Re:Ask HN: Is it just me or is 5G strictly worse than LTE?
by rocqua on Sunday January 29, 2023 @03:24AM
(#34566041)
Before 5g city centers often couldn't cram in enough cell towers to give everyone enough bandwidth for their home connection.
5G has an option for higher frequency towers with signals that drop off much quicker, allowing you to pack towers closer together. Hence giving city centers much more bandwidth.
Down in the suburbs you can still get away with fewer towers with larger range and still give everyone bandwidth.
Out in the countryside is where the problem you propose starts occurring. When the people are so spread out that a single cell is going to be woefully underutilized, and hence not built close enough to your home. But that cross-over is beyond the suburbs, not around the city center.
5G has an option for higher frequency towers with signals that drop off much quicker, allowing you to pack towers closer together. Hence giving city centers much more bandwidth.
Down in the suburbs you can still get away with fewer towers with larger range and still give everyone bandwidth.
Out in the countryside is where the problem you propose starts occurring. When the people are so spread out that a single cell is going to be woefully underutilized, and hence not built close enough to your home. But that cross-over is beyond the suburbs, not around the city center.