Become a fan of Slashdot on Facebook

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror
×
Wireless Networking Communications Network Technology

French President Emmanuel Macron Compares 5G Opponents To Amish (euractiv.com) 147

neutrino38 writes: "France is the country of the Enlightenment, it is the country of innovation [...] We are going to debunk all false ideas. Yes, France is going to take the 5G turning point because it is the turning point of innovation," Macron insisted in front of a hundred French Tech entrepreneurs gathered at the Elysee. "I hear a lot of voices saying that the complexity of contemporary problems should be addressed by returning to the oil lamp! I don't think that the Amish model can solve the challenges of contemporary ecology," the head of state said.

Meanwhile, AT&T's 5G network was found to be slower than 4G, and in China some 5G towers are switched off during the night because of power consumption. Welcome to the future.

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

French President Emmanuel Macron Compares 5G Opponents To Amish

Comments Filter:
  • by gnasher719 ( 869701 ) on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @05:09AM (#60510458)
    One, Amish are peaceful and don't try to burn down car dealerships. Two, Amish don't spread rumours that cars are the devil's work, they are quite Ok with everyone else driving cars. Three, anyone should be free not to use a mobile phone if they don't want to.
    • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      The Amish can actually use cars, they just have to have someone else drive it for them. 5G conspiracy theorists can't even go near it.

      • by SkonkersBeDonkers ( 6780818 ) on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @07:56AM (#60510788)

        The Amish are actually entirely pragmatic about technology. They will use it for work purposes, even themselves. I live near "Amish Country" and many contractors/builders/landscapers are actually young Amish who readily use machinery and cell phones and and all the same stuff we do, but just for work. When they go back home they store the things away. But others, when an Amish family has someone diabetic, they will have a fridge in the barn for the insulin. Many communities have a phone box in the center for emergencies.

        Other posters are correct. The Amish do not see technology as evil. They do not look down on others for using it. They see all non-essential luxury as a distraction from matters particular to their spirituality.

        • Wish I could mod you up. You're entirely correct. Macron meant Luddites, but it's probably bad form to denigrate the English until a final trade deal with the EU is agreed and Trump makes it so much easier to pick on the US, so he went with the Amish.

          • by SkonkersBeDonkers ( 6780818 ) on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @08:24AM (#60510858)

            Thanks.

            I wanted to add for others that may see it to that in spite of many media portrayals of the Amish as insular and unfriendly to non-Amish, nothing could be further from the truth. Obviously there are good and bad in every group, but on the average, Amish folks are lovely people and good neighbors.

            And one thing I'll say, differences in belief aside, Amish believers are extremely true to their message. Just one example. Non-violence, avoidance of anger/rage and forgiveness are important to them. Years ago there was an outsider that took hostages at a Amish school for young girls. He ended up killing 5 girls and wounding 3 others. He died. There was an outpouring of support for the Amish families and millions of dollars were donated. Almost immediately the families announced that they wanted to divert some of the money to provide support for the widow of the gunman which they promptly did and AFAIK continue to provide money to her to this day. I mean I got to admire people who can lose their children to violence and turn around to immediately start caring for others who are not only not tied to their community but to the very person that hurt them so terribly.

        • Growing up and as a teen to twenty year old I had the pleasure of knowing several Amish families in southern Iowa. There were a couple of families we bought supplies from (real home-made butter, fresh eggs, stone ground flour) and one that did quilting for extra money to keep their farm equipment in shape. They always struck me as some of the most relaxed and friendly folks I'd ever met. Their kids were always curious about the little techno-baubles I had at the time, such as my walkman or my watch calcu

        • by Thelasko ( 1196535 ) on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @10:35AM (#60511240) Journal
          It really depends on the local bishop. The intent of the Amish lifestyle is to avoid personal luxury, as you stated. However, the details in achieving that is decided at a local level. Some communities are fine with a basic pickup truck and power tools to be used for work. However, there are some that go out of their way to avoid electricity, but have nice home appliances that run on compressed air [npr.org] instead. The Amish compressed air economy seems to run counter to the purpose of the Amish/Mennonite/Anabaptist religion.
    • Four, even an oil lamp is an improvement compared to a torch. While 5G is not yet an improvement compared to 4G.
      • Four, even an oil lamp is an improvement compared to a torch. While 5G is not yet an improvement compared to 4G.

        Not on AT&T it's not anyway.

