Why, if we can access the internet by iPhone.............

[Spriddler]

..........is it necessary to incur the expense and disruption of digging trenches and laying cables to every commercial and domestic computer to provide access to the web?

 

[BusyBuilder]

Same up here, don't understand it either, 5g is good enough

 

[ManTheVan]

Mobile signal is patchy in some areas (like ours) and can be quite weather-dependent. Our internet comes via a dedicated dish which I put up during lockdown, so we could continue to work. It’s pointed at a mobile mast up the valley and gives us a workable service, although I have to pay extra on top of our useless copper broadband to keep the SIM in the dish active.

There’s full fibre nearby and we’re waiting for a connection. The mobile signal that we use will be kept active until we’re sure that the service which openreach installs does the biz.

When we’re out and about in the MH, we tend to use 4/5g and tether to devices if we need them. Seems to work pretty well as a solution so I’ve never bothered to fit a dedicated 4/5g antenna and router.

Roll on full fibre!

 

[Langtoftlad]

Competition
Why have physical fibre cables when 5g is good enough?
Why use 5g when Starlink is good enough?

 

[Landy Andy]

..........is it necessary to incur the expense and disruption of digging trenches and laying cables to every commercial and domestic computer to provide access to the web?

Because people earn money from it, old people won’t change from what they know.

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[pagey]

When my bt fibre went down for a week I just tethered my roku stick computer and pad to my tesco mobile account did not see any difference really except I did not reset the security cameras

 

[dunnah01]

So that when you have both 5G and fibre they can send twice as many cr@p advertisements to your devices and still let you work at at least 3G speeds

 

[Abacist]

We have had Virgin fibre for years but it seems to be getting less reliable with poor TV and sometimes flaky internet.

 

[Andy Norfolk]

Because if you live in a small village the mobile signal is at best poor and unreliable. The Openreach service via the phone line isn't much better. The cables down our road were laid in the 1940s when there was a shortage of copper. They used aluminium which regularly cracks and breaks. .

 

[Landy Andy]

Morocco agree with you a decided to have good mobile signal and masts well placed. Was very odd to go to tiny villages with no proper roads and see people using mobile phones.

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[Pausim]

Because the 5g network would be overloaded if it was carrying all the data that is carried by fibre and landlines. The frequencies needed for mobile signals are already very crowded.

 

[Nirvanauk]

Well, we live in the sticks so no 3G , 4G or 5G . Thank goodness by a BT screw up that we have FTTP.

 

[Spriddler]

Hmm, thanks for the comments.
It would seem more logical to me that the money being spent on providing fibre would be better invested in improving the 'mobile phone' network. I read that BT had taken over EE so maybe they are anticipating the obsolescence of fibre.

 

[Yorick]

Businesses need to shift a lot of data. Faster and more reliable by fibre cable.

 

[Ejaydee]

Well, we live in the sticks so no 3G , 4G or 5G . Thank goodness by a BT screw up that we have FTTP.

Same for us, the local mobile signal is dire, but thankfully we have FTTP, so our mobiles work over the internet while we are home. Only a couple of hundred yards away (up the hill), the signal very good, but we live in a signal blackspot!

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[Ejaydee]

It would seem more logical to me that the money being spent on providing fibre would be better invested in improving the 'mobile phone' network.

Nope, fibre is far superior in my view for those of us that live in "hilly" country. At least the fibre is usually hidden underground, rather than having masts with aerials installed everywhere. Mobile probably makes perfect sense for areas that are relatively flat, but elsewhere, it simply does not work.

 

[Pausim]

Hmm, thanks for the comments.
It would seem more logical to me that the money being spent on providing fibre would be better invested in improving the 'mobile phone' network. I read that BT had taken over EE so maybe they are anticipating the obsolescence of fibre.

Radio frequencies are not limitless and the ones that can carry complex data are much in demand. You might get away with only having 5g in countries with lower population densities and fewer users but if it were a viable option here I think they would already have moved away from fibre.

I also don’t like the idea of being reliant on a single radio system that is vulnerable radiation bursts from space and who knows what dirty military tactics.

 

[Lenny HB]

I don't see the problem nearly every property in the UK has a phone line so an easy job to convert to fibre, fibre cables are run through the existing ducting in the road and uses existing poles. It took a day to do our road.

