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It's pretty clear that the widespread adoption of faster mobile technologies has enabled technology companies like Facebook, Google, Youtube, Netflix etc to thr

It's pretty clear that the widespread adoption of faster mobile technologies has enabled technology companies like Facebook, Google, Youtube, Netflix etc to thrive. Investment in infrastructure has unforseen benefits that only seem obvious in hindsight. America basically "owned" the 4G world and reaped the benefits. Not doing this for 5G will basically just hand hundreds of billions of dollars in jobs and growth to China.

harshreality 7y ago
Netflix, youtube, and facebook can stream fine on lower bandwidth links. The economic value of high resolution mobile streaming seems rather low, at best. Most likely negative, because most content is just time-wasting, and because content that actually matters tends to not depend so much on resolution beyond SD or basic HD (720p). Other potential applications, as mentioned elsewhere, tend to run into 5G not being fast enough either (once you figure average speeds and not max theoretical speeds), or latency being too high, or the bottleneck being on the remote side. 4G, despite being ubiquitous, costs a lot for service and is power-hungry, not good qualities for most IoT-type applications. 5G might be better than 4G for mobile side energy use, but unless it's close to 802.11ax levels and mobile providers offer cheap bandwidth-limited service plans, I don't see why anyone would use it for IoT applications. That leaves mobile device applications, and people are already too glued to their mobile devices. I'm sure new businesses will capitalize on increased bandwidth from 5G, but I'm doubtful that it will benefit society. 5G antennas near the ground can be easily vandalized.
- jorblumesea 7y ago
  > Netflix, youtube, and facebook can stream fine on lower bandwidth links. They really cannot, at least with quality levels that make people actually want to watch them. > The economic value of high resolution mobile streaming seems rather low, at best. Many multi-billion dollar companies and streaming services would disagree. As would many investors. > Most likely negative, because most content is just time-wasting, and because content that actually matters tends to not depend so much on resolution beyond SD or basic HD (720p) This is entirely your opinion about what content you prefer. Once again, there's literally hundreds of billions of dollars that says otherwise. > 5G might be better than 4G for mobile side energy use, but unless it's close to 802.11ax levels and mobile providers offer cheap bandwidth-limited service plans, I don't see why anyone would use it for IoT applications. This is not the problem 5G solves. It solves latency, availability and throughput. > I'm sure new businesses will capitalize on increased bandwidth from 5G, but I'm doubtful that it will benefit society. You are doubtful that the creation of numerous companies, highly paid jobs and adding hundreds of billions of dollars to the US economy won't benefit society?
  - deleted 7y ago
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godelski 7y ago
This is the big point that everyone is missing. If we aren't at the forefront of the technology curve, then someone else will be. It's literally choosing to be a winner or loser but you also don't have to put in the time or effort you just have to voice an opinion.

harshreality 7y ago

Netflix, youtube, and facebook can stream fine on lower bandwidth links. The economic value of high resolution mobile streaming seems rather low, at best. Most likely negative, because most content is just time-wasting, and because content that actually matters tends to not depend so much on resolution beyond SD or basic HD (720p). Other potential applications, as mentioned elsewhere, tend to run into 5G not being fast enough either (once you figure average speeds and not max theoretical speeds), or latency being too high, or the bottleneck being on the remote side. 4G, despite being ubiquitous, costs a lot for service and is power-hungry, not good qualities for most IoT-type applications. 5G might be better than 4G for mobile side energy use, but unless it's close to 802.11ax levels and mobile providers offer cheap bandwidth-limited service plans, I don't see why anyone would use it for IoT applications. That leaves mobile device applications, and people are already too glued to their mobile devices. I'm sure new businesses will capitalize on increased bandwidth from 5G, but I'm doubtful that it will benefit society. 5G antennas near the ground can be easily vandalized.

jorblumesea 7y ago
> Netflix, youtube, and facebook can stream fine on lower bandwidth links. They really cannot, at least with quality levels that make people actually want to watch them. > The economic value of high resolution mobile streaming seems rather low, at best. Many multi-billion dollar companies and streaming services would disagree. As would many investors. > Most likely negative, because most content is just time-wasting, and because content that actually matters tends to not depend so much on resolution beyond SD or basic HD (720p) This is entirely your opinion about what content you prefer. Once again, there's literally hundreds of billions of dollars that says otherwise. > 5G might be better than 4G for mobile side energy use, but unless it's close to 802.11ax levels and mobile providers offer cheap bandwidth-limited service plans, I don't see why anyone would use it for IoT applications. This is not the problem 5G solves. It solves latency, availability and throughput. > I'm sure new businesses will capitalize on increased bandwidth from 5G, but I'm doubtful that it will benefit society. You are doubtful that the creation of numerous companies, highly paid jobs and adding hundreds of billions of dollars to the US economy won't benefit society?
- deleted 7y ago
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godelski 7y ago

This is the big point that everyone is missing. If we aren't at the forefront of the technology curve, then someone else will be. It's literally choosing to be a winner or loser but you also don't have to put in the time or effort you just have to voice an opinion.