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I would bank on Starlink and Amazon long before I would bet on TMobile who can not even get reliable service for 4G let alone think they are going to take over

by syshum 5y ago

I would bank on Starlink and Amazon long before I would bet on TMobile who can not even get reliable service for 4G let alone think they are going to take over Home Wireless I still have my doubts that any wireless can ever replace the reliability and low latency of FTH. I have no desire to have mobile internet experience from my gaming system or desktop computer. I will keep my Fiber thanks. I also for Verizon have my doubts that the "no data caps" they are selling today will last as they get more customers moved off their wire services on to the more profitable wireless. This bait and switch is old hat for the telecom's it will be just a few years, if not a few months before they backdoor in some data caps due to the ever famous "network congestion" that will always plague high density wireless deployments While the Big 3 have all the spectrum, they incompetently use is, and simply have it because they can afford to pay the FCC billions in the corrupt "auction" system the FCC uses to allocate said spectrum. The Big 3 carriers have proven to be terrible network operators and people only use them because they have no other choice. Wireless carriers in the US have a lower approval rating than the US Congress

kiwijamo 5y ago
Home wireless is great for low-end users. My mother is on a 4G wireless service for her home phone and internet, with a price lower than what she'd pay for the equivalent copper/fibre service. While I certainty would never want to use 4G wireless for my own home internet, I can see why it is a great value proposition for those who just need email and the occasional FaceTime call. It also helps that existing cellular telcos already have heaps of 4G towers so customers are likely to be near one and get a good service (and in any case carriers usually don't provide fixed wireless services in areas where their network suffering from capacity issues). My mother incidentally lives right across the road of her serving cell site which makes the service even more reliable and speedy for her--and even if that was not the case, her carrier has been deploying hundreds of new 4G sites each year in our small 5 or so million population country so the service is improving all the time across the entire country. So there is a nice double win -- on one hand mobile subscribers benefit from much better capacity and improved coverage (much of which wouldn't have happened if it was not for fixed wireless) while on the other hand people now have more options for their home/fixed internet. I was previously a skeptic of fixed wireless--but having seen how well it works for low end fixed wireless users while also improving things for mobile customers as well I am now entirely in favor of it. Fibre will still be the best option for high end users (such as >99% of the HN audience) and I can't see it going away anytime soon. There's too many families, small businesses, student flats, etc for which fibre would continue to be more cost effective option for the speed and QOS provided.
- syshum 5y ago
  The problem here is we have an example in history of how this pays out... the POTS phone system. As more and more people moved off of POTS to wireless carries, the cost to maintain the system went up, and the willingness of the telco;s to maintain it dropped. Now to the point where in many areas you can not get a Plain Old Telephone line at all, even if you need it for something like an Alarm system, medical device, etc. The same will happen for fiber I am afraid and everyone will just be left with mediocre fixes wireless only good for web browsing and email

by syshum 5y ago

kiwijamo 5y ago

Home wireless is great for low-end users. My mother is on a 4G wireless service for her home phone and internet, with a price lower than what she'd pay for the equivalent copper/fibre service. While I certainty would never want to use 4G wireless for my own home internet, I can see why it is a great value proposition for those who just need email and the occasional FaceTime call. It also helps that existing cellular telcos already have heaps of 4G towers so customers are likely to be near one and get a good service (and in any case carriers usually don't provide fixed wireless services in areas where their network suffering from capacity issues). My mother incidentally lives right across the road of her serving cell site which makes the service even more reliable and speedy for her--and even if that was not the case, her carrier has been deploying hundreds of new 4G sites each year in our small 5 or so million population country so the service is improving all the time across the entire country. So there is a nice double win -- on one hand mobile subscribers benefit from much better capacity and improved coverage (much of which wouldn't have happened if it was not for fixed wireless) while on the other hand people now have more options for their home/fixed internet. I was previously a skeptic of fixed wireless--but having seen how well it works for low end fixed wireless users while also improving things for mobile customers as well I am now entirely in favor of it. Fibre will still be the best option for high end users (such as >99% of the HN audience) and I can't see it going away anytime soon. There's too many families, small businesses, student flats, etc for which fibre would continue to be more cost effective option for the speed and QOS provided.

syshum 5y ago
The problem here is we have an example in history of how this pays out... the POTS phone system. As more and more people moved off of POTS to wireless carries, the cost to maintain the system went up, and the willingness of the telco;s to maintain it dropped. Now to the point where in many areas you can not get a Plain Old Telephone line at all, even if you need it for something like an Alarm system, medical device, etc. The same will happen for fiber I am afraid and everyone will just be left with mediocre fixes wireless only good for web browsing and email