Did we have as many tinfoil hats with 4G as we do with 5G?

[MCMLXXXII]

I'm so glad you didn't mention our fearless leader Trump having 5 letters because we all know that his original name was Drumpf. 6 is greater than 5 and he will save us all.

It's not just great, it is tremendous. Bigly.

[Stormspark]

Two things, 5G mostly is just a modified 4G signal and as for the "rays" it send out. Your phone sends out significantly more of that and you keep it far closer to you, maybe that's why people are getting dumber it all started with the first mobile phone!

Not to mention, the "rays" your wifi router at home sends out are even stronger. Oh noes.

[Gaidax]

My only gripe with 5G is that I don't see its usefulness. Neither do most people who live here (where 5G is already available), short of the "must have the newest smartphone model" fashion victims. FTTH is omnipresent. Wi-Fi hotspots are omnipresent. When it comes to tablets and smartphones, the difference in speed between 4/4.5 and 5G is not noticeable in pretty much every application short of speed-tests and torrenting (which is not something I can picture people doing). I'll keep my 4G devices till they die, that's for sure. I don't need 5G, and I don't see who might given the circumstances.

Who would ever need more than 640KB of RAM in a computer.

[PACOX]

My only gripe with 5G is that I don't see its usefulness. Neither do most people who live here (where 5G is already available), short of the "must have the newest smartphone model" fashion victims. FTTH is omnipresent. Wi-Fi hotspots are omnipresent. When it comes to tablets and smartphones, the difference in speed between 4/4.5 and 5G is not noticeable in pretty much every application short of speed-tests and torrenting (which is not something I can picture people doing). I'll keep my 4G devices till they die, that's for sure. I don't need 5G, and I don't see who might given the circumstances.

Right now it's a lot of futureproofing. Also WiFi is good when you are a near a wireless access point, assuming there aren't physical obstacles that will interfere with the WiFi connection. Wifi isn't available everywhere, and when it's public it tends to limited or unsecure.

5G can be transmitted across a larger area without relying on the creative use of routers and WAPs. Know how you ISP achieves block wide WiFi? The route other peoples data through that gateway they put in your attic or living room.

[Coolthulhu]

Who would ever need more than 640KB of RAM in a computer.

What an utterly intellectually dishonest comparison.

Right now it's a lot of futureproofing. Also WiFi is good when you are a near a wireless access point, assuming there aren't physical obstacles that will interfere with the WiFi connection. Wifi isn't available everywhere, and when it's public it tends to limited or unsecure.

5G can be transmitted across a larger area without relying on the creative use of routers and WAPs. Know how you ISP achieves block wide WiFi? The route other peoples data through that gateway they put in your attic or living room.

You might have a point with future-proofing, though as I understand it, high-band 5G requires a lot more towers and millimeter waves are blocked by a variety of buildings, and mid-band 5G would only make sense in rural areas because the vast majority of the cabled connections intended for private use available in a city are in the 1-5 Gbit/s range already, so I remain sceptical about its utility both in the present and in the near-mid future.

[Dezerte]

I think those people have always been there, ever since the first mobile phones came out. Back when mobile phones became mainstream I remember some kids in my class, and parents, being worried about mobile phones causing cancer and what-not.

Social media has now become mainstream, and made the "crazy" people more vocal and more organized.

[Gaidax]

What an utterly intellectually dishonest comparison.

It's absolutely same thing. "Who would ever need higher bandwidth lower latency country-wide wireless coverage with boosted host capacity, *scoffs*".

Not like we have IoT rising and demands for internet access and bandwidth literally multiplying year to year. I bet you think we gonna be stuck with those slabs of plastic in our hands and cars with technology from 90s too. "But muh 4G phone is good enuff, not like I'll need all the benefits of smart city and IoT ever or use anything that requires more than 4G ever."

Infrastructure is essential and 5G in particular is great because it closes gap to wired connectivity at a fraction of cost and effort. There is a whole huff and puff about 5G rollback going on, but to upgrade to fiber to the house country-wide would be a project of insane magnitude in comparison.

Want to see how LTE can't handle it? Visit big conventions, such as Tokyo Week where your cellular connectivity slows to a crawl, simply because the bandwidth, interference and allotment is insufficient for all the crowds.

[Queen of Hamsters]

I'm sure they existed, but with 5G, the US is not the one leading the progress and we all know the anti-China sentiments are doing their part to fuel the conspiracy nuts. Not to mention Corona.

Just think of it: 5G. 5!!!

How many edges does star have on Chinese flag? 5
How many stars are on the Chinese flag? 5
How many edges does Jewish star have? 5

Coincidence? I think not.

5G lets both Chinese and Jews control your internet. If you are using 5G, they can see your search history, your porn preferences and they can use it against you. They also know your dog's name, so they have access to all your passwords.

/s

AHAH! Joke's on them because all my passwords are based on hamsters!!

... Dammit.

[Coolthulhu]

It's absolutely same thing. "Who would ever need higher bandwidth lower latency country-wide wireless coverage with boosted host capacity, *scoffs*".

