22 December 2018

The Asymptote of Progress - part the eleventh

Here's a really funny piece of the roll-out of 5G, at AT&T (note to some: this ain't the company that ran Bell Labs and such). Much of the fun is found in the comments.

One such comment implies that 5G is more or less antique microwave transmission. Well, turns out, could be.
Let's consider 5G access systems at microwave and millimeter wave frequencies. One of the major hurdles in implementing radio access at microwave frequency is overcoming the unfavorable propagation characteristics. Radio propagation at these frequencies is highly affected by atmospheric attenuation, rain, blockage (buildings, people, foliage), and reflections. Microwave point-to-point links have been deployed for many years but these are generally line of sight systems.

Will 5G actually work, at a price and service level that's better than LTE? Doesn't sound like it so far.

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