4 ms·

In the UK whenever I go to some public event - e.g. some of the anti-Brexit marches or something like the Fully Charged EV show or any other big event I start t

by t43562 4y ago

In the UK whenever I go to some public event - e.g. some of the anti-Brexit marches or something like the Fully Charged EV show or any other big event I start to have trouble connecting and when I am able to move away from the crowd far enough I can use my phone again. This is dangerous - when you're in a crowd you need your phone more to be able to find out what's happening and where your friends or family are if you get separated. So if 5G started to fix that I'd say it was an excellent thing.

ddol 4y ago
I used to have connectivity and data speed issues at music festivals and large conventions, but both permanent infrastructure at convention centres and temporary towers at parks used for festivals have mitigated this (in my experience). In both cases the event is planned many months in advance, and there are incentives for both event organisers and telcos to ensure phone subscribers have a good experience (avoids “reception was terrible at Glastonbury” or “I couldn’t make any calls on Vodafone, I should switch network”). But protests typically lack the timeframe, and (I expect) a sympathetic ear from the telcos. Even if the timeframe is know well in advance, gaining permits to stand up towers (and associated labour, equipment rental) costs money, and spending the money signals implicit support for the cause. While load sharing among neighbouring towers could alleviate minor increases in traffic (maybe 2x) I can’t see the networks over provisioning the radio and back haul for permanent infrastructure to support a possible 10x surge and then let it sit 90% idle. Dedicated fiber leased lines are expensive. Maybe protests should instead be organised near convention centres which already have capacity for surge traffic?
- t43562 4y ago
  Protests are organised to do what they have to do and they're not done with oodles of cash. The marches had hundreds of thousands of people in them stretching over a long distance. It wasn't even possible to fit in the final destination. In fact my local Turkish society shindig for April 23 had connection problems despite only having 500 people in a hall and those people are collecting for earthquake victims so there's no money for luxuries. If, however, 5G helped make this problem go away then hurray. It would be worth it.
shever73 4y ago
> like the Fully Charged EV show Nice reference. I have had similar problems when travelling to the UK for large events. Whenever I go over for an Arsenal match (it still hurts, thank you) I have trouble just using my phone anywhere near the stadium. I haven't had that issue with similarly large events here in Dublin, so maybe we don't experience as much cell congestion. With regard to 5G in Dublin, though, the performance has been poor. When we moved into a new apartment, a 5G router was my only option for a few months. Although I purportedly had a 5G connection, according to the router, it never worked well for video meetings or anything other than burst downloads of files.

by t43562 4y ago

ddol 4y ago

I used to have connectivity and data speed issues at music festivals and large conventions, but both permanent infrastructure at convention centres and temporary towers at parks used for festivals have mitigated this (in my experience). In both cases the event is planned many months in advance, and there are incentives for both event organisers and telcos to ensure phone subscribers have a good experience (avoids “reception was terrible at Glastonbury” or “I couldn’t make any calls on Vodafone, I should switch network”). But protests typically lack the timeframe, and (I expect) a sympathetic ear from the telcos. Even if the timeframe is know well in advance, gaining permits to stand up towers (and associated labour, equipment rental) costs money, and spending the money signals implicit support for the cause. While load sharing among neighbouring towers could alleviate minor increases in traffic (maybe 2x) I can’t see the networks over provisioning the radio and back haul for permanent infrastructure to support a possible 10x surge and then let it sit 90% idle. Dedicated fiber leased lines are expensive. Maybe protests should instead be organised near convention centres which already have capacity for surge traffic?

t43562 4y ago
Protests are organised to do what they have to do and they're not done with oodles of cash. The marches had hundreds of thousands of people in them stretching over a long distance. It wasn't even possible to fit in the final destination. In fact my local Turkish society shindig for April 23 had connection problems despite only having 500 people in a hall and those people are collecting for earthquake victims so there's no money for luxuries. If, however, 5G helped make this problem go away then hurray. It would be worth it.

shever73 4y ago

> like the Fully Charged EV show Nice reference. I have had similar problems when travelling to the UK for large events. Whenever I go over for an Arsenal match (it still hurts, thank you) I have trouble just using my phone anywhere near the stadium. I haven't had that issue with similarly large events here in Dublin, so maybe we don't experience as much cell congestion. With regard to 5G in Dublin, though, the performance has been poor. When we moved into a new apartment, a 5G router was my only option for a few months. Although I purportedly had a 5G connection, according to the router, it never worked well for video meetings or anything other than burst downloads of files.