back to article Nokia scores a $3.5bn deal to inflict 5G on T-Mobile customers

Nokia and T-Mobile have inked a $3.5bn deal to take the US telco into the bright new world of 5G communications. Burning 5G against dark background So what does EE's 5G test really signal? READ MORE The multi-year agreement will see the Finn outfit help build out T-Mobile's network with 600 MHz and 28 GHz millimetre wave 5G …

  1. JeffyPoooh
    Pint

    "...5G connection running at 2.8Gbps..."

    So my 500MB (0.5GB) per month data package would last about 1.4 seconds.

    Or, as would be implemented by Canadian Mobile No Actual Data Telco Rogers with their seemingly-unconnected towers, my monthly data allowance would last about 3 months (running flat out at Morse code rates).

    1. 2Nick3

      Re: "...5G connection running at 2.8Gbps..."

      Which is better: Morse code than two squirrels with semaphore flags?

  2. CJatCTi

    Stop 5G

    Don't waste money on 5G kit, just get 100% 3G coverage through out the UK if you want happy customers.

    Try keeping a call on a train or in pub in the country with stone walls.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Stop 5G

      Don't waste money on 5G kit, just get 100% 3G coverage through out the UK if you want happy customers.

      A mere £6bn project, according to the link below. Easily affordable..... except that the government have already committed your money (and a lot more that they need to borrow) to stupid vanity projects like HS2, Heathrow R3, the staggeringly ineffective Highways Agency, all manner of defence procurement fuckups, Wankley Point C, smart meters (although both those last two will appear on your energy bill, not as the tax that they are).

      https://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2018/06/ofcom-ceo-the-6bn-cost-of-truly-universal-uk-mobile-coverage.html

    2. katrinab Silver badge

      Re: Stop 5G

      Coverage is one of the problems of 3G that 4G solves, so it is better to spend the money rolling out 100% 4G coverage, then switch over the 3G frequencies to 4G use.

    3. steelpillow Silver badge
      Devil

      Re: Stop 5G

      The mm-wave GHz bit does look barking mad, I don't know why they didn't just go for IrDA again, that was the last steerable tight-beam game to flop.

      Low-power narrow beams steered by algorithm, everything within sight absorbing or scattering it into the noise floor, gazillions of little repeater stations round every corner and behind every wall - all presumably funded by selling you a repeater station for every room in your house, plus one for the car whenever it draws up alongside a truck.

      Reminds me of the periodic proposals to pump the Interweb over power lines, having to learn each time round that street lights are also half-wave antennae.

      Still, what do I know? The voice of experience or an outdated grumpy old git? Not sure I care, just got myself a new 4G toy. :-)

    4. Wade Burchette

      Re: Stop 5G

      It is even worse here in the US of A. There are spots where I cannot get 1G coverage. And I'm not talking about mountainous terrain. There are places I travel that are flat, rural areas where I have no coverage at all. My mobile phone company has an app where you can report dead spots. I use that app to report such dead spots, and I even told them through it that I much rather have full telephone coverage everywhere than LTE data somewhere.

      1. werdsmith Silver badge

        Re: Stop 5G

        It is even worse here in the US of A. There are spots where I cannot get 1G coverage

        But USA is big with wide open spaces. We are a tiny cramped little Island.

      2. kain preacher

        Re: Stop 5G

        There are dead zones in Sacramento,CA. For T-mobile and ATT.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hmmmm funnily enough...

    ...just had an email from a recruiter looking for engineers to work on 5G at Nokia

    1. Keith Langmead
      Facepalm

      Re: Hmmmm funnily enough...

      How many years minimum experience in 5G is the recruiter expecting?

      1. katrinab Silver badge

        Re: Hmmmm funnily enough...

        5 years, but that's OK because I have 8 years experience of working[*] with 5G wifi.

        [*] Yes, I know it's not the same thing.

        [*] Working with means setting up an Apple Airport and using it.

  4. Palladium

    New is always good!

    Just don't think about what real problems it actually solves (next to none) and just keep giving us your money because, it's new.

    And oh here's your 4GB data cap.

    1. Lars Silver badge
      Happy

      Re: New is always good!

      "And oh here's your 4GB data cap". The data cap has nothing to do with 4G or 5G.

      Good for Nokia no doubt, and it's good there is some competition between not that many providers.

  5. ducatis'r us

    What?

    T Mobile is not a US telco afaik??...

    1. Andrew 60

      Re: What?

      That would be T Mobile US who "operates the third largest wireless network in the U.S.market with over 65.5 million customers"

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-Mobile#United_States

      1. Longtemps, je me suis couche de bonne heure

        Re: What?

        The US T-Mobile is wholly-owned by the European T-Mobile which is a German company whose HQ is in Bonn.

  6. Andre Carneiro

    Spectral efficiency?

    Will 5G bring about better spectral efficiency like 4G did compared to 3G?

    Because if so, then there might be a logical reason to deploy it.

    Otherwise I have to echo everyone’s sentiment that this does sound like a lot of hot air with limited benefit.

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