The slow death of 2G and 3G

[TigerTedd]

This is something that’s been bugging me a lot recently. And I thought some of the nerds on here might be able to help shed some light.

In the early 2000s I had a Nokia 7110, 3G didn't exist, and I could quite happily make phone calls, send messages and surf the wap to find out a phone number or a simple google search. 

Then 3G came along, the best thing since sliced bread. I could watch videos and all sorts, on my newly minted iPhone 3G. 

Then 4G and now 5G came along, and my village hasn't caught up yet. All we can get, if we're lucky, is 3G, and sometimes only 2G (and often nothing at all). Shouldn't be a problem though, i only want to make a phone call, or do a simple google search, I'm not to worried about watching a video right now. 

But since the advent of 4 and 5G, it seems that 2G and 3G are less than useless.

So it seems that, as we go forward, we also go backwards. For those living in central London with access to a 5G network, they're living their best life. For those of us in the sticks who were quite happily getting by with 3G, waiting a few extra seconds for a video to download, we now can't even make a simple phone call. It's like being back in the 90s! I feel like we need to start installing pay phones again.

when I asked a guy in the phone, he did his best to explain that it's no conspiracy, and I'm not going insane, it's an out there in the open fact that 3G has to be turned off as they introduce more 4G and 5G. Although I still don’t really get why.

In fact now I've got my 5G enabled iPhone 14, when I'm lucky enough to get 4G, it's also rubbish. I've been told to turn 5G off on my phone to improve the 4G. Which makes this fancy 5G enabled iPhone 14 completely pointless. 

Anyway, the point for discussion is, am I going insane? Should I just be understanding that this is the price of progress, and eventually we'll have nationwide 5G coverage, and this transition art period will seem like a bad dream? Or is it the world that has gone nuts, where introducing a new technology takes us back a decade or two?

[JoetheRam]

This is the price for living in the sticks and not having to put up with the constant noise, pollution and crime. 

You can't have it all.

[Bob The Badger]

30 minutes ago, TigerTedd said:

This is something that’s been bugging me a lot recently. And I thought some of the nerds on here might be able to help shed some light.

In the early 2000s I had a Nokia 7110, 3G didn't exist, and I could quite happily make phone calls, send messages and surf the wap to find out a phone number or a simple google search. 

Then 3G came along, the best thing since sliced bread. I could watch videos and all sorts, on my newly minted iPhone 3G. 

Then 4G and now 5G came along, and my village hasn't caught up yet. All we can get, if we're lucky, is 3G, and sometimes only 2G (and often nothing at all). Shouldn't be a problem though, i only want to make a phone call, or do a simple google search, I'm not to worried about watching a video right now. 

But since the advent of 4 and 5G, it seems that 2G and 3G are less than useless.

So it seems that, as we go forward, we also go backwards. For those living in central London with access to a 5G network, they're living their best life. For those of us in the sticks who were quite happily getting by with 3G, waiting a few extra seconds for a video to download, we now can't even make a simple phone call. It's like being back in the 90s! I feel like we need to start installing pay phones again.

when I asked a guy in the phone, he did his best to explain that it's no conspiracy, and I'm not going insane, it's an out there in the open fact that 3G has to be turned off as they introduce more 4G and 5G. Although I still don’t really get why.

In fact now I've got my 5G enabled iPhone 14, when I'm lucky enough to get 4G, it's also rubbish. I've been told to turn 5G off on my phone to improve the 4G. Which makes this fancy 5G enabled iPhone 14 completely pointless. 

Anyway, the point for discussion is, am I going insane? Should I just be understanding that this is the price of progress, and eventually we'll have nationwide 5G coverage, and this transition art period will seem like a bad dream? Or is it the world that has gone nuts, where introducing a new technology takes us back a decade or two?

Yep, it's the same here in west Cornwall.

I can get 4G if I go into Truro or St Austell, but it's 3G here if I'm lucky. And I went from 1 GB fibre optic internet in the US to 35 Megs here that freezes a lot when I'm on calls with multiple streams. 

But it's all going to be ok, because I heard a Tory say they were levelling up broadband and 5G. Phew.

 

[ketteringram]

I've had a 5g phone for ages. I too was told the day I got it, that I may as well turn the 5g off. The guy said it would waste battery looking for 5g signals. 

[therealhantsram]

1 hour ago, TigerTedd said:

This is something that’s been bugging me a lot recently. And I thought some of the nerds on here might be able to help shed some light.

