• tauOP
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    11
    ·
    1 year ago

    It’ll be interesting to see how this affects reception in the fringes of current service. There’s plenty of places once you get a bit away from town where I’ve noticed the phone drops back to 3g to get any trace of reception, and while it’s generally not enough to get you data that might be enough to get an emergency call out if necessary.

    • vividspecter@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      Most 3g towers will be replaced with 4g and 5g so it should be similar (or better in throughput) but some phones will have issues in band support. My phone is missing one of the popular 4g bands, for example, so that may impact rural coverage in particular.

      • bestusername
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Doesn’t 4G and 5G also have a shorter range?

        You don’t just need to replace 3G towers, you likely need to add more towers.

        • vividspecter@lemm.ee
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          edit-2
          1 year ago

          They’ll be using the same frequencies for the most part so should have the same range (and use the same towers). “Low band 5g” is the search term if you want to know more.

      • tauOP
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        You would think so, but I notice this even in areas where you’d think every tower would also have 4G coverage (in the hills near Canberra for example) so I feel like the 3G cells just have a little edge when it comes to coverage.

  • WaterWaiver
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Expect 2nd hand phone prices on eBay to spike.

    (On the other hand: ones that can only do 3G voice will suddenly get cheaper. Some of these might be fixable through changing to a provider that provides the correct firmware over-the-air and/or by flashing a new rom. Maybe)

  • TinyBreak
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    1 year ago

    Anyone else surprised Vodafone can spare even the 3g portion of their network? Surely thats like a 50% cut of their coverage. Ok, I joke, but 20% probably isnt a stretch.

    • YⓄ乙
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Bro which phone ? I think all smartphones run both 4g and 5g.