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0 pointsmakeitdouble1y ago0 comments

> Would love a 5G MacBook with a data plan.

I thoroughly enjoyed the ATP podcast discussion on this.

Sounds like the base assumption is Apple is incapable of having decent tethering even as they control the whole ecosystem, including special protocols in-between their product they design 100% from hardware to software.

But somehow pushing the modem in the MacBook solves this...because Apple is then good at managing transient network connections in macos, hooking to complex mesh networks on protocols they don't control ?

To my eyes Apple being unable to realize these dreamlike expectations is probably the very reason MacBooks don't have modems.

0 comments

hug1y ago

> Apple is incapable of having decent tethering even as they control the whole ecosystem

Are they, though? Tethering from my MacBook to my iPhone or iPad is a pretty seamless experience, to the point I don't even think about it. And sometimes I get home from a cafe and forget I'm even tethering until I notice my iPhone battery is lower than expected. And this isn't Apple, but I don't even notice I'm not on my home LAN because of tailscale.

It's definitely significantly easier than dealing with built in WWAN devices & ModemManager on my linux laptop. (Or Windows, when I used it on that same hardware.)

makeitdoubleOP1y ago

If your sentiment is the most common, including a modem in MacBooks makes only sense for the tiniest of tiniest of user slice, and with Apple barely cattering to pro users, I can't imagine them investing further to solve a problem that isn't as simple as just slapping an extra part in the machine (which they traditionally hate).

On my side it was 90% there, a bit lagging to connect and totally failing from time to time , once in a week perhaps, but workable otherwise. The argument on the podcast was for having a 100% great solution like it does on the iPad, assuming an internal modem on macos would rainbows and ponnies.

amazingman1y ago

>But somehow pushing the modem in the MacBook solves this...because Apple is then good at managing transient network connections in macos, hooking to complex mesh networks on protocols they don't control ?

A cell modem is mostly just another uplink, with all the hard stuff being done in the modem. The user doesn't need to do anything to use it. Tethering requires extra stuff to happen: the user has to initiate the connection, the iPhone has to reconfigure its networking, and I imagine there's a bunch of security layers that must be passed through before tethering is allowed. It's 2 entirely different scenarios.

makeitdoubleOP1y ago

You choose to simplify how to integrate the modem into the system while digging deeper into how tethering happens.

Why doesn't having another separate subsystem running it's own OS managing the cell connection also have network switching implications (something deciding the connection is now the primary one, just like it does for tethering), security issues (it's a know attack vector on phones as well), power management issues etc ?

The iPhone 3G for instance was a piece of crap network connection wise, it would drop calls, lose signal, memory leak at the border of the two systems etc. Networking with a cell subsystem isn't trivial.

amazingman1y ago

Can you make a reasonable case for why the experience must necessarily be worse in macOS than it is in iOS and iPadOS?

1 more reply

benoittravers1y ago

Do you have a link to that podcast about 5G MacBook?

makeitdoubleOP1y ago

This one: https://atp.fm/625

I must have been around the 1h20 time in the podcast

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 pointsmakeitdouble1y ago0 comments

> Would love a 5G MacBook with a data plan.

I thoroughly enjoyed the ATP podcast discussion on this.

To my eyes Apple being unable to realize these dreamlike expectations is probably the very reason MacBooks don't have modems.

0 comments

hug1y ago

> Apple is incapable of having decent tethering even as they control the whole ecosystem

It's definitely significantly easier than dealing with built in WWAN devices & ModemManager on my linux laptop. (Or Windows, when I used it on that same hardware.)

makeitdoubleOP1y ago

amazingman1y ago

makeitdoubleOP1y ago

You choose to simplify how to integrate the modem into the system while digging deeper into how tethering happens.

amazingman1y ago

Can you make a reasonable case for why the experience must necessarily be worse in macOS than it is in iOS and iPadOS?

1 more reply

benoittravers1y ago

Do you have a link to that podcast about 5G MacBook?

makeitdoubleOP1y ago

This one: https://atp.fm/625

I must have been around the 1h20 time in the podcast

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse