121–130 of 136 posts
> Furthermore, the study also reveals 21% of those with a 3G handset aren’t willing to upgrade, and will simply continue to use their phone without internet connectivity. Seems reasonable. Is this supposed to be a bad thing?
Not long before the 3G voice gets disabled too so the spectrum can get reused.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not long before the 3G voice gets disabled too so the spectrum can get reused.
Yeah, I'd be surprised if that didn't happen eventually - 2G is already completely phased out here in Australia and all the networks are shutting down their 3G networks this year, so VoLTE/VoNR are the only options now. Surely that will happen eventually in the UK also?
The second paragraph mentions that 2G will be around for a decade or so longer, so that's the route voice will take.
> Furthermore, the study also reveals 21% of those with a 3G handset aren’t willing to upgrade, and will simply continue to use their phone without internet connectivity. My bet would be that these are mostly devices given to children to watch Youtube and what-not. > However, calls and texts will continue to work despite the 3G switch off, as 2G won’t be fully switched off until 2033 the latest. This is because 2G is…
> Is it really that much overhead to keep 2G networks operating? Network spectrum, perhaps? Once 2G is switched off that spectrum can be repurposes for other stuff, and it's a finite resource.
It's possible to emulate all that at various levels, but that doesn't come for free (in terms of complexity, hardware, and spectrum). Maybe in 10 years it'll be cheap enough that it'll just be done in the spare cycles of some 6G or 7G SDR network, though, if that's worth the extra spectral inefficiency.
> The survey also reveals 13% of people are unaware if their phone actually supports 4G or 5G Include me in that. I have an old phone with a discount SIM installed. I only use it for certain international calls. Wikipedia and elsewhere describe it as "GSM / HSPA+ / LTE", and then explain that LTE "is also called 3.95G and has been marketed as 4G LTE and Advanced 4G" etc.
Absolutely tragic…don’t they know it’s within cultural norms to switch phones every 2 years?
You can still use any phone supporting 2G (which is essentially all 3G phones) for phone calls and texting. If you need fast data, you'll need to upgrade – and chances are your 10-year old phone isn't very good at displaying modern websites anyway. There are root CA certificates that have expired since some of these phones received their last software update, for example.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> In democracies, the second any interaction with a public institution mandates some kind of technology, without providing an alternative, I would assume a basic free option would have to be provided to legal resident of such country. When I applied for my Irish passport, the only way to inquire about the process of my application was via Twitter. (They had something that superficially looked like a contact widget on…
https://www.ireland.ie/en/dfa/passports/contact-us/
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> In democracies, the second any interaction with a public institution mandates some kind of technology, without providing an alternative, I would assume a basic free option would have to be provided to legal resident of such country. When I applied for my Irish passport, the only way to inquire about the process of my application was via Twitter. (They had something that superficially looked like a contact widget on…
That sounds pretty shocking. Was that during the covid lockdowns or is that just standard procedure?
The joys of mandatory obsolescence. Forcing handset churn is environmentally irresponsible. Maybe it is time for landlines to get SMS so people don't have to rely on mobile infrastructure? 5am sentiment but it'd be nice.
There's only a limited amount of space in the airwaves. Either old stuff gets turned off, or you can't add any new stuff. I agree that mandatory obsolescence is a bad thing, but the first 4G networks went online in 2009 and are now 15 years old. Dropping support for >10-year-old handsets isn't great , but definitely understandable. If you're mad at anyone, it should be the companies who keep selling 3G-only handsets…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are there that many smartphones that are actually capable of running YT and have a access to a version of Android/iOS that’s still supported and are 4g only? iPhone 5 was the first to support 4G and I’m not sure the 4s or 4 are really suitable for watching YT these days?
I think it's been fairly clear that people don't limit themselves to OS's that are still supported, and if you remove that condition from your question, I think the answer would be "yes".
Hardly. Good luck running non-supported OS’s on iOS devices. So all of the old iphones and ipads are out.
Even on Android only a tiny statistically irrelevant proportion would both with this.
It’s a positive thing, tbh. I wish the number was bigger. Our desire to switch to the hottest new thing has a significant environmental impact. People don’t need the fastest available mobile internet for checking mails or streaming videos at 1 Mbps. They don’t need the fastest PCs for using Google docs. We don’t need massive pickup trucks for doing grocery runs or even hauling passengers around. It’s fair for anyone…
Operating slower RF equipment isn't just affecting the single end user though. That user is affecting everyone else wanting to share that spectrum.