5G Home Internet Connections - The Future?

[Dos_Box]

I saw this on the BBC yesterday and thought it warrantied a bit of discussion amongst us all: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-46127712

I am, for the moment going to suggest that we do not talk about this in regards to school/work networks as there is a while can of worms there that is going to have to wait for the technology to mature way beyond its projected launch date.

As someone who is lucky to live in an area with Virgin fiber I can well imagine just how frustrating being locked to the limits of a copper line connection could well be.

So, would you be willing to be an early adopter with the potential for much higher speeds regardless of the chances of a less reliable service to begin with?

Also, do you think that prices could be gouged for those first on board making it initially prohibitive perhaps?

It's certainly exciting stuff and the way that the net is accessed could be quite different for many of us in 10 years time.

[Andycat]

My dad lives in a fibre free village, at the end of a phone line from the exchange. 1.5mb is the best he gets at the moment. 5G may solve his issues.

 

Ironically, across the road are on a different exchange and have Infinity.........

[hardtailstar]

I have Virgin fiber at home too.

 

When it is rarely not working I always tether my phone to laptop to use the internet which I also do when I am out and about. I havent had any problems with doing that yet.

 

 

What they need to work on is having Mobile coverage UK wide. Quite often when I go camping/hiking the mobile signal does not work out in the sticks.

[Arthur]

I wouldn't mind ditching my landline for a 5G broadband, but looking at how much 4G costs I don't think I could afford it since I typically download/stream more than 500GB a month. I also don't live in London, so can't sign up with Relish.

 

EE UK launch 500GB data allowance on 4G home broadband plans

 

Monthly rental prices start at £35 for a 30GB allowance and then go to £45 for 100GB, £60 for 200GB, £80 for 300GB and finally.. drum roll.. £100 a month for 500GB. The service is by no means cheap, although for those who live in rural areas where their 4G link is faster than a fixed line broadband ISP then it could make sense. Particularly since 500GB on an alternative Satellite link, where available, is typically several times the price.

Edited November 8, 2018 by Arthur

[Dos_Box]

I wouldn't mind ditching my landline for a 5G broadband, but looking at how much 4G costs I don't think I could afford it since I typically download/stream more than 500GB a month. I also don't live in London, so can't sign up with Relish.

 

EE UK launch 500GB data allowance on 4G home broadband plans

 

I suppose that may be an issue early on. With current 4G data caps I wouldn't be surprised if these practices roll over onto the 5G spectrum even if they are intended for the home.

In the early days at least. The 'industry' would have to have a very big think about how they manage this.

[unixman_again]

I wonder if it will work like Australia's NBN. It has been maligned but it seems a good idea. When my mother ask me to sign her up to broadband for her iPad, I went the usual route of broadband over the phone and a wireless router. She's now changed to a prepaid NBN. She has a wireless router the size of a fag packet, which she can take pretty much anywhere and still use her own broadband. The router has a little display which shows how much she has used, how much she has left, speed, etc. She's no mug though; if she can find free wifi when she's out and about, she goes for that. For 87 she's pretty clued up about it all.

[dhicks]

So, would you be willing to be an early adopter with the potential for much higher speeds regardless of the chances of a less reliable service to begin with?

 

I live in London, and use Relish's 4G-based broadband at home, with no need for a separate phone line. £22 a month, and so far the service has been reliable and performance good. We use it for general web browsing and a bit of video (the PC at home is getting on a bit and struggles with HD video, so we stick with SD), for which it's been fine. SSH connections to servers seem to work okay, but disconnect if you don't use them for a minute or so. Discussing this with a networking expert, this might be something to do with network latency, which I can imagine is going to be a fair bit higher for a wireless-based network than fibre. It doesn't bother us, but if you use home broadband for multi-player games or stream remote desktops (I'm thinking something like https://shadow.tech, which should let you do video editing via a remote connection) you might struggle with response time. I don't know how much switching to 5G would solve that issue.

[Localtechie]

I'm excited to see where 5G goes however the big caveat for me switching it the fact our family regularly goes through 1TB+ of data and over Christmas we touch 2TB with everyone at home so they need to offer unlimited data at price that is competitive.

 

It could have a massive benefit though to rural areas and towns Openreach don't find economical to install fiber so I hope it takes off there - plus anything to disrupt BT and Openreach gets a thumb up in my book.

