Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

2.7M Brits still use a 3G only handset

comparedial.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

51–60 of 136 posts

Re: 2.7M Brits still use a 3G only handset

#51

Post by wkat4242 »

pajko wrote: post #12

3G has been recently switched off in the most (or all by now?) part of Hungary. I have thought that the bands get reused for 4G, but no change so far. Probably the remaining 2G occupies the same bands or whatever. Or they have gone with 5G, while all the providers banish prepaid users from using 5G, so thanks for nothing. Anyway, the biggest downside is that where the 4G coverage sucks, I'm seeing the nightmarish EDG…

Yeah here in Spain too, still can't get 5G on prepay. It's not like it's new anymore.. Pretty annoying. I really don't want a contract.

Re: 2.7M Brits still use a 3G only handset

#52

Post by imp0cat »

simsla wrote: post #39
peebeebee wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Belgium, most (big) banks are downscaling physical servicepoints so much it sometimes is almost impossible for people to choose to do business in person. In think in 10 years you will have almost no real bank tellers anymore. That's no problem for most of the people, but I don't think that the right thing to do in the broader sense. There are lots of (technology) illiterate people that needs some kind of physical…

In Belgium, I've noticed a general "de-servicing" across industries. - Bank offices (and ATMs) disappearing. - Post offices disappearing. - Customer service disappearing (phone especially) in lieu of the always useless "check our frequently asked questions / forums" - Cashiers disappearing in lieu of self checkout. I'm sure it's not just Belgium. The problem appears to be that there's no big enough incentive to servi…

It's not just Belgium, it's everywhere now.

Though I must I admit I much prefer self-checkout when shopping. The queues are much faster.

Re: 2.7M Brits still use a 3G only handset

#53

Post by martyvis »

scheeseman486 wrote: post #25
pajko wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Critical systems are using or will fallback to 2G, which will stay with us forever. The bandwidth is not required there anyway.

2G services were shut down in Australia back in 2016-2017.

Yes I'm trying to work out how we managed to survive without a 2G fallback here in Oz. 3G is shutting down by the end of this year.

Re: 2.7M Brits still use a 3G only handset

#54

Post by mathieuh »

richjdsmith wrote: post #9

Has 4G/5G improved? When I lived in the UK (Midlands until 2019) it was entirely unreliable. I'd wager 75% of my connection was on 3G as soon as I was more than 3Km from a town's high street. I can say with confidence that the shift from 4G/LTE to 5G where I live now in British Columbia (Canada) mountains is not fun. It's significantly less reliable. I understand that its 10x faster, but I'd much prefer reliable over…

I live in Northern Ireland, I get 5G pretty much everywhere I've cared to look. I do a lot of cycling and I stream Spotify at max settings and it's never cut out even in the middle of nowhere so I assume I'm getting at least 4G everywhere.

In Belfast I get 115/20 mbps down/up with EE, I think I remember hearing there's something dodgy with whether what your phone shows as 5G is actually 5G but that's easily fast enough for anything I'm likely to be doing from my phone.

I'd say it's been like this for years. Looking at a coverage map it looks like it gets spottier out west where fewer people live though

Re: 2.7M Brits still use a 3G only handset

#55

Post by kiwijamo »

richjdsmith wrote: post #9

Has 4G/5G improved? When I lived in the UK (Midlands until 2019) it was entirely unreliable. I'd wager 75% of my connection was on 3G as soon as I was more than 3Km from a town's high street. I can say with confidence that the shift from 4G/LTE to 5G where I live now in British Columbia (Canada) mountains is not fun. It's significantly less reliable. I understand that its 10x faster, but I'd much prefer reliable over…

I've found LTE to be both faster and more reliable where I'm attached to a tower that provides LTE and UMTS in the same band (e.g. the 2degrees network in New Zealand uses the 900 MHz band for both UMTS and LTE at many of their sites). UMTS has remarkably poor peformance at the cell edge where it at best data connections can only deliver a few kilobits at random intervals whereas LTE provides a reliable and consistent data connection even if it is only 100kbps. I've seen LTE maintain a stable connection at signal levels where GSM would have long since dropped the connection and UMTS would struggle. Makes stuff like emails usable at the far edge of LTE coverage where it's impossible to achieve the same off the UMTS signal from the same tower in the same band. It's so good I hate it when my phone falls back to UMTS in places I know full well LTE service exists. Thankfully all three carries in my country are planning to switch off UMTS in the next two years which will greatly improve service.

Re: 2.7M Brits still use a 3G only handset

#56

Post by baz00 »

richjdsmith wrote: post #9

Has 4G/5G improved? When I lived in the UK (Midlands until 2019) it was entirely unreliable. I'd wager 75% of my connection was on 3G as soon as I was more than 3Km from a town's high street. I can say with confidence that the shift from 4G/LTE to 5G where I live now in British Columbia (Canada) mountains is not fun. It's significantly less reliable. I understand that its 10x faster, but I'd much prefer reliable over…

Had no problems anywhere in the UK in recent years on 4G and I've been all over the place.

4G has been incredibly reliable for me. Even on a £10/month SIM only thing, I was up a volcano in the middle of nowhere in Iceland and able to make calls.

Re: 2.7M Brits still use a 3G only handset

#57

Post by mobiuscog »

hkt wrote: post #10

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.

Landlines are being taken away by 2025.

Re: 2.7M Brits still use a 3G only handset

#58

Post by walthamstow »

peebeebee wrote: post #17
tifik wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You do not have to interact with the government or the central bank via these new technologies, the same way you do not have to interact with them via email or phone, since you always have the free option to do your business in person. Although obviously it is a much less convenient way to do so, but convenience isn't a right, and having more money is mostly about living more comfortably and conveniently (past the po…

In Belgium, most (big) banks are downscaling physical servicepoints so much it sometimes is almost impossible for people to choose to do business in person. In think in 10 years you will have almost no real bank tellers anymore. That's no problem for most of the people, but I don't think that the right thing to do in the broader sense. There are lots of (technology) illiterate people that needs some kind of physical…

Technology illiteracy, absenting a learning difficulty or other mental condition, should be inexcusable in 2034 and we should not force the state or businesses to cope with it.

Part of me thinks it's inexcusable now for people under a certain age. If you're 70 today in a developed country, you've had the internet for 20 years and a smartphone for at least 10. That's plenty of time.

Re: 2.7M Brits still use a 3G only handset

#59

Post by pmontra »

aziaziazi wrote: post #8
woleium wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

parking meters, apparently.

I won’t say parking meters are critical!

They are to the companies or local administrations making money from them. City councils have some leverage on mobile operators by the means of national governments.

In general, each industry or other organizations hit by changes will be vocal against those changes. Countries implement them when everybody is OK with them or when the organizations not OK with them are politically too weak to matter.

Re: 2.7M Brits still use a 3G only handset

#60

Post by drawfloat »

richjdsmith wrote: post #9

Has 4G/5G improved? When I lived in the UK (Midlands until 2019) it was entirely unreliable. I'd wager 75% of my connection was on 3G as soon as I was more than 3Km from a town's high street. I can say with confidence that the shift from 4G/LTE to 5G where I live now in British Columbia (Canada) mountains is not fun. It's significantly less reliable. I understand that its 10x faster, but I'd much prefer reliable over…

Recently visited South Yorkshire for the first time in 4 years. I didn’t notice a big difference between 3 and 4G coverage, but it was shocking how much of the city area has complete coverage blackspots. Both for myself connected to EE and a friend connected to Vodafone.
Post reply on HN