Not like we have IoT rising and demands for internet access and bandwidth literally multiplying year to year. I bet you think we gonna be stuck with those slabs of plastic in our hands and cars with technology from 90s too. "But muh 4G phone is good enuff, not like I'll need all the benefits of smart city and IoT ever or use anything that requires more than 4G ever."

Infrastructure is essential and 5G in particular is great because it closes gap to wired connectivity at a fraction of cost and effort. There is a whole huff and puff about 5G rollback going on, but to upgrade to fiber to the house country-wide would be a project of insane magnitude in comparison.

Want to see how LTE can't handle it? Visit big conventions, such as Tokyo Week where your cellular connectivity slows to a crawl, simply because the bandwidth, interference and allotment is insufficient for all the crowds.

That's already happening where I have houses (two of which are in geographically challenging, albeit very sought-after hence rich touristic locations) at the same time as 5G is being frantically installed (and already has from where I'm typing). Also, all I said is I had doubts; never have claimed to be an expert, never said anything along the lines of what you put in my mouth (classy attitude, by the way).

As to big conventions, since you mentioned Tokyo, I haven't experienced anything slowing to a crawl during last summer's Comiket nor during the last TGS, and I was on a shitty rental phone with a shitty rental data plan because I was only staying some days. Oh, and while we're at it, I've never even noticed such a thing when my hometown of less than a thousand souls turns into a 35-40k tourist heaven (or nightmare, depending on the POV) in the winter.
Of course that's anecdotal experience and it might change in the future, but since you brought it up...

[Zan15]

There is a serious problem with 5g as being rolled out in the UK: it is being rolled out by Huawei, a Chinese corporation.

I oppose the purchase of any technology by foreign power hostile to my country. The ability to terminate 5G communication at any moment is not something that should be given to a hostile country that likes abusing corporate power. Essentially you are giving the Chinese power to destroy UK telecommunications instantaneously: which would effectively destroy what remains of our economy.

Since this was announced, there has been a lot of talk about lurid conspiracy theories. I am not sure how much of that talk is genuine: I think people are actually concerned about a foreign power having total control over the UK's infrastructure. Certain actors capable of large scale misinformation may benefit from muddying the waters by implying any one who opposes Huawei is a conspiracy theorist.

The Swedish are not using Chinese technology so there is no reason to be concerned by that.

/facepalm.....

So china should not allow in Intel? America should not allow Samsung in? etc etc etc

How in the world would china "terminate" something controlled and managed by a UK telecommunication company? How would they not be able to do this with any chip?
You claiming some kind of conspiracy that all the chips have been hacked to allow unfettered access??



BTW if they wanted too a simple EMP would do the job just as well.

[The Butt Witch]

Because the more people have access to the internet, the more Karens pop up.

[Felya]

Because the more people have access to the internet, the more Karens pop up.

Karen =/= Conspiracy theorist

Oh and the argument that China is installing it, doesn’t help any point. How many of their workers from China are being sent to UK to install them? Now you are suggesting that local contractors are in cahoots with China or are fucking idiots to not notice? Remember, if China assumes that your country men are so dumb, that they wouldn’t notice... they wouldn’t need to spy on you... because you’d die out from eating plastic food.

[The Butt Witch]

Karen =/= Conspiracy theorist

True. Karens are just idiots, same people who are anti-vaxxers, etc.
Basically when your mom tells you that there will be some changes because she read something on Facebook, it's always the work of a Karen.

[Felya]

I've never met someone who is scared of 5g but I do want to know what they think about the sun

They think the sun is a “spot light” a couple of thousand miles above earth.

Remember the conspiracy theorist holy trinity... Ego, laziness and ignorance... no one is smarter than you, no one knows more than you and education is indoctrination.

- - - Updated - - -

True. Karens are just idiots, same people who are anti-vaxxers, etc.
Basically when your mom tells you that there will be some changes because she read something on Facebook, it's always the work of a Karen.

No, things like QAnon and Karen are two distinct memes.

[Keosen]

Internet was less prevalent during 4G era.
Now is far more accessible, and internet brought idiots close, an idiot in Oklahoma for example had no way to talk with the idiot in Rome.
Every single idiot is now just a click away from other uneducated idiots all over the world.

When you bring enough uneducated idiots together you have this kind of shit, live with it, idiots are humans we can't do something about it.
Some idiots create a new conspiracy theory while others manage to go as far as becoming president of the United States.

[Mihalik]

Hey, at least it's not like the Large Hadron Collider! Remember when they turned that one on and it created roaming black holes and it destroyed the planet? Pepperidge Farm Remembers.

[PACOX]

Forgot, remember when people said phones caused cancer? Same thing as 5G hysteria and a bad understanding of physics.

[Acidbaron]

Forgot, remember when people said phones caused cancer? Same thing as 5G hysteria and a bad understanding of physics.

Yep and not just cancer, it was also suppose to make us all infertile because such a hot energy source near our balls meant our sperm got cooked. All very dubious claims.

[Cosmic Janitor]

No. Back then social media had been less normalized, massive disinformation campaigns were less wide-spread and the dumbest of the dumbest were most likely busy with menial labor (or losing their daddy's cash in absurd ways) instead of sitting at home being paranoid because of the first global pandemic in over a hundred years.