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0 pointsWorkaccount21y ago0 comments

The key breakthrough for 5G was allowing ~10x the number of devices to connect to a node compared to 4G. 5G is what allowed the toppling of data caps that was by far the #1 consumer complaint for years. 4G just couldn't handle heavy loads well, so data caps were needed to constrain demand.

Teleco's aren't going to say this out load, but it's the real reason why they were so celebratory about 5G, despite it coming off like just a renamed 4G to the average user.

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stnmtn1y ago

Why would they not be loud about it? I think "We've built out 5G so we can get rid of your data caps!" is a message any telecom would want to broadcast out, unless I'm missing something

conception1y ago

They don’t want to get rid of your data caps. They want to get rid of their data bandwidth limitations.

jampekka1y ago

> 4G just couldn't handle heavy loads well, so data caps were needed to constrain demand.

In many parts of the world uncapped data has been the norm since around GPRS.

echoangle1y ago

Could that be because they aren’t as densely populated by users so even if everyone with a phone has no data cap, they won’t overload the network? Which countries were that for example?

xavxav1y ago

basically every european country? they've all had much larger datacaps than north america for years preceding 5g and most are quite densely inhabited.

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