NYC's Massive Link5G Towers Aren't Actually Providing 5G (gothamist.com) 33
An anonymous reader shares a report: The vast majority of the massive, metallic towers the city commissioned to help low-income neighborhoods access high-speed 5G internet still lack cell signal equipment -- more than two years after hundreds of the structures began sprouting across the five boroughs. Just two of the nearly 200 Link5G towers installed by tech firm CityBridge since 2022 have been fitted with 5G equipment, company officials said. Delayed installations and cooling enthusiasm around 5G technology have discouraged carriers like Verizon from using the towers to build out their networks, experts say. The firm only has an agreement with a single telecommunications carrier to deliver high-speed internet, stymieing its efforts to boost mobile connectivity citywide.
The 32-foot-tall structures, which resemble giant tampon applicators emerging from the sidewalk, offer the same services as the LinkNYC electronic billboards that popped up around the city in 2016. Those were also installed by CityBridge. Both the original Link kiosks and the 5G towers provide free limited-range Wi-Fi, charging outlets and a tablet to connect users to city services. Data shared by the company shows that 16 million people have used the internet at kiosks since 2016, and the attached tablets are used to call for city services thousands of times each month. But unlike the LinkNYC kiosks, each new tower is topped with a 12-foot-tall cylindrical mesh chamber containing five empty shelves reserved for companies like Verizon and T-Mobile to store the equipment they use to transmit high-speed 5G internet service to paying customers.
The 32-foot-tall structures, which resemble giant tampon applicators emerging from the sidewalk, offer the same services as the LinkNYC electronic billboards that popped up around the city in 2016. Those were also installed by CityBridge. Both the original Link kiosks and the 5G towers provide free limited-range Wi-Fi, charging outlets and a tablet to connect users to city services. Data shared by the company shows that 16 million people have used the internet at kiosks since 2016, and the attached tablets are used to call for city services thousands of times each month. But unlike the LinkNYC kiosks, each new tower is topped with a 12-foot-tall cylindrical mesh chamber containing five empty shelves reserved for companies like Verizon and T-Mobile to store the equipment they use to transmit high-speed 5G internet service to paying customers.
Businesses need to make money... (Score:2)
Installing these don't make them any money. News a 6.
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Installing these don't make them any money.
The city paid the contractors whether they finished the job or not, so they didn't.
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Installing these don't make them any money.
The city paid the contractors whether they finished the job or not, so they didn't.
Corrupt city behavior in a city that still welcomes it? Color me surprised. Yet another NYC news story at 6.
Re:Businesses need to make money... (Score:4, Informative)
CityBridge was paid to put up towers, provide free WiFi from them and then lease space to Verizon, T-Mobile and others to install the for profit 5G service equipment. The latter have yet to install their equipment. CityBridge was paid and they did build their part. Although now it remains to be seen if their business model is in trouble due to no 5G equipment lease payments as originally expected.
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*sigh*
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I was thinking the same. I grew up in NYC and every building had crazy amount antennas on it. "resemble giant tampon applicators" is one way to get clicks.
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they are small.
Not really. 5G depends, in part, on very small cell sites to support a large user per square mile base. So lots of towers which don't have to be very high and reach great distances. It's not like AMPS or 2/3G with tall towers on hilltops that could reach dozens or even hundreds of square miles.
the g stands for ripoff (Score:1)
In london,4g unlimited data is 2mb bandwidth. another con from ISPs
Q: 1, Technology: 0 (Score:2)
Conspiranuts made everyone paranoid 5g allows Bill Gates to ogle them in their underwear and/or turn off their vax.
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People are good at picking out when you're lying, but not so much at picking what is the actual lie so it's pretty easy to exploit and push stupid stories.
So when a bunch of techbros tries to shove a technology they know that have a bunch of horrible limitations like having a signal so easy to disrupt that even Linus Sebastian's tiny hands can block it, they will sound dishonest and ripe for abuse by charismatic evil people from the internet.
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Techbro's didn't push 5G, the telemarketers of big companies did. They invented a reason to upgrade plans and/or equipment to get new money. The American way: Throw It Out And Start Over, then charge the customer for reinventing the wheel.
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Well, it didn't help that 5g also sucks, and is a clearly fundamentally poor fit for the main use cases in which they were trying to promote it.
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If you build it (Score:3)
They will not come?
In today's environment, T-Mobile, Verizon, AT&T will install equipment only where they believe it will make them money. Not everywhere qualifies.
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There is more (or less) to it though; they prioritize resources more than excluding them. There are two or three spots additional towers are needed in my area; one (and possibly a second one) is a dead spot on a heavily travelled road, and the other is a more isolated (but touristy) valley. The valley is never going to get coverage; putting in a tower is just too much hassle for what they gain. The roadway spots are a bit more confusing to me, but I can think of a potential development barrier slowing it
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Someone didn't think this through with modern phones, but the potential lessees sure did.
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That's the description? (Score:5, Funny)
Of all the possible descriptions they could have used, this is the one they went with?
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I guess this article is aimed at the feminist audience out there....?
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I guess this article is aimed at the feminist audience out there....?
Or all stuck-up American cunts.
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Came here looking for this comment.
I am assuming that they weren't allowed to say "penises" so they went with something adjacent to fulfill their juvenile mandate.
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No, they don't look like penises. They do in fact look amazingly like tampon applicators: https://friends-ues.org/wp-con... [friends-ues.org]
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The 32-foot-tall structures, which resemble giant tampon applicators emerging from the sidewalk, Of all the possible descriptions they could have used, this is the one they went with?
Would it have been better to describe the phallic-like structures screwing themselves through concrete poured by toxically masculine men, along with some kind of "dick move" analogy to describe the in-cum-bent behavior by 5G pimps? Pornhub sponsors would like to know.
Why 5G? (Score:3)
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There is no need for 5G in low income neighborhoods, or in any other neighborhoods for that matter. AFAIK, 5G only really makes sense in really dense areas like stadiums, airports, etc.. Sound like a boondoggle.
Ssssh. Quiet down. You're going to reveal the perpetual scam.
Next thing you know, taxpayers will start remembering how many times they've already paid for "low-income development" projects that went nowhere but in corrupt pockets.
I'm wondering... (Score:3)
It's not just NYC (Score:1)
For a city that only now introduced trash cans... (Score:2)
Retasked (Score:1)