(Source: oneterabyteofkilobyteage)
Is 5G a Spectrum-eating Monster that Destroys Competition?
The Aztecs were notorious for their vast use of human sacrifice, culminating in 1489’s sacrifice of 20,000 prisoners of war on the pyramids of Tenochtitlan. They did not see themselves as being particularly brutal, though. They worshiped the sun god and thought that if they failed to continue human sacrifices, the sun would not rise in the morning.
Today the biggest carriers and their backers have a new sun god called 5G. But unlike the sun, we don’t know who really needs it. It’s based on a supplier-driven model, not a demand pull, given that 4G LTE has been both a technical and market success, and continues to be enhanced. But the FCC knows that 5G needs a lot of spectrum. LOTS of spectrum. So they’re basically handing any and all available spectrum over to the big mobile carriers who are promising “5G”. It is a vast sacrifice of precious spectrum. The FCC seems to fear that if they fail to give more and more spectrum over to whatever 5G may turn out to be, the US will somehow “fall behind” in a “race”, and maybe the sun won’t shine anymore. And to promote this kill-all-prisoners approach, they attribute preposterous miracles to 5G, like saving energy, making self-driving vehicles practical and safe, and, like the original snake oil, curing diseases.
5G, in other words, is buncombe. It is a mythical monster that is worshipped by killing off access to spectrum to all except the big mobile carriers who can afford to pay top dollar at auction.
(via thenib)
Philomena Cunk, Christmas “Moments of Wonder”
15 Years ago today - CafeNet official, few users yet
Wellington’s CafeNet wireless network service has completed beta testing and has been commercially launched, but as yet has only about 10 regular users.
But Hamish MacEwan, product development head of CityLink, the Wellington metro ethernet provider that launched CafeNet, is reasonably confident that number will grow rapidly in the next six months.
(Source: danismm)