      • Slashdot 4500BC:
        That Oil Lamp wasn't as bright as a torch, nore can you use it to keep warm, or ward off nomads as effectively, Lame!

        I have ATT 5G in spots in my area (Averaging over 100mbs). And for me is is faster than 4G (Averaging around 30mbs), it is also faster than my home Cable Internet Connection (Runs a shy under 100mbs). I am not saying the news articles are wrong, I expect currently on average 5G may be slower than 4G is currently. due to lack of full deployment, weaker signals... However it h

      • " While 5G is not yet an improvement compared to 4G."

        This raises a question that Google has proven unable to answer:

        If one ignores, for the moment, the MMwave changes and other frequency allocations, and concentrates solely on the software-side issues, is there a good description of what 5G does? To put it another way, if I applied everything in 5G but used an existing LTE Band 17 / 700Mhz frequency, what changes?

        I ask, because I recall one of the Apple iPhone shows talking about how great VoLTE was going t

        • by amorsen ( 7485 )

          To put it another way, if I applied everything in 5G but used an existing LTE Band 17 / 700Mhz frequency, what changes?

          Primarily MU-MIMO and better beamforming. 5G cells can handle many antennas, so if you are in luck then you will get your very own beam (or multiple beams, if there are reflective paths available) dedicated to you whenever you need it. 4G supports fewer antennas per cell, so it is more likely that you have to wait for your turn. The fewer antennas in 4G also mean that beamforming is less effective, wasting power on transmitting to places where you are not.

          The downside with 5G is that currently the calculati

      • by GuB-42 ( 2483988 )

        That 4G is as good as 5G now doesn't mean that 5G is not an improvement.

        Wireless networks have a fundamental limitation that wired networks don't have, in the name of Shannon's theorem. There is limited amount of information a given bandwidth can carry. With wires, it is not that much of a problem since every wire (or fiber) is a separate channel, you have also more control over background noise. But antennas are area-based and at some point it becomes too much to cover every device unless you start install

    • by Misagon ( 1135 ) on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @06:41AM (#60510636)

      Three, anyone should be free not to use a mobile phone if they don't want to.

      Should.
      That is getting increasingly difficult here in Sweden, and I'm suspecting in other places too. It is as if a smartphone with a fresh version of Android or iOS has become a prerequisite for full citizenship over here.
      You'd need a special smartphone app to do things such as accessing your medical records on-line (even if it is on the computer), getting unemployment benefits, and to do your tax returns online -- while options of doing it off-line are getting increasingly difficult or removed altogether.
      Many online stores don't ship packages to people without a cellphone number ... or will sell it anyway without checking and then not deliver until you call them and sort it out.
      Some shops even want your cellphone number when you are there in person to pay, pick up the item and go.

      I'm not a luddite. If I were, I wouldn't be on this forum. But there must be some limits. People want freedom. And online public services must be vendor-neutral, using open standards.

      • by Rosco P. Coltrane ( 209368 ) on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @07:34AM (#60510744)

        Same in Finland. And the thing is, the administration, the banks... almost everybody requires you to install a special app that's only available from Google's app store. If you don't have - or don't want - a Google account, you're SOL because half of those apps aren't available on Aptoide, APKPure or F-Droid, or they're out of date.

        In short: if you want to function in Finland, you need to be registered with Google. No Google, no banking, no getting a doctor's appointment, no getting your payslips...

        It's fucking crazy! How someone in the government doesn't balk at the idea of Google being the gatekeeper to everybody's life in the country, I'll never know...

        • by sound+vision ( 884283 ) on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @09:31AM (#60511060) Journal

          Well, the New World Order conspiracy guys got one thing right - the existence of the NWO.

          Where they go totally off the rails is when they try to work out the details. They think Bill Gates has some grand microchip vaccine plan, or that Joe Biden is the spearhead, or some dude named Soros is pulling the strings. Sorry, the microchip's already in your hand. And you voluntarily paid a month's rent to buy it, and you spend every waking hour staring at it, and it's making you retarded. No vaccine necessary. No 5G necessary - although it helps.

          Yeah, the plot to that movie is a little less exciting, but it's the movie you're in.

        • Whereas Estonia has three 2FA ways of logging in and signing documents, including performing money transfers, filing taxes, and voting:
          1. the national ID card, which requires dedicated software and plugins for desktop browsers (Linux, Mac, Windows; Chrome, Edge, Firefox)
          2. Mobile ID - one can use any phone, even a featurephone, or a phone that does not have Google stuff on it. But this service requires a special SIM card and a dedicated mobile contract / plan (not pre-paid)
          3. SmartID - a 2FA authentication app for
      • Oh don't worry. Right when we get everything 100% digital with no form of physical remaining, the sun will be nice enough to finally hit us with CME like the 1859 Carrington Event.

