{"id":2224,"date":"2012-10-31T19:58:05","date_gmt":"2012-10-31T19:58:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.piglet-net.net\/pigblog\/?p=2224"},"modified":"2020-02-20T21:49:42","modified_gmt":"2020-02-20T21:49:42","slug":"drowning-in-superfast-4g-hype","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.piglet-net.net\/pigblog\/?p=2224","title":{"rendered":"Drowning in Superfast 4G Hype"},"content":{"rendered":"

Less than 24 hours have elapsed since yesterday’s rant about the 4G hype<\/a> and already there’s some bullshit piece in tonight’s Express and Star showing the cutting-edge, well researched, informative and technically accurate reporting that publication has an unenviable reputation for<\/a>, saying that the lack of 4G will cost the UK economy \u00a3120 million, according to “a study”<\/b> (and then it fails to mention who commissioned the study [edit- reading the article again, Ebay commisioned it], or any data whatsoever). It then quotes Ebay as saying that “slow connection speeds, payments timing out, and network reliability” were barriers that would be “effectively eliminated by 4G”<\/p>\n

\"E&S<\/a>
From the Express and Star, 31-10-2012. Unmitigated bollocks.
Click to embiggen.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is starting to look like a Daily Mash Story<\/a> with bold assertions, quotes from imaginary experts, and meaningless, unqualified stats.<\/p>\n

I’m now drowning in bullshit. As my dear friend Andy points out<\/a> there’s so much marketing crap here, and as a tech who is asked to provide solutions to people who read this shit, it’s wearing very thin.<\/p>\n

Does the lack of mobile internet really cost sales? Maybe a few. A smartphone is a crappy way to browse Amazon or Ebay, with small screens and no proper keyboard. I’m sure a smartphone app will improve this, as would using a tablet, which may well have mobile data capability, but \u00a3120 million? really? Will people not just wait until they’re at home\/work\/Starbucks?<\/p>\n

If 3G was actually available everywhere, it would do just fine for present-day Internet shopping, being about as fast as many people’s fixed-line ADSL. Of course given time, bandwidth requirements will rise: the Internet of the 90s coped on 33.6-56Kbit\/sec, whereas now even 10 times that seems sluggish, so we will need 4G one day, and yes, installation should start now, but it’s not a requirement right now<\/b>, and a good job too, because it will take a good while.<\/p>\n

4G will not<\/b> magically fix poor coverage, and will, trust me, cost a lot of money to implement.<\/p>\n

I do find the tech industry very frustrating: the false promises, the use of tech terms as (inaccurate) buzzwords, the assumption that a “new” technology will magically make everything rosy<\/a>. The shiny adverts, and the shiny-suited salesmen that perpetuate the myths. It must be very confusing for those of us that don’t have a deeply cynical view…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Less than 24 hours have elapsed since yesterday’s rant about the 4G hype and already there’s some bullshit piece in tonight’s Express and Star showing the cutting-edge, well researched, informative and technically accurate reporting that publication has an unenviable reputation for, saying that the lack of 4G will cost the UK economy \u00a3120 million, according … Continue reading Drowning in Superfast 4G Hype<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-computers","category-rants","category-tech"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.piglet-net.net\/pigblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.piglet-net.net\/pigblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.piglet-net.net\/pigblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.piglet-net.net\/pigblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.piglet-net.net\/pigblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.piglet-net.net\/pigblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2224\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.piglet-net.net\/pigblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.piglet-net.net\/pigblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.piglet-net.net\/pigblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}