 

Also for those wanting to do this currently over 4G 3 SIM's allow you to use your entire data allowance for tethering and offer unlimited data plans

[Dos_Box]

TBH, places like Africa really do lead the way with wireless data bound setups over those on copper.

A few years back my parents were spending Xmas with friends in Uganda and they Skyped me on Xmas day.

The connection was terrible and constantly cut out.

After several disconnects, they came back with a crystal clear connection and video!

They told us that before they were using the landline internet via the house router. Now they were going via a seperate 4G router.

The country had decided that instead of expanding/maintaining what was a colonial era phone network it is far easier to jump straight into the 21st century and go 3/4G throughout.

Apparently it has been a huge success and you can get a signal pretty much anywhere now.

[abillybob]

I really hope this is the case although it depends on how quickly they roll out 5G across the UK. Our mast only for 4G around 6 months ago and before then hadn't got any internet connectivity.

 

It would really help us out living in the sticks because we can currently get full signal all day everyday on 4G in our home and consistently hit speeds of around 80mbps. Our broadband only being limited at a 7mbps connection via ADSL is a bit rubbish so instead we have now gone for LOS broadband for 20mbps at £34 a month which I feel is a bit of a rip off.

 

If the 4GEE prices where lower then we'd snap that up but the data caps and the cost is ridiculous. 500GB would probably do us to be honest but at £100 a month they're having a laugh!!

 

Fingers crossed for 5G and BT/OpenReach can stick their network where the sun don't shine

[MatthewL]

I currently live in a largeish town, I use Virgin purely due to speed as the ADSL on a BT line would only get me a few meg due to distance from the exchange and they have decided not to put FTTC in yet due to the presence for Virgin. We do have a WISP around here but costs v speed are not worth it for me at the moment. Can get better BT connection out in some of the smaller remote villages to here!!

 

I don't use a landline although I do subscribe to Vonage and have a line with them and can do with out it, just easier when working remotely to use that and a headset.

 

I would consider 5G, speed is the biggest thing for me, don't think I eat much data these days but upload is the key due to some of the photo work I do. If and when FTTC becomes available I would look to move unless Virgin can do something for me except put the price up. As long as I get good reliable net and can access my devices externally then I'd be up for it.

 

I am a big user of 4G when mobile and most of the time I get a good connection so not much different really.

[crc-ict]

I think it will all depend on the coverage, and how the system copes with high demand and also when you drop down from 5G coverage.

 

I am on O2, and generally where there is coverage, their 4G is excellent. However, it is much less impressive when you drop down to 3G. And not just because of the inherent speed differences. I can have a perfectly usable connection in a marginal 4G area (1 bar) but when that signal drops down to a full 3G connection (4 bars) have no connectivity at all. And forget about any decent bandwidth in crowded areas - for example places like ExCel or the NEC, can have very high strength signal but virtually no bandwidth available due to the contention.

 

If they get that sorted with 5G, so it can cope with large volumes of users and have reliable coverage without the need to drop back to 4G or even 3G, maybe it'll be a winner.

[MYK-IT]

From a 4G Home Internet perspective....

 

I am after a Huawei B525 4G Router for myself. Any Edugeekers (or Resellers) know of where I can buy one cheap as possible? Network Unlocked etc.

Perhaps even the Huawei E5885, as i note it's CAT6/4G+ (although it's a portable Wi-Fi Hotspot device etc).

 

To be used in combination with Three Unlimited SIM deal.

 

Thanks,

[ass17]

Three network have announced an unlimited plan for £22 a month for 2 years. TrafficSence in operation above 100GB at certain times but either way the best deal so far to date

[ass17]

Three network have announced an unlimited plan for £22 a month for 2 years. TrafficSence in operation above 100GB at certain times but either way the best deal so far to date

 

In fact it’s 12 months @ £20

http://www.three.co.uk/Store/SIM/Plans_for_phones

[MatthewL]

From a 4G Home Internet perspective....

 

I am after a Huawei B525 4G Router for myself. Any Edugeekers (or Resellers) know of where I can buy one cheap as possible? Network Unlocked etc.

Perhaps even the Huawei E5885, as i note it's CAT6/4G+ (although it's a portable Wi-Fi Hotspot device etc).

 

To be used in combination with Three Unlimited SIM deal.

 

Thanks,

 

Quick search brought one up on Amazon for £122.

 

Broadbandbuyer.co.uk do have a good selection of 4G routers, some of which are cheaper.