Keyser Söze wrote:
On 12/25/20 1:53 PM, wrote:
On Thu, 24 Dec 2020 20:12:01 -0500, Keyser Söze
wrote:

On 12/24/20 8:04 PM, wrote:
I have one on a 2 week trial. So far it is not horrible and around
twice as fast as my DSL. Tacked on our family bill, it is cheaper than
Comcast or DSL.
When 5G finally rolls out here it will really be fast.
It gives me mixed emotions now about 5G. It will kill my trusty old
flip phone but my internet will go a lot faster.
I am just not sure when all of that will happen. The last I heard, we
were not even on the schedule yet.


I don't know if we are talking about the same thing, but my iPhone can
act as an LTE internet connection for other devices.

That is a hot spot, this is a regular LAN attached router with a SIM
card, just like your cable modem except LTE connected.


Ah, ok. We have really crappy cell signals in this area unless you are
on Route 4. I bought a "booster" to enable us to use our cell phones
reliably in the house. It's LTE, 4G? Anyway, the local Verizon store is
pushing 5G and when I visited the store, the signal strength there was
really no better than it is here, and the store is using a booster, too.
The other providers also have crappy signal strength around here. Cable
TV and internet service has strong signals -wired, of course- but it is
outrageously expensive.


A lot depends on the provider. We used to have ATT cell phones. Great
price, crappy coverage. Lots of Northern California zero coverage. ATT
headquarters are in our city, and lost signal in about half the area.

On Friday, December 25, 2020 at 10:18:45 PM UTC-5, wrote:
On Fri, 25 Dec 2020 14:07:05 -0500, Keyser Söze
wrote:

On 12/25/20 1:53 PM, wrote:
On Thu, 24 Dec 2020 20:12:01 -0500, Keyser Söze
wrote:

On 12/24/20 8:04 PM, wrote:
I have one on a 2 week trial. So far it is not horrible and around
twice as fast as my DSL. Tacked on our family bill, it is cheaper than
Comcast or DSL.
When 5G finally rolls out here it will really be fast.
It gives me mixed emotions now about 5G. It will kill my trusty old
flip phone but my internet will go a lot faster.
I am just not sure when all of that will happen. The last I heard, we
were not even on the schedule yet.


I don't know if we are talking about the same thing, but my iPhone can
act as an LTE internet connection for other devices.

That is a hot spot, this is a regular LAN attached router with a SIM
card, just like your cable modem except LTE connected.


Ah, ok. We have really crappy cell signals in this area unless you are
on Route 4. I bought a "booster" to enable us to use our cell phones
reliably in the house. It's LTE, 4G? Anyway, the local Verizon store is
pushing 5G and when I visited the store, the signal strength there was
really no better than it is here, and the store is using a booster, too.
The other providers also have crappy signal strength around here. Cable
TV and internet service has strong signals -wired, of course- but it is
outrageously expensive.
They don't even have SW Florida on the 5G schedule yet. This is not
anything like 3G and 4G tho. It is micro cells that pretty much
require that you are a few hundred yards from the transmitter. They
are not towers, they are boxes on utility poles. There are some
municipalities fighting the design of those boxes and the placing of
additional poles. They really want to get rid of the utility poles
they have and put everything underground. One of my trade rags had an
article about it the other day.

There are actually three different kinds of 5G deployments. The small boxes you're talking about probably won't be installed in most suburban areas, and definitely not in rural areas.

"With 5G, signals run over new radio frequencies, which requires updating radios and other equipment on cell towers. There are three different methods for building a 5G network, depending on the type of assets a wireless carrier has: low-band network (wide coverage area but only about 20% faster than 4G), high-band network (superfast speeds but signals don’t travel well and struggle to move through hard surfaces) and mid-band network (balances speed and coverage).

Carriers building superfast 5G networks must install tons of small cell sites — about the size of pizza boxes — to light poles, walls or towers, often in relatively small proximity to one another. For that reason, superfast networks are mostly being deployed city by city. Eventually, most US carriers will have a mix of the different network types that will enable both broad coverage and fast speeds."

https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2020/03/business/what-is-5g/index.html