3 ms·

My biggest concern with 4G is that it will move people from using static line ISP connections to using mobile connections for everything. The problem with this

by jiggy2011 14y ago

My biggest concern with 4G is that it will move people from using static line ISP connections to using mobile connections for everything. The problem with this is that mobile providers seem to be a lot more invasive when it comes to blocking content, leaking personal data and imposing restrictions on the use of the data service.

miahi 14y ago
This will be limited by the costs. I get 5GB of monthly traffic for 10€/month on 21Mbps 3G (average speed: 4Mbps), but I get unlimited traffic at 150Mbps for the same price on a static line (average speed: 80Mbps). Cloud-based storage and services means I will do a lot of traffic, and this brings great costs for a mobile connection. Right now I'm backing up 1.8TB of data with CrashPlan. I couldn't do that on 3G.
- 46Bit 14y ago
  Getting over 5GB on one SIM card at decent speeds seems to be almost impossible. Having rung around a lot on this, most UK networks say they'll only do it for video advertising boards next to motorways and such.
bunderbunder 14y ago
I suspect that this will be discouraged by a couple natural factors. First is cost, as was already mentioned. Mobile networks are expensive to operate. I suspect that current bandwidth prices are artificially low because mobile carriers have an assumption that most users will use far less bandwidth than they're paying for built into their pricing structure. Significant numbers of people switching to LTE for their primary source of internet access would probably kill that strategy. Second is bandwidth contention. I've seen what happens to WiMAX-based residential internet access services when they get popular. It's like what the iPhone did to AT&T's network in major metropolitan areas. I suspect that all of the mobile carriers will be very careful to make sure they don't let that happen again.

3 ms·

My biggest concern with 4G is that it will move people from using static line ISP connections to using mobile connections for everything. The problem with this

by jiggy2011 14y ago

miahi 14y ago
This will be limited by the costs. I get 5GB of monthly traffic for 10€/month on 21Mbps 3G (average speed: 4Mbps), but I get unlimited traffic at 150Mbps for the same price on a static line (average speed: 80Mbps). Cloud-based storage and services means I will do a lot of traffic, and this brings great costs for a mobile connection. Right now I'm backing up 1.8TB of data with CrashPlan. I couldn't do that on 3G.
- 46Bit 14y ago
  Getting over 5GB on one SIM card at decent speeds seems to be almost impossible. Having rung around a lot on this, most UK networks say they'll only do it for video advertising boards next to motorways and such.
bunderbunder 14y ago
I suspect that this will be discouraged by a couple natural factors. First is cost, as was already mentioned. Mobile networks are expensive to operate. I suspect that current bandwidth prices are artificially low because mobile carriers have an assumption that most users will use far less bandwidth than they're paying for built into their pricing structure. Significant numbers of people switching to LTE for their primary source of internet access would probably kill that strategy. Second is bandwidth contention. I've seen what happens to WiMAX-based residential internet access services when they get popular. It's like what the iPhone did to AT&T's network in major metropolitan areas. I suspect that all of the mobile carriers will be very careful to make sure they don't let that happen again.