network generations is the increased capacity. Faster speeds is effectively the same as more capacity in the towers.

This means that companies could actually afford to start offering unlimited data caps, there just has to be the push to do so. But I do genuinely believe that within a decade there will be no more datacaps for mobile data in cities, at least (or at least plenty of plans with unlimited and no throttling). Well, idk about the US considering you got data caps on broadband, but, I'm sure Europe will get it.

[–] Shdwdrgn@mander.xyz 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

And nobody will ever need more than 640K of memory, so the fact that even your cell phone carries vastly more than that must mean you yourself are up to no good, right?

Even if you're not dealing with a constant video stream, the power of the internet lies in moving vast amounts of data around. Yeah a lot of that information is based of corporate privacy invasion, but you also have things like medical databases or performing jobs remotely. I had gigabit routers in my home at a time when 10/100 routers were still typically used even in businesses. If you have a capability, someone will find a way to make use of it and new innovations will pop up that we hadn't even considered before. Imagine where we would be at if Xerox hadn't invented the mouse and GUI desktop years before personal home computers were even available.

[–] solrize@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

All the examples you mention work fine with wired internet. No need to let the carriers keep gobbling RF spectrum for mobile.

someone will find a way to make use of it and new innovations will pop up

Nah, it's all surveillance dystopia from here on out.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (9 replies)
[–] rar@discuss.online 43 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Most want ubiquitous and affordable/cheap mobile internet without the hassle of signing contracts. Moving tech tiers past 4G isn't relevant for consumers as of now.

[–] XTornado@lemmy.ml 34 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Said the Phone/ISPs top earning guys while looking at their bank accounts extracts.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] wabafee@lemmy.world 28 points 2 years ago (2 children)

If 5g makes the frog gay would 6g negate it?

[–] XTornado@lemmy.ml 19 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

Nah this will be something related with Satan and 666 and hell and so on.

The 6 Gs of the apocalypse. G G G G G G

[–] Hule@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

Gluttony, Gargoyle, Gollum, Ganesha, Gabriel, Gesus...

[–] iopq@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

Well yes, since it makes the frog trans so it goes from gay to straight

[–] cosmicrookie@lemmy.world 28 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Why don't we just skip 6G and just go straight to 7G

[–] Denalduh@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago (2 children)

If they're going to skip anything, it's going to be 8.. Because 7, 8, 9!

[–] Hule@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago

I mean, you might have a point there.

If seven ate nine, but you skip eight, it's all OK! Seven nine.

But.. But.. Seven ate nine.

You ate eight!

Seven nine!

Waaaahhh!

[–] ridethisbike@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago

Nah dude... That's why they skipped 9 because 7 ate it. 9 was never a viable option

[–] Mojojojo1993@lemmy.world 17 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Obviously being remotely planted in your brain with radio waves to control your mind and actions, like voting for [OPPOSITE POLITICAL PARTY] or making you throb and drip for [OPPOSITE PREFERRED GENDER]. Wake up sheeple!!!11!

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] jeffw@lemmy.world 16 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I can hear the conspiracies already!

[–] UndulyUnruly@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago (2 children)

The wave forms of 6G will physically break the ankles of birds in flight and neuter your dog through the roof of the house. Yoghurt will never taste the same and your feet will go up two sizes forcing you to buy new shoes. The writing is clearly on the wall.

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] BlackSkinnedJew@lemmynsfw.com 15 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

If the carriers keep offering 10GB per month or "unlimited" plans, why I would want to spend the whole big amount in 5 seconds?

I didn't see the point there.

From my humble POV they just want to advertise and marketing about they being the first ones in having 6G while the thing they should do it's INCREASE THE FUCKING DATA AMOUNT, PEOPLE(ME) NEED MORE DATA NOT SPEED TO SPEND THEIR DATA IN 5 SECONDS. DUMB MFS.

load more comments (3 replies)
[–] Resol@lemmy.world 14 points 2 years ago (4 children)

We Moroccans don't even have 5G countrywide yet, and yet you guys are already prepping for 6G? At least wait for everyone to catch up.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] deafboy@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago

Does this mean we can do proper voice over 4G already? Last time I heard it was just for the selected phone models with specific software.

[–] KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 9 points 2 years ago

WE DIDN'T NEED 5G

[–] Kystael@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 years ago

Qualcomm is erect

[–] notannpc@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

I’m still waiting for 5G to revolutionize everything like every carrier promised it would.

[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago (2 children)
[–] ahriboy@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 2 years ago

GTA V has 9G LMAO

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I think I might be the person who benefitted most from 5G. I live in mid-size city that gets overrun with tourists a few times a year. The speed upgrade hasn’t mattered much but it’s been awhile since I couldn’t get on the network because of capacity problems. It used to happen half the time I was in a crowd. LTE basically never worked well at big sporting events and concerts.

That might not be because of 5G tech, though. Maybe carriers just got better at deploying extra capacity for major events?

[–] Rapidcreek@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago (4 children)

Excessive traffic, like sporting events, concerts, fairs, natural disasters etc. Are a lot of fun to engineer. A lot of times they will use a cell on wheels or COW. At first mobile operators didn't order a lot of these, but slowly increased their stock.

load more comments (4 replies)
[–] wreckedcarzz@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago

The fact that she's wearing a yellow shirt in the article thumbnail makes this just 👌

https://youtube.com/watch?v=RKc4QhMSFG8

load more comments
view more: next ›