In the early 2000s I had a Nokia 7110, 3G didn't exist, and I could quite happily make phone calls, send messages and surf the wap to find out a phone number or a simple google search. 

Then 3G came along, the best thing since sliced bread. I could watch videos and all sorts, on my newly minted iPhone 3G. 

Then 4G and now 5G came along, and my village hasn't caught up yet. All we can get, if we're lucky, is 3G, and sometimes only 2G (and often nothing at all). Shouldn't be a problem though, i only want to make a phone call, or do a simple google search, I'm not to worried about watching a video right now. 

But since the advent of 4 and 5G, it seems that 2G and 3G are less than useless.

So it seems that, as we go forward, we also go backwards. For those living in central London with access to a 5G network, they're living their best life. For those of us in the sticks who were quite happily getting by with 3G, waiting a few extra seconds for a video to download, we now can't even make a simple phone call. It's like being back in the 90s! I feel like we need to start installing pay phones again.

when I asked a guy in the phone, he did his best to explain that it's no conspiracy, and I'm not going insane, it's an out there in the open fact that 3G has to be turned off as they introduce more 4G and 5G. Although I still don’t really get why.

In fact now I've got my 5G enabled iPhone 14, when I'm lucky enough to get 4G, it's also rubbish. I've been told to turn 5G off on my phone to improve the 4G. Which makes this fancy 5G enabled iPhone 14 completely pointless. 

Anyway, the point for discussion is, am I going insane? Should I just be understanding that this is the price of progress, and eventually we'll have nationwide 5G coverage, and this transition art period will seem like a bad dream? Or is it the world that has gone nuts, where introducing a new technology takes us back a decade or two?

There is a limited amount of capacity (aka bandwidth) to go around. Old services get turned off to free up space for new services. 

The old terrestrial TV service was switched off not so long ago to make way for new data services for example.

Will we all get 5g in the villages and rural areas? Personally I don't think it will happen. Best you are likely to get is 4g.

The thing about 5g is that the signals don't travel very far. That's just a fact of the part of the spectrum they operate in. That means it is not cost effective to serve rural areas. Sorry.

 

[Millenniumram]

Move to London. It’s great here, problem solved.

[AndyinLiverpool]

24 minutes ago, ketteringram said:

I've had a 5g phone for ages. I too was told the day I got it, that I may as well turn the 5g off. The guy said it would waste battery looking for 5g signals. 

It's looking for the chip in your blood

[sheeponacid]

2 hours ago, TigerTedd said:

This is something that’s been bugging me a lot recently. And I thought some of the nerds on here might be able to help shed some light.

In the early 2000s I had a Nokia 7110, 3G didn't exist, and I could quite happily make phone calls, send messages and surf the wap to find out a phone number or a simple google search. 

Then 3G came along, the best thing since sliced bread. I could watch videos and all sorts, on my newly minted iPhone 3G. 

Then 4G and now 5G came along, and my village hasn't caught up yet. All we can get, if we're lucky, is 3G, and sometimes only 2G (and often nothing at all). Shouldn't be a problem though, i only want to make a phone call, or do a simple google search, I'm not to worried about watching a video right now. 

But since the advent of 4 and 5G, it seems that 2G and 3G are less than useless.

So it seems that, as we go forward, we also go backwards. For those living in central London with access to a 5G network, they're living their best life. For those of us in the sticks who were quite happily getting by with 3G, waiting a few extra seconds for a video to download, we now can't even make a simple phone call. It's like being back in the 90s! I feel like we need to start installing pay phones again.

when I asked a guy in the phone, he did his best to explain that it's no conspiracy, and I'm not going insane, it's an out there in the open fact that 3G has to be turned off as they introduce more 4G and 5G. Although I still don’t really get why.

In fact now I've got my 5G enabled iPhone 14, when I'm lucky enough to get 4G, it's also rubbish. I've been told to turn 5G off on my phone to improve the 4G. Which makes this fancy 5G enabled iPhone 14 completely pointless. 

Anyway, the point for discussion is, am I going insane? Should I just be understanding that this is the price of progress, and eventually we'll have nationwide 5G coverage, and this transition art period will seem like a bad dream? Or is it the world that has gone nuts, where introducing a new technology takes us back a decade or two?

