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Eventually? I have had Thinkpads with build-in cellular modem since at least 2004. (And I have used them under Linux. Fun memories of wvdial back in the days.)

Eventually? I have had Thinkpads with build-in cellular modem since at least 2004. (And I have used them under Linux. Fun memories of wvdial back in the days.) I have not had 5G in a laptop yet, but direct internet access over a cellular network, without wifi is REALLY not new in laptops.

Lammy 5y ago
I am typing this comment on a Thinkpad X210 sporting a Telit LM960 and an unlimited T-Mobile SIM, but it can't pinpoint me with centimeter precision :) https://www.fastcompany.com/90314058/5g-means-youll-have-to-say-goodbye-to-your-location-privacy https://www.fastcompany.com/90314058/5g-means-youll-have-to-... https://www.5gradar.com/news/vodafone-tracking-tech-pinpoints-location-to-within-10cm-for-5g-use-cases https://www.5gradar.com/news/vodafone-tracking-tech-pinpoint...
- judge2020 5y ago
  https://techship.com/products/telit-lm960-lte-cat-18-gps-mpcie/ https://techship.com/products/telit-lm960-lte-cat-18-gps-mpc... This says your modem supports Galileo and GPS, or do you mean the cell provider themselves can't pinpoint you? Also, networks are shutting down a lot of 3G equipment[0]. I'm sure in 15 years LTE will be shut off as well. 0: https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/27/22457255/verizon-att-3g-shutdown-date https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/27/22457255/verizon-att-3g-s...
  - Lammy 5y ago
    > or do you mean the cell provider themselves can’t pinpoint you? This, but with the caveat that I view the telecom cartel as an extension of government and not as separate entities that cooperate only when needed. Joseph Nacchio can tell you how it will go down if any of them tried to stand up for the rights of individuals: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qwest#Refusal_of_NSA_surveillance_requests https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qwest#Refusal_of_NSA_surveilla... Our current technologies are already very good at this. Forgive me for committing an Internet Sin to make my point, but here’s my actual real-world “coarse” location derived from LTE, shown via SignalReborn (no relation to the chat app) on my jailbroken iPhone. The blue dot is my GPS location for comparison, the green line is my active LTE base station, and the red dots are all the base stations in my device’s cache: https://i.imgur.com/cDLnuQk.png https://i.imgur.com/cDLnuQk.png As you can see, a lot of location info can be derived from just one LTE tower plus the signal/noise info of my device. Triangulate three LTE towers and it’s easy to see what building I’m in. 5G is not only technically more capable in this regard, but everyone will have it in every device. 5G on my laptop will be able to tell which side of the bed I’m sitting on. 5G on my watch will be able to tell if I wore taller shoes today. Anyone trying to hide will just invite more scrutiny. I’m not trying to stop the future from occurring, but I hope we can all be aware of what we’re giving in exchange for all this nice connectivity.
gsich 5y ago
Telephony is though. As very few devices can do that.
- petschge 5y ago
  10 years ago it was hard. These days the data connection over the cellular network is fast enough that you can just use VOIP and a provider like SIPgate that gives you access to the plain old telephony system. You can even move that number freely between your cellphone, your laptop and your desktop. Or use google phone I guess.
  - gsich 5y ago
    I know. But I spoke of devices that can actually use telephony. Not VoIP, that was possible all the time. This for example: https://github.com/bg111/asterisk-chan-dongle/ https://github.com/bg111/asterisk-chan-dongle/
reaperducer 5y ago
I have had Thinkpads with build-in cellular modem since at least 2004. I wonder if the author is young and missed the era when people would slap cellular modems into their PCMCIA slots. I had one for my PowerBook around 2001.

Lammy 5y ago

I am typing this comment on a Thinkpad X210 sporting a Telit LM960 and an unlimited T-Mobile SIM, but it can't pinpoint me with centimeter precision :) https://www.fastcompany.com/90314058/5g-means-youll-have-to-say-goodbye-to-your-location-privacy https://www.fastcompany.com/90314058/5g-means-youll-have-to-... https://www.5gradar.com/news/vodafone-tracking-tech-pinpoints-location-to-within-10cm-for-5g-use-cases https://www.5gradar.com/news/vodafone-tracking-tech-pinpoint...

judge2020 5y ago
https://techship.com/products/telit-lm960-lte-cat-18-gps-mpcie/ https://techship.com/products/telit-lm960-lte-cat-18-gps-mpc... This says your modem supports Galileo and GPS, or do you mean the cell provider themselves can't pinpoint you? Also, networks are shutting down a lot of 3G equipment[0]. I'm sure in 15 years LTE will be shut off as well. 0: https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/27/22457255/verizon-att-3g-shutdown-date https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/27/22457255/verizon-att-3g-s...
- Lammy 5y ago
  > or do you mean the cell provider themselves can’t pinpoint you? This, but with the caveat that I view the telecom cartel as an extension of government and not as separate entities that cooperate only when needed. Joseph Nacchio can tell you how it will go down if any of them tried to stand up for the rights of individuals: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qwest#Refusal_of_NSA_surveillance_requests https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qwest#Refusal_of_NSA_surveilla... Our current technologies are already very good at this. Forgive me for committing an Internet Sin to make my point, but here’s my actual real-world “coarse” location derived from LTE, shown via SignalReborn (no relation to the chat app) on my jailbroken iPhone. The blue dot is my GPS location for comparison, the green line is my active LTE base station, and the red dots are all the base stations in my device’s cache: https://i.imgur.com/cDLnuQk.png https://i.imgur.com/cDLnuQk.png As you can see, a lot of location info can be derived from just one LTE tower plus the signal/noise info of my device. Triangulate three LTE towers and it’s easy to see what building I’m in. 5G is not only technically more capable in this regard, but everyone will have it in every device. 5G on my laptop will be able to tell which side of the bed I’m sitting on. 5G on my watch will be able to tell if I wore taller shoes today. Anyone trying to hide will just invite more scrutiny. I’m not trying to stop the future from occurring, but I hope we can all be aware of what we’re giving in exchange for all this nice connectivity.

gsich 5y ago

Telephony is though. As very few devices can do that.

petschge 5y ago
10 years ago it was hard. These days the data connection over the cellular network is fast enough that you can just use VOIP and a provider like SIPgate that gives you access to the plain old telephony system. You can even move that number freely between your cellphone, your laptop and your desktop. Or use google phone I guess.
- gsich 5y ago
  I know. But I spoke of devices that can actually use telephony. Not VoIP, that was possible all the time. This for example: https://github.com/bg111/asterisk-chan-dongle/ https://github.com/bg111/asterisk-chan-dongle/

reaperducer 5y ago

I have had Thinkpads with build-in cellular modem since at least 2004. I wonder if the author is young and missed the era when people would slap cellular modems into their PCMCIA slots. I had one for my PowerBook around 2001.