With most people streaming TV these days the mobile services would soon be overloaded if everyone was using them for TV and with more services streaming in Ultra HD which uses 7GB an hour.
Data signals also not that reliable we get a very good signal strength but our neighbours 50 yds away on the same network their signal is not good enough for streaming.

Cost is another problem if you can get a good signal on a network that gives unlimited data at a reasonable cost you are OK but if the only signal you can get is on a network that charges a fortune for unlimited data you are stuffed.

 

[Spriddler]

I don't see the problem nearly every property in the UK has a phone line so an easy job to convert to fibre, fibre cables are run through the existing ducting in the road and uses existing poles. It took a day to do our road.

The phone service in my road (still) is by overhead cable and we had a team of workmen digging trenches up the road and pavements for 6 weeks to put in fibre and junction boxes to do a 500 yd stretch. The contractors weren't working all the time but did a day or two here and there and had barriers and cones, laid down steel sheets and gawd knows what so that we could still use our driveways. Mud everywhere! It's still not available at our houses 8 months later.
(The digging machines dropped the trench soil into lorries which took it away, then later brought the soil back to refill the trenches )
(Oh, and before the work started there were two chaps sat in a van outside my house for a whole day who told me they were doing an 'Impact and Risk assessment').

 

[pagey]

The reason I stay with bt is because I'm a bt pensioner

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[VXman]

..........is it necessary to incur the expense and disruption of digging trenches and laying cables to every commercial and domestic computer to provide access to the web?

No mobile signal inside my house. Need to use wifi calling which means a cables underground.

Also 5G wouldn't suit people who require mega fast rates say for work or a large family doing multiple streaming/gaming. Cables can be 5x as fast. See below....

Is 5G home internet faster than fiber? No, 5G home internet is not faster than fiber. Fibre can reach speeds up to 5,000Mbps, while 5G home internet can reach max speeds of 300–1,000Mbps (depending on the provider and plan). Fibre also has symmetrical speeds, so its uploads are just as fast as downloads.3 Oct 2023

 

[Howard B]

I am currently using 4g for my internet. Download speeds up to 100mbs and upload at 28mbs. Plenty fast enough for us and only paying £9 a month for unlimited data at the moment.

 

[Tombola]

Cost,
Reliability
Coverage
Security
Speed
Trust

 

[DJT]

Because if you live in a small village the mobile signal is at best poor and unreliable. The Openreach service via the phone line isn't much better. The cables down our road were laid in the 1940s when there was a shortage of copper. They used aluminium which regularly cracks and breaks. .

Ditto here in Cumbria!

 

[ctc]

In Ireland if a mast goes up it has to be available to everyone, I think it's the same across most of Europe. So why not here?

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[JnJ]

No mobile signal in our house despite every provider saying full coverage because we live in a dip. BT spent months digging up the main road to facilitate full fibre to the exchange which is about 300m from our house. However, for some reason we can't have it, and BT say no plans for us to get it.
Just about to renew broadband contract and no one will provide a landline package here except at a ridiculous cost. So we can only use WiFi calling on mobile. 5g not a chance

 

[herald_400rl]

There's more to connectivity than speed (download/upload). Jitter and latency matter for some stuff, i.e. gaming.
Streaming doesn't really care much for connection quality but gaming, VoIP, etc. do.

 

[Widge]

Morocco agree with you a decided to have good mobile signal and masts well placed. Was very odd to go to tiny villages with no proper roads and see people using mobile phones.

Morocco is a large country with small population density, i suspect fiber will still be installed in the citys, at least for business areas. Out in the countryside a mobile phone network is more practical and will have more than the capacity for the number of users.

 

[dunnah01]

Mainly because nobody wants a mobile mast in their back garden. They'd much rather tut at contractors for a few weeks of pain even if it is thunderously more expensive to install fibre everywhere

 

[Widge]

I am currently using 4g for my internet. Download speeds up to 100mbs and upload at 28mbs. Plenty fast enough for us and only paying £9 a month for unlimited data at the moment.

And if everyone within range of that mast also tried to use it like you are, you would see a big change in performance, and reliability of calls, mobile phone companys activity disconnect voice calls if more data capacity is required.

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