I share your frustration, and due to the poor connectivity around here we still do have working phone boxes

But then again its also 8 miles to the nearest shop & more worryingly it’s 45 miles to the nearest A&E….but as@JoetheRamstates living in the sticks also has its advantages, and we both know that the pros do outweigh the cons.

A functioning 4, 5, 3G service would be great …But it’s more of a concern to me to have a good air ambulance service, good quality drinking water from the springs, and enough electricity to meet my needs. 

[ketteringram]

1 hour ago, AndyinLiverpool said:

It's looking for the chip in your blood

? 

The way I've been lately, it'd be better off just looking for the blood !

[TigerTedd]

2 hours ago, sheeponacid said:

I share your frustration, and due to the poor connectivity around here we still do have working phone boxes

But then again its also 8 miles to the nearest shop & more worryingly it’s 45 miles to the nearest A&E….but as@JoetheRamstates living in the sticks also has its advantages, and we both know that the pros do outweigh the cons.

A functioning 4, 5, 3G service would be great …But it’s more of a concern to me to have a good air ambulance service, good quality drinking water from the springs, and enough electricity to meet my needs. 

When I say I live in a village, it’s not quite a Derbyshire hamlet (2 pubs and 1 farm). In fact, if the council get their way, south Derbyshire will soon be a megalopolis, and it still won’t have 4G (or an extra school, or an extra GP, or any more shops). 

[Archied]

22 hours ago, TigerTedd said:

This is something that’s been bugging me a lot recently. And I thought some of the nerds on here might be able to help shed some light.

In the early 2000s I had a Nokia 7110, 3G didn't exist, and I could quite happily make phone calls, send messages and surf the wap to find out a phone number or a simple google search. 

Then 3G came along, the best thing since sliced bread. I could watch videos and all sorts, on my newly minted iPhone 3G. 

Then 4G and now 5G came along, and my village hasn't caught up yet. All we can get, if we're lucky, is 3G, and sometimes only 2G (and often nothing at all). Shouldn't be a problem though, i only want to make a phone call, or do a simple google search, I'm not to worried about watching a video right now. 

But since the advent of 4 and 5G, it seems that 2G and 3G are less than useless.

So it seems that, as we go forward, we also go backwards. For those living in central London with access to a 5G network, they're living their best life. For those of us in the sticks who were quite happily getting by with 3G, waiting a few extra seconds for a video to download, we now can't even make a simple phone call. It's like being back in the 90s! I feel like we need to start installing pay phones again.

when I asked a guy in the phone, he did his best to explain that it's no conspiracy, and I'm not going insane, it's an out there in the open fact that 3G has to be turned off as they introduce more 4G and 5G. Although I still don’t really get why.

In fact now I've got my 5G enabled iPhone 14, when I'm lucky enough to get 4G, it's also rubbish. I've been told to turn 5G off on my phone to improve the 4G. Which makes this fancy 5G enabled iPhone 14 completely pointless. 

Anyway, the point for discussion is, am I going insane? Should I just be understanding that this is the price of progress, and eventually we'll have nationwide 5G coverage, and this transition art period will seem like a bad dream? Or is it the world that has gone nuts, where introducing a new technology takes us back a decade or two?

Sky dishes that don’t work in the rain, DAB radio in the car that drops signal more than the old short wave , wind farms that stop when no wind or too windy , solar that stops when the suns not out ,,, it’s a trend,, don’t even get get me started on vaccines that don’t stop catching and spreading stuff,

time was inventions were stuff that was better than what we had and took us forward , now it seems the aim is to invent stuff that works worse ?

Edited November 27, 2022 by Archied

[TimRam]

35 minutes ago, Archied said:

Sky dishes that don’t work in the rain, DAB radio in the car that drops signal more than the old short wave , wind farms that stop when no wind or too windy , solar that stops when the suns not out ,,, it’s a trend,, don’t even get get me started on vaccines that don’t stop catching and spreading stuff,

time was inventions were stuff that was better than what we had and took us forward , now it seems the aim is to invent stuff that works worse ?

Makes people a lot of money. Only a select few though.

[TigerTedd]

42 minutes ago, Archied said:

Sky dishes that don’t work in the rain, DAB radio in the car that drops signal more than the old short wave , wind farms that stop when no wind or too windy , solar that stops when the suns not out ,,, it’s a trend,, don’t even get get me started on vaccines that don’t stop catching and spreading stuff,

time was inventions were stuff that was better than what we had and took us forward , now it seems the aim is to invent stuff that works worse ?

