Raise The Masts!

[Bambino]

A solution for better 5G, but at what cost?

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-49480560

[Anonymous]

@Bambino 

Cue the '5G slaughtered my Sheep/messed up my view' brigade.

I do have sympathy for the second argument as the tree disguise varies in it's effectiveness

https://www.google.com/search?q=mobile+phone+mast+disguised+as+tree&client=firefox-b-d&tbm=isch&sour...

I think this will go down like a bucket of cold sick in a lot of areas, except of course among those who might be trying to run a buiness from home and can't get good broadband.

Though for 5G to be as effective as they maintain it'll have to be backed by a good fibre infrastructure so this may actually be beneficial to these communities.

[jonsie]

I'm sure farmers will welcome the extra income.... 

[Cleoriff]

It was appalling to read some people in the UK have no coverage whasoever. Including the lady who went to the Serengeti and said her phone worked perfectly there!

[Projectionist]

There's a really low signal in my local, it's great - people actually have to talk to each other, all the bent-necked phone addicts go to other pubs.

Sorted.

[Projectionist]

Has anyone else noticed that the higher the G number, the worse the battery life?

I only use 2G and 3G, since using 4G knocked a third off usage time.

Lord knows what'll happen when (or if) most of us ever get 5G, but as I'm on a 1Gb data allowance, I don't want to know anyway....  

[Anonymous]

@Projectionist 

That's a combination of modulation type, screen size, processor type and software activity.

Your old GSM (2G) phone with a monochrome dot matrix screen didn't have to do much other than signal to the network a bit when you weren't actually using it.

Colour screens incrwsed the drain 3G and 4G changed the modulation and of course there's the processes that now run even when in your pocket that constantly hold connections open to remote services for notifications or poll these every few seconds.

[Projectionist]

Understood - my old Nokia 1100 lasted around two weeks. (To be fair, it still does - it's hiding in the glovebox for emergencies, on an all-network SIM)

However, since I have no great desire to tell the world what I had for breakfast, and am perfectly capable of navigating myself around town without Google maps, my personal choice is to have a phone that doesn't force battery charging into my daily routine - my current choice lasts two days (but only with 4G disabled)

I could probably squeeze another day out of it, but for my Guardian app habit 

[Anonymous]

@Projectionist 

Well I guess someone has to

Tend to check in on Sky News at lunchtime.