        I get hate for suggesting we keep some coal plants around, some form of pre 80s way of conducing business,etc in the event our tech fails us. In winter I keep a kerosene heater around. You never know when the power will go out preventing the furnace from firing.

        It seems societies function in only absolutes. We must ALL do it this

        • > some form of pre 80s way of conducing business

          Way ahead of you:

          https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/national/2014/03/22/sinkhole-of-bureaucracy/

          Used to have rooms filled with desks with rotary phones where the fed would relocate when the bombs started falling. You can see them in The Day the Universe Changed IIRC.

      • It's not clear to me from your description if its becoming more required to have either a mobile phone or a smart phone, or simply more convenient. Stores in the US ask for a cell phone number - I typically give them a fake one. The other things you note seem to simply require access to a computer somewhere, not necessarily either a cell phone or a smart phone. Full disclosure - I continue to operate a Samsung Knack (circa 2008) flip phone. My company often gives me a smart phone if they want me to resp
      • by thsths ( 31372 )

        Exactly that is the problem.

        But I do not give just about anyone my number. So I have a second phone with a number I am happy to share...

        Which is of course pretty much the opposite of being able to live without a phone.

    • One, Amish are peaceful and don't try to burn down car dealerships. Two, Amish don't spread rumours that cars are the devil's work, they are quite Ok with everyone else driving cars. Three, anyone should be free not to use a mobile phone if they don't want to.

      I agree, it you are going to compare them to a religious group, 5G opponents are more like Byzantine Iconoclasts.

    • I wouldn't expect a French President to really understand a group of Americans from German Ancestry. They are Amish communities spread across the US, but Pennsylvania is their largest area. My home is in walking distance of a Mennonites (Similar values, but they will use technology a little more. Eg their furniture shop has an impressive array of solar panels, they will drive cars to the grocery stores etc... )
      But we confuse these people religious rejection of conveniences to be anti-technology.
      The Amish

    • by sjames ( 1099 )

      Actually Amish do have cellphones. They don't bring them into the house because they interfere with proper family life, but they often have them. They're kept in a small enclosure outside of the main house.

    • One, Amish are peaceful and don't try to burn down car dealerships.

      The Amish I've recently come to know a bit in the area of my new rural home seem like the opposite of crazy. I'm not keen on their whole "no dancing/no playing musical instruments" thing, but they like to sing (which is good) and they don't bother nobody or try to convert you to their way of thinking and they will help you if you need helping. Also, they make some kick-ass food and furniture that will last until your grandkids have grandk

    • Lost in translation (Score:5, Informative)

      by lorinc ( 2470890 ) on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @09:28AM (#60511038) Homepage Journal

      "Amish" in French doesn't have the same meaning as in the US. We don't have Amish communities in France since the 1900s and for us the word does not refer to the existing US people. It's a French idiom that simply means "people that refuse technological progress by all means".

      Just like "negro" means "black" (the color) in Spanish, it would be unfair to keep the work without having in mind that the meaning is different.

      I know /. is very US centric, but the world does not revolves around the US. If the last 4 years indicate anything, the rest of the world couldn't care less about the US at the moment. If you want to have a meaningful opinion on what Macron said, you'd better not interpret his sentences based on what you think it means with your US biases, but try to do some research to understand what it actually means.

      • Finally. Thanks. Macron might not have been fair to the current Amish population, but please stay calm. This was simply a message for French people. He didn't even speak English (thank god).

      • This is bullshit. I am French and I can assure you Macron was very well aware of what he was saying. "Amish" isn't a word colloquially used in French slang, we do not go around saying this word, we would rather talk about luddites or "Technophobes" when talking about people who criticize technology.
    • by thsths ( 31372 )

      > anyone should be free not to use a mobile phone if they don't want to.

      I agree with that, but I think the ship has sailed. It is difficult to have a job, or to see a doctor, or even to file taxes, without a mobile phone. Even restaurants are starting to ask for your number.

      EV charging is also a complete no go without a smartphone.

    • particularly by the non-religious -- and we should remember that the French revolution was very different from the American revolution. The French revolution was a secular one with a large anti-[Catholic]Church element due to the centuries-long ties between the Catholic Church and the royals.