Case in point, and this may be slightly off topic, but it’s my topic, so there…

I recently had a repaired lap top delivered back to curry’s instead of me. I managed to work it out from the dpd tracking. I just needed to be able to speak to someone at the store to confirm this and see if I could come and get it. 

Could I find a phone number for the store? No chance. Could I get through to a human through the generic number? Nope. Try the chat, where they refused to actually read my message and find out what the problem was, they kept insisting it was a new purchase delivery, no matter how many times I told them it was a repair job. 

in the dnd, they said they couldn’t put me through to the store, I’d just have to physically go and ask. 

so in the 21st century, there is no other option than picking up my family in my horse and cart, travelling for 6 days through wind and snow and hellfire, just to ask a simple question. No option to call, text, email, message, WhatsApp, tweet, or smoke signal.

and this from a tech company.

In the 90s this wouldn’t have been remotely an issue. Pick up the phone book, find the number, pick up the landline, call them. 5 mins and done. Now, 47 mins of stress and angst later, the best solution they could come up with was to physically pop in!

how is this progress?!

[JoetheRam]

On 27/11/2022 at 13:57, TigerTedd said:

Case in point, and this may be slightly off topic, but it’s my topic, so there…

I recently had a repaired lap top delivered back to curry’s instead of me. I managed to work it out from the dpd tracking. I just needed to be able to speak to someone at the store to confirm this and see if I could come and get it. 

Could I find a phone number for the store? No chance. Could I get through to a human through the generic number? Nope. Try the chat, where they refused to actually read my message and find out what the problem was, they kept insisting it was a new purchase delivery, no matter how many times I told them it was a repair job. 

in the dnd, they said they couldn’t put me through to the store, I’d just have to physically go and ask. 

so in the 21st century, there is no other option than picking up my family in my horse and cart, travelling for 6 days through wind and snow and hellfire, just to ask a simple question. No option to call, text, email, message, WhatsApp, tweet, or smoke signal.

and this from a tech company.

In the 90s this wouldn’t have been remotely an issue. Pick up the phone book, find the number, pick up the landline, call them. 5 mins and done. Now, 47 mins of stress and angst later, the best solution they could come up with was to physically pop in!

how is this progress?!

Assuming it's Kingsway...

01332 290617

https://www.google.com/amp/s/customerservicecontactnumber.uk/currys/amp/

[Carl Sagan]

Great opening post from @TigerTeddand discussion. Completely right that something has gone wrong and the promise of "progress" does not match the reality. I think this is down to structural, societal problems that have rendered us all powerless.

Hope we can shift the balance to empower individuals and communities rather than the corporate and bureaucratic machine and the tech giants. We are in a battle! 

[RadioactiveWaste]

"Newness" being a value unto itself is not necessarily the best.

I tend to wait for tech to mature a bit and trickle down in price so it works and isn't a premium by the time I get it.

[TimRam]

1 hour ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

"Newness" being a value unto itself is not necessarily the best.

I tend to wait for tech to mature a bit and trickle down in price so it works and isn't a premium by the time I get it.

Latest 4000 series of nvidia gpus - Have you seen the size of them and how much power they use? That's before even seeing the price. 

[RadioactiveWaste]

6 minutes ago, TimRam said:

Latest 4000 series of nvidia gpus - Have you seen the size of them and how much power they use? That's before even seeing the price. 

Are they the ones that fried the supplied power unit?

I'm led to believe crypto mining was one reason graphics cards became so expensive, but I'm not an expert on that and obviously there's been covid disruption to a lot of the chip manufacturers (being largely based in China)

[RadioactiveWaste]

Off on a tangent, I can't help but think the art of precise and elegant coding is getting lost.

When you think of what used to be achieved on 48kb or 64kb of ram (I had a commodore c64, mates had ZX Spectrum) compared to what is needed these days to create even simple programs....

[TimRam]

2 minutes ago, RadioactiveWaste said:

Are they the ones that fried the supplied power unit?

I'm led to believe crypto mining was one reason graphics cards became so expensive, but I'm not an expert on that and obviously there's been covid disruption to a lot of the chip manufacturers (being largely based in China)

Looks like they need the latest power supply spec. https://www.pcguide.com/gpu/faq/upgrade-psu-for-rtx-4000/#:~:text=If you are upgrading your,for the 16GB RTX 4008).