4 ms·

In my tiny EU country, 4G already covers 99% of the population and unlimited data plans for homes are available from 19 EUR / month. Yet, nobody is talking abou

by krn 7y ago

In my tiny EU country, 4G already covers 99% of the population and unlimited data plans for homes are available from 19 EUR / month. Yet, nobody is talking about 5G or the urgent need for it.

AdrianB1 7y ago
In my average EU country 4G has also great coverage, but for USA that is still a challenge: there are many low density rural areas that are too expensive to cover, so nobody does it. That is why getting 4G coverage there would be more relevant than going for 5G in a few cities.
rubber_duck 7y ago
> In my tiny EU country, 4G already covers 99% of the population and unlimited data plans for homes are available from 19 EUR / month. Mine as well - in peak hours you're lucky to get close to 1MB/s in two bigger cities I've lived in. Also latency spikes even when the bandwidth is OK. Don't know how much 5G will help with all of this but 4G is not a good option as a primary internet connection if you work online and any upgrades would be very welcome.
- sho 7y ago
  That sounds like the backhaul is congested, which 5G won't do anything about at all. The good news is, it's likely much easier to upgrade the backhaul than it is to change up all the radio hardware - it's simply a decision your mobile provider/ISP has taken to not do it.
- krn 7y ago
  > Mine as well - in peak hours you're lucky to get close to 1MB/s in two bigger cities I've lived in. Also latency spikes even when the bandwidth is OK. It's the same in my country. > Don't know how much 5G will help with all of this but 4G is not a good option as a primary internet connection if you work online and any upgrades would be very welcome. The thing is, very few people work from home, and even those who do rarely require more than 1 MB/s for the most common office tasks. It's true, though, that 4G connection is not the best option for 8-5 software engineering. But it still makes it possible to work from anywhere in the countryside during the entire summer.
NeedMoreTea 7y ago
In my G7 EU country, I regularly go out of not just 4G, but 3G coverage. E for Edge is quite common to see, which with current apps and sites effectively means no data. OK, I'm relatively rural, but doesn't require me going far out into the wilds, or even out of town. It wasn't much better when I was last in a major city. Regular, though admittedly brief, dropouts of coverage. No doubt in both cases the mobile company's map says great coverage. I'd settle for pervasive 3G or 4G long before caring about 5.
- swiley 7y ago
  In a lot of the US you don't get an "E for Edge" you get a "No Service." I was just in Mansfield Ohio and my freind's T-mobile phone was more or less useless and had to be tethered to mine the whole trip, mine (which uses one of the two larger carriers with better rural coverage, mostly because of where I grew up) worked enough that we could occasionally get text messages out, we often had to find a cafe if we needed a new route or map tiles though.
- llampx 7y ago
  Germany?
irvinghua 7y ago
In my large East Asia country-China,4G already covers 99% of the population（1.3 billion） and unlimited data plans for homes are available from 129 rmb / month（nearly 17 EUR） for China Unicomm user.Yet, everybody is talking about 5G or the urgent need for it :-)

by krn 7y ago

In my tiny EU country, 4G already covers 99% of the population and unlimited data plans for homes are available from 19 EUR / month. Yet, nobody is talking about 5G or the urgent need for it.

AdrianB1 7y ago

In my average EU country 4G has also great coverage, but for USA that is still a challenge: there are many low density rural areas that are too expensive to cover, so nobody does it. That is why getting 4G coverage there would be more relevant than going for 5G in a few cities.

rubber_duck 7y ago

> In my tiny EU country, 4G already covers 99% of the population and unlimited data plans for homes are available from 19 EUR / month. Mine as well - in peak hours you're lucky to get close to 1MB/s in two bigger cities I've lived in. Also latency spikes even when the bandwidth is OK. Don't know how much 5G will help with all of this but 4G is not a good option as a primary internet connection if you work online and any upgrades would be very welcome.

sho 7y ago
That sounds like the backhaul is congested, which 5G won't do anything about at all. The good news is, it's likely much easier to upgrade the backhaul than it is to change up all the radio hardware - it's simply a decision your mobile provider/ISP has taken to not do it.
krn 7y ago
> Mine as well - in peak hours you're lucky to get close to 1MB/s in two bigger cities I've lived in. Also latency spikes even when the bandwidth is OK. It's the same in my country. > Don't know how much 5G will help with all of this but 4G is not a good option as a primary internet connection if you work online and any upgrades would be very welcome. The thing is, very few people work from home, and even those who do rarely require more than 1 MB/s for the most common office tasks. It's true, though, that 4G connection is not the best option for 8-5 software engineering. But it still makes it possible to work from anywhere in the countryside during the entire summer.

NeedMoreTea 7y ago

In my G7 EU country, I regularly go out of not just 4G, but 3G coverage. E for Edge is quite common to see, which with current apps and sites effectively means no data. OK, I'm relatively rural, but doesn't require me going far out into the wilds, or even out of town. It wasn't much better when I was last in a major city. Regular, though admittedly brief, dropouts of coverage. No doubt in both cases the mobile company's map says great coverage. I'd settle for pervasive 3G or 4G long before caring about 5.

swiley 7y ago
In a lot of the US you don't get an "E for Edge" you get a "No Service." I was just in Mansfield Ohio and my freind's T-mobile phone was more or less useless and had to be tethered to mine the whole trip, mine (which uses one of the two larger carriers with better rural coverage, mostly because of where I grew up) worked enough that we could occasionally get text messages out, we often had to find a cafe if we needed a new route or map tiles though.
llampx 7y ago
Germany?

irvinghua 7y ago

In my large East Asia country-China,4G already covers 99% of the population（1.3 billion） and unlimited data plans for homes are available from 129 rmb / month（nearly 17 EUR） for China Unicomm user.Yet, everybody is talking about 5G or the urgent need for it :-)