      The Amish are not dumb, nor are they "technophobic". They are however much more devoted to an old religious principle of not being outwardly prideful or boastful, not flaunting things, not being extravagant, etc. Their

  • by DrXym ( 126579 ) on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @05:22AM (#60510480)
    The Amish aren't paranoid conspiracy morons lacking in critical thinking skills. Unlike anti-5G protestors.
    • Probably should have compared them to anti-nuke activists.
      • by DrXym ( 126579 )
        Last time I checked nukes can actually kill you so there is some rationale to not liking them. There is little to the concept of unilateral disarmament though.
    • The Amish aren't paranoid conspiracy morons lacking in critical thinking skills. Unlike anti-5G protestors.

      5G is in some cases slower than other company's 4G networks, it takes up wide swaths of valuable radio spectrum, costs multiple billions of dollars, and cell phone data usage is not going to get any cheaper for its implementation. Comparing your comment to 5G's merits, I'm not sure it's the 5G protestors' critical thinking that is challenged.

      But it's still not a fair comparison. Or, to be correct, I don't know enough about the Amish to know if comparing them to 5G protestors is fair or not. Thing is, I s

  • Strawman much? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by jandoe ( 6400032 ) on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @05:25AM (#60510486)

    > Meanwhile, AT&T's 5G network was found to be slower than 4G, and in China some 5G towers are switched off during the night because of power consumption. Welcome to the future.

    Obviously he's not talking about people criticizing the technical details if 5G. He's talking about people saying 5G is mass genocide and causes Covid-19.

  • by Generic User Account ( 6782004 ) on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @05:31AM (#60510498)
    Idiots are a fact of life. It doesn't matter how accessible you make information. A quarter of the population has an IQ of 90 or lower. 10% don't have an IQ higher than 80. These people can vote and have internet access. The noise is inevitable.
    • by DrXym ( 126579 ) on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @06:09AM (#60510562)
      Idiots are a fact of life and always have been. But modern day services like social media, YouTube etc. now allow them to find each other, amplify their dumb ideas (and trolls help too) and grow to a size that poses a threat to public health and order. We saw this happen with anti-vaxxers and now QAnon. There are morons sending parcel bombs and shooting up pizza parlors because they've bought into this delusion.

      The simple answer to this is social media should just close these groups for the danger they pose, and if that's too much then stop promoting them. i.e. don't show them in the searches, don't recommend them, don't share, don't advertise to them, don't monetize them at all. Let them exist but don't make the problem worse by making them easy to find or easy to stumble across by accident.

      • by Syncerus ( 213609 ) on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @08:38AM (#60510890)

        Censorship is such an easy thing when you know that you're always right.

        • by DrXym ( 126579 )
          These fuckwits can always set up their own servers or sleaze off to Gab or wherver. Nobody is stopping them. It doesn't mean that mainstream social media should be obliged to host them or tolerate them any more than it does any other topic that incites hatred, violence or harm or allows people to come to harm.
      • Allow the legal creation of fake self-harm communities etc. The gullible people will remove themselves from the gene pool and then maybe humanity will be able to handle technological progress. We (humanity) certainly can't handle the tech we already have.

        Idealistic zero censorship does not work past the 18th century; something has to be done as it's getting worse. We have had chemical and biological weapons for centuries which have been closely guarded secrets... or at least IQ blocked, preventing easy acc

      • The simple answer to this is social media should just close these groups for the danger they pose, and if that's too much then stop promoting them

        Ahh, if only it were that easy. Do we *really* want big tech corps closing down whatever they decide is "dangerous"? Because once that is viewed as okay and mainstream, "dangerous" immediately becomes "whatever is less profitable" -- regardless of your politics.

        To be clear, I agree that the Internet is indeed causing huge mental health issues and giving the st

    • Idiots are a fact of life. It doesn't matter how accessible you make information. A quarter of the population has an IQ of 90 or lower. 10% don't have an IQ higher than 80. These people can vote and have internet access. The noise is inevitable.

      "You can't fix stupid, so don't even try..." - Ron White

  • by danielcolchete ( 1088383 ) on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @05:40AM (#60510506)

    There is literally nothing I want to do with my phone that can't be done with 4G/LTE. I regularly get 50megs+ download/upload and I can't think of a single-user use case that needs substantially more than that. I used to get 80megs+ before, but they seem to have reduced it a bit, they could just unthrottle it if they wanted to.

