Adventures in 5 G

Following the horrible servitude of dial-up internet in the mid nineties, we graduated to DSL service in 1998. This, for us, was a revolution! 

I must admit that we have stayed with that technology to this very day, hoping along the way, that either our venerable telephone company or Google Fiber might reach us sooner than later. 

This was until a few months ago when I received a notice from T-Mobile, announcing its new home broadband internet service advertise to reach 5G speeds, using that new 5G technology. I don’t know what you understand about internet delivery, but think in terms of plumbing. DSL offers tiny pipes, cable (like Xfinity) bigger ones, and fiber optic, huge one.

 The problem is that fiber optics need to be sunk into the ground and takes time. For rural dwellers like we have many in the American West, instead of “pipes” there had always been wireless systems that could be assimilated to thin "spray" more or less concentrated, like satellite dish or WISP (fixed wireless internet service providers) that required a tiny dish and send radio wave signals. 

Finally there are the data signals available from 3G, LTE (a week 4G version), 4G and of course today 5G (that stands for fifth generation). Since the cost of that stationary 5G gateway was quite affordable albeit higher than DSL, I thought let's try it! 

Immediately, I was trying to secure that new technology on the internet, but as I had to talk to a human along the way, I quickly realized that T-Mobile had just switched a large part of its call-center to Thailand and I couldn’t understand what the lady on the only line was saying and the poor soul had even less idea of what she was talking about and attempting to sell. 

 After two three attempts, I learned that the company had a gateway (that most of us call that modem) in stock at their Park City store. 

After I drove over, I went through an excruciating questionnaire, missed one key element that I had to resolve by returning back home, and waited at the store for two more hours upon my return, to get my equipment, something we don’t see in America, while it’s a common occurrence in Europe. 

Again the Thailand support crew spoiled what should have been a simple process! The system I got was quite simple, just plug-and-play and in a few minutes I was hooked-up. 

At first, I wasn’t too impressed but at the end of the day, we were reaching download speeds over 100 Mbps on our phones, compared tot the measly 5 Mbps we were lucky to get with DSL. 

I haven’t yet ditched my venerable DSL line, it will remain for a while in the background, just in case, but I might stick with my 5G internet delivery system!