For years, we’ve been told that 5G is the future—that it would revolutionize everything from smartphones to self-driving cars. But in reality, has it lived up to the hype?
A few days ago, I watched a very interesting video about the current state of 5G.
When we first announced we will be launching Mudita Kompakt, many people, here on this forum, as well as on Reddit, kept asking if Mudita Kompakt supports 5G. And when I answered that we do not, (Mudita Kompakt supports 4G LTE), we were faced with more questions at to WHY?
5G was officially announced and standardized in 2017, while the idea of 5G was floated earlier, 2013-2015, it was officially defined as a standard in 2017. So, that’s some 8 years ago.
I found this video quite eye-opening. After watching it, it appears that 5G technology was oversold with unrealistic promises, but I’ll let you give give me your own feedback.
Do you guys think that 5G has lived up to the hype? OR does 4G remain a solid, reliable choice** for most users?
Check out the video & let’s discuss.
Has 5G made a meaningful difference in your daily life?
Do you believe the rush to 5G was justified?
How do you feel about 4G LTE being the standard for mindful tech devices like Mudita Kompakt?
One of the reasons, based on Poland’s example, 5G is not going to provide the benefit because when we go further in cellular network standards or Wi-Fi standards, they put more and more pressure on smaller cells for communication in a limited area. This incurs huge costs of all kinds, so unlikely to happen.
Same with Wi-Fi. To say the least, benefits of 802.11ac throughputs over 802.11n throughputs are achievable in the first few meters from the access point. Imagine how Wi-Fi 6, 7 and 8 is going to provide higher throughputs allegedly, but more advanced modulations will be more prone to interference - and thus providing any benefits only in close proximity.
I don’t think 5G was ever intended for the consumer. I think it was intended for big telecom companies to pull more data from us and get us all closer to the spring. I dont notice any difference between 4G and 5G. And 3G uses far less battery.
These dystopian megacorporations are getting really good at selling us things that only benefit them.
It’s interesting that you say this, because the industry rushed 5G deployment primarily for economic churn, not because it was a technological necessity. Ironically, the countries that were first to deploy 5G saw no significant benefits. The video actually talks about this and it turns out that network carriers expected 5G to be a major revenue generator, but competition actually drove prices down. HOWEVER, there was no major monetization breakthrough, making 5G a financial disappointment for telecom companies.
So, in the end, who benefited? Not consumers, who still experience coverage gaps and no major improvements. Not telecom companies, which failed to make significant profits.
Perhaps the biggest winners were likely equipment manufacturers and consultants who profited from the infrastructure push.