    I live in Dublin, Ireland btw, having good internet is more the rule than the exception.

    • by LukeLast ( 768548 ) on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @05:49AM (#60510520) Homepage
      It allows more people to have your experience at the same time.
    • The quote that slashdot loves to tout, that isn't even correct. 640k should be enough for everybody.

    • I used to get 80megs+ before, but they seem to have reduced it a bit, they could just unthrottle it if they wanted to.

      The throttling is to make room for more traffic. Kind of the whole point of going to a faster standard on new/recovered spectrum. And you're possibly in a less dense area for bandwidth usage so you may not benefit as much - but why would you maintain the old standards solely for less densely populated areas. 5G allows for more densely placed towers in a given area.

    • There is literally nothing I want to do with my phone that can't be done with 4G/LTE.

      I take it you've never left the basement? Pretty much everything you do with 4G/LTE can't be done if you have more than 10000 people in close proximity to you. 5G isn't about some magical speed, it literally brings hundreds of changes to the mobile standards including opening up different frequencies, MASSIVELY increasing the subscriber count per base (yep you actually will be able to use your phone in a football stadium). It brings many changes which benefit the shitton of future subscribers that are being

    • The point of 5G is to give cell carries something that lets them charge you more money for your cell service.

  • by Brandano ( 1192819 ) on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @05:50AM (#60510526)

    It might take a bit, since they only use IPoAC (https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1149)

  • by geekmux ( 1040042 ) on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @05:51AM (#60510528)

    ...everyone will come running to the Amish to figure out how to survive.

    Probably not a good idea to make fun of them. Especially in 2020, when I would expect nothing less than a damn EMP nuke to round out this fucking year.

    • by DrXym ( 126579 ) on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @06:04AM (#60510552)
      No they won't because they're too fat to run.
      • Give it a week or two of no food. They/we will be plenty light.
      • No they won't because they're too fat to run.

        Fair point.

        The "important" pretty ones will die of toxic shock about 17 minutes after social media goes offline. Don't be an Attention Whore kids. Narcissism kills.

        The obese ones will last a little longer off fat stores, but they will eventually have to become mobile to find food. This will be rather difficult for the GPS Generation, who can use a paper map about as good as a left-handed logging chainsaw.

    • figure out how to survive

      Without fertilizers and mechanization? There's not a lot to figure out there, you won't survive (at least not all of you).

      • figure out how to survive

        Without fertilizers and mechanization? There's not a lot to figure out there, you won't survive (at least not all of you).

        The Hype and Bullshit generation, will be short on fertilizer...to their own demise.

        Sometimes humans deserve nothing less than Death by Irony.

    • by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

      Groups like the Amish seem to do poorly in pandemics. The local Hutterites had some inter-colony gatherings (funerals and such) and spread COVID around pretty well. And in small insular communities, if one person gets something, everyone does.

      I wouldn't be looking to the Amish to survive, unless things get bad enough that 90% of the population has already died.

  • Ooops, I meant "moron". Please, help us get rid of him, he is corruption made president. Oh wait, too much to deal with in the US before taking care of France ?...
  • "AT&T's 5G network was found to be slower than 4G..."

    Wait for 10G! You will be required to wave to your neighbor in the next cave, because language will no longer exist.
  • I feel a subdued backlash coming
  • by Fly Swatter ( 30498 ) on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @06:39AM (#60510626) Homepage
    It is equivalent to bloatware. Pushing upgrades that no one really asked for at expenses no one really wants requiring new hardware that doesn't add anything else with the only resulting improvements being that advertisers can push something new.
    • Yeah I'll never need a 64 bit OS that can address more ram than 4gb. Or more than one core because all my software is single threaded...

      • Yeah I'll never need a 64 bit OS that can address more ram than 4gb. Or more than one core because all my software is single threaded...

        I keep hearing this sort of sentiment...but I'm curious as to what you are thinking the use case will be. I am having trouble coming up with an example that fits the following criteria:
        --LTE throughput (theoretical max 740Mbits/sec, real world about 50-200Mbits/sec, latency 20-80ms) is insufficient
        --Requires consistent access despite motion which would exceed the range of traditional Wi-Fi deployments
        --Is tolerant of the drops and packet losses involved with such movement
        --Wouldn't involve the sort of densi

        • by amorsen ( 7485 )

          The obvious use case is any major festival or sporting event. Yes, those are not very realistic right now, but you can hardly blame 5G designers for not anticipating a global pandemic.

