3 ms·

4G? In 2026? Good luck having no tower reception. 4G barely works anymore.

by moffkalast 3mo ago

izacus 3mo ago
Did you mix up 4G with 3G/2G?
- traceroute66 3mo ago
  > Did you mix up 4G with 3G/2G? Most operators have switched off both 3G and 2G by now.
  - izacus 3mo ago
    This is why I'm asking, because noone is shutting down 4G anywhere. And 5G actually has LESS range than 4G.
    - ChocolateGod 3mo ago
      4G is ending up as the replacement to 2G as the base network. I suspect 5G networks will be shut down before 4G ones given IoT devices are largely setting on the low power variants of LTE.
    - BenjiWiebe 3mo ago
      5G has more range than 4G on the same frequency bands. 5G UWB has less range than 4G.
  - userbinator 3mo ago
    2G is still active in a few areas as a low-speed, long-range fallback while 3G is being shut down.
InsideOutSanta 3mo ago
4G is currently the dominant mobile data network with the best coverage.
- moffkalast 3mo ago
  Yeah in your dreams maybe. I'm often seeing zero bars, asking others if they have any signal only to have them show me a full 5G signal. New towers aren't backwards compatible, and the bandwidth has been largely reduced.
  - traceroute66 3mo ago
    > New towers aren't backwards compatible, and the bandwidth has been largely reduced. Yup. In tech-speak there is 5G NSA (Non-Standalone Architecture) and 5G SA (Standalone Architecture). 5G NSA is a kludge, it is 5G radios operating on a legacy 4G core. Inherently backwards compatible. 5G SA is 5G radios on 5G core. Clearly not backwards compatible. 5G SA is the preferred route for good reason: 1. It delivers reduced power consumption at both operator and user-device level 2. It delivers improved latency and bandwidth at both operator and user-device level
    - jeroenhd 3mo ago
      NSA can be rolled out with almost nothing more than a firmware update. For any existing carrier network, it was the obvious place to start 5G rollout. If you're building new towers, things change, obviously. That said, a lot of industrial/IoT hardware still requires 4G so it's not entirely unreasonable to deploy 4G in new coverage areas.
    - moffkalast 3mo ago
      And it also planned-obsoletes 4G only devices, a big win for the operators that can then sell new 5G capable ones. Such a racket I swear. Can't wait to go through this shit again for 6G in about 5 years, like we did for 3G.
      - uni_baconcat 3mo ago
        They can replace 2G/3G IoT with LTE, but cannot with 5G (due to energy consumption). 5G RedCap is the solution, but that will need new infrastructure and chipset. LTE will stay at least for another ten years.

4G? In 2026? Good luck having no tower reception. 4G barely works anymore.

izacus 3mo ago

Did you mix up 4G with 3G/2G?

traceroute66 3mo ago
> Did you mix up 4G with 3G/2G? Most operators have switched off both 3G and 2G by now.
- izacus 3mo ago
  This is why I'm asking, because noone is shutting down 4G anywhere. And 5G actually has LESS range than 4G.
  - ChocolateGod 3mo ago
    4G is ending up as the replacement to 2G as the base network. I suspect 5G networks will be shut down before 4G ones given IoT devices are largely setting on the low power variants of LTE.
  - BenjiWiebe 3mo ago
    5G has more range than 4G on the same frequency bands. 5G UWB has less range than 4G.
- userbinator 3mo ago
  2G is still active in a few areas as a low-speed, long-range fallback while 3G is being shut down.

InsideOutSanta 3mo ago

4G is currently the dominant mobile data network with the best coverage.

moffkalast 3mo ago
Yeah in your dreams maybe. I'm often seeing zero bars, asking others if they have any signal only to have them show me a full 5G signal. New towers aren't backwards compatible, and the bandwidth has been largely reduced.
- traceroute66 3mo ago
  > New towers aren't backwards compatible, and the bandwidth has been largely reduced. Yup. In tech-speak there is 5G NSA (Non-Standalone Architecture) and 5G SA (Standalone Architecture). 5G NSA is a kludge, it is 5G radios operating on a legacy 4G core. Inherently backwards compatible. 5G SA is 5G radios on 5G core. Clearly not backwards compatible. 5G SA is the preferred route for good reason: 1. It delivers reduced power consumption at both operator and user-device level 2. It delivers improved latency and bandwidth at both operator and user-device level
  - jeroenhd 3mo ago
    NSA can be rolled out with almost nothing more than a firmware update. For any existing carrier network, it was the obvious place to start 5G rollout. If you're building new towers, things change, obviously. That said, a lot of industrial/IoT hardware still requires 4G so it's not entirely unreasonable to deploy 4G in new coverage areas.
  - moffkalast 3mo ago
    And it also planned-obsoletes 4G only devices, a big win for the operators that can then sell new 5G capable ones. Such a racket I swear. Can't wait to go through this shit again for 6G in about 5 years, like we did for 3G.
    - uni_baconcat 3mo ago
      They can replace 2G/3G IoT with LTE, but cannot with 5G (due to energy consumption). 5G RedCap is the solution, but that will need new infrastructure and chipset. LTE will stay at least for another ten years.