So I can use my mapping application when I’m in the park. So I can look up an earthquake that just happened when I’m in the lobby of a movie theater (that really happened, and the 4G network really is not capable of handling any sort of crowd at least not in my area).

> the 4G network really is not capable of handling any sort of crowd at least not in my area

As someone living in NYC and using 4G daily with few problems, I suspect this is a problem of your telecom provider not having adequate infrastructure or having a bad configuration for handling many connections to a few nodes.

> ... I suspect this is a problem of your telecom provider not having adequate infrastructure or having a bad configuration for handling many connections to a few nodes.

Which they'll likely do for their 5G network as well because, well, telecoms do the minimum possible.

4G can work even in crowded convention centers. If you’re having an issue due to overcrowding, that’s a problem with your telecom not really 4G.

I live in LA and don't have this issues with crowds disabling me from using 4G.

Regarding the earthquake, yes it is common that you can't access SCEC website right after an earthquake, but this is not a problem with 4G. You can have 10 gbps over fiber and the site still won't be accessible, because the site itself is bogged down by the traffic.

Also in LA and I find 4G is not very reliable. Who is your carrier? I use verizon. Speeds are bad and my connection drops all the time. I'm by ktown so maybe it's the density at play compared to other areas.

T-Mobile. Was a Verizon user until 2011 or 12. Actually when I switched T-Mobile felt like an upgrade in LA (especially it worked inside buildings that Verizon didn't), it was not great in rural areas but never had problems in LA.

Second this. Verizon was basically unusable in wide swaths of the LA metro area but TMobile is unusable in wide swaths of rural areas. In mountainous areas like San Diego east county it becomes even more annoying: the I8 has decent coverage until like El Centro, CA (enough to stream HD video) but even a km from the freeway the signal completely disappears. Often times the only real option is AT&T.

In my case the site was google but yes individual sites are always at risk of going down.

So in that case I don't know what problems you have. I did not had these kind of issues. The only issues I had was that there was no cell phone signal in certain buildings, and 5G won't solve that.

My operator has 60 GB on their 4G plan and unlimited on their 5G plan

That's my dream.