          Backhaul is not a concern these days, cheap 10Gbps is sufficient for the vast majority of 5G cells.

  • by nagora ( 177841 ) on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @06:50AM (#60510662)

    Because it sounds more like he thinks he's found a cure for ageing or something. "the turning point of innovation" is a little bit grand, non?

  • by Vandil X ( 636030 ) on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @06:55AM (#60510680)
    5G is logically the next advance in wireless communication speed. But with AT&T's "5G" being slower than 4G and countries like China throttling 5G based on power consumption, perhaps 5G is too nascent for mass-deployment just yet. Why cant we wait a few more years to get the kinks worked out? Why is it being forced into deployment? Was there some 5G-level communications emergency that can't be handled by the current 4G coverage?
    • by aitikin ( 909209 )
      4G was forced before it was ready, too. Hell, what we have today wasn't even officially 4G until LTE (and WiMAX, which I forgot was a thing until I found the link ahead) was forced into use and then the official designation of 4G was changed [slashdot.org]. There's a tendency in these things to force the hand too quick.
    • by bws111 ( 1216812 )

      Maybe mass deployment (real life usage) is the best way to find out what the problems are so they can be corrected. There is very little that springs forth in its final version and is perfect from the get-go.

    • AT&T's "5G" being slower than 4G

      That's because they've only opened a tiny fraction of their spectrum for 5G - just enough to make the icon appear on the phones. It's still able to push a lot of data with what little it's been given. Just not enough to compete with the 4G network that has the majority of their spectrum. The rest of 5G is waiting on the 3G shutdown.

      Yeah, we don't need it yet. We don't need to buy it either. Long-term planning is good - this isn't even nearly as significant as or comparable to the original rollout of co

  • The first revision of a new technology is big, power hungry and expensive. Look at my shocked face. The same thing was said about LTE when it came out, speeds were slower than 3G initially.

  • "China some 5G towers are switched off during the night because of power consumption."

    And somebody has to climb up at night to fill up the virus-containers.

  • AT&T's 5G network was found to be slower than 4G, - Because AT&T's implantation is terrible and badly implemented ... and in China some 5G towers are switched off during the night because of power consumption.
    Because they are ones in areas where no one uses them at night - just like most systems have a sleep mode to save power

  • by sjames ( 1099 ) on Wednesday September 16, 2020 @08:18AM (#60510846) Homepage Journal

    IIRC, there was a 5G deployment in a stadium and they couldn't even manage that without dead spots all over the place.

    At BEST, 5G is an adjunct to 4G.

    Next up, the speed of 5G means you can exhaust your monthly quota in seconds. What's the point in all that speed if you either get it for less than a minute or you need a wheelbarrow full of gold bars to pay your bill?

    Interestingly, the 5G 'towers' need a fiber connection to work. The same sluggards that have been moaning that the last mile is just too expensive to connect with fiber for decades now claim that 5G will be everywhere when it needs that last-mile fiber to operate. If they can get fiber close enough to hook up a 5G tower that serves my residence, they can just as easily bring the fiber to my curb. Note: the range of 5G is about 1000 feet. Also note, to serve the homes at the end of my cul de sac the fiber will already have to run along my curb, what do you suppose the odds are they'll let me tap in?

    Those aren't wildfires on the west cost, it's just the flaming pants of telco executives.

    • the reality is if someone wants to live in the boonies there are many things that won't be as good. Your police and fire dept response time will be longer, your internet options might suck, etc.

      something that is good for 95% the people shouldn't be held up because of the 5%. Fuck 'em.

      • by sjames ( 1099 )

        IN a sports stadium in the city isn't exactly the boonies, now is it? It probably offered less obstructions than a city block in NYC, to boot.

        Meanwhile, the telcos are the ones making the big promises about 5G everywhere, super-duper speeds, etc.

  • "in China some 5G towers are switched off during the night because of power consumption."

    This is grasping. 5G is designed to handle a high traffic load. If they don't need that at night then powering it down makes total sense to me.

  • While the phrasing is harsh and possibly a little offensive, it's hilarious AF!
  • Right, France is the country of the enlightenment. Nice innovation in the 18th century. Also, the time and place of an excellent invention: the guillotine. True innovation.

  • and in China some 5G towers are switched off during the night because of power consumption

    Nuclear plants would solve this

  • Is there a large Amish community in France?

Experiments must be reproducible; they should all fail in the same way.

Working...