Three UK touts 5G as "genuine alternative" to fixed line fibre

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Commercial 5G rollout by the mobile operator will begin as soon as next summer.

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Read more.

I struggle to believe they can offer 1TB per month at sane costs.

I use their pay as you go, it's awesome value and am generally very pleased with their service but I can't see them becoming my ISP.

It would be nice to have a viable alternative to Virgin in my area. The BT line only goes up to 4Mbps, so Virgin is our only real option for a decent connection speed right now.

I can't see home broadband being 'replaced' for those with access to pre-existing high speeds unless unlimited bandwidth is also offered for similar pricing.

Considering I can't even get 3G, let alone 4G, properly where I live I can't see 5G replacing fibre where for me anytime soon... it was hard enough getting fibre.

It would be good to see some figures on latency because I can't imagine this being an option for online gamers.

I just moved house from a Virgin wired 210Mbps service to one that couldn't get it, It does have one of the very newest 350Mbps BT fibre connection though but costing £65 a month and requiring an 18mth contract, nope.

So for now I took out a £27 a month 'all you can eat' 4G data plan with Three and have been pleasantly surprised at the speeds I get when tethering my Mobile to my PC, 40-70Mbps dependant on the time of day, OK its no fibre connection but its perfectly acceptable for now, so I can see how a similar 5G service would be a game changer for many.

..and in reference to the above post I'm getting ping times of 35-50ms when i tried it for online gaming, which was another surprise compared to the 20-25ms I got with Virgin.

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Originally Posted by DanceswithUnix

I struggle to believe they can offer 1TB per month at sane costs.

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I struggle to believe that will be enough for gamers and power users anyway, so it's off the cards for me. I first had a 40GB limit with BT, but could hit the limit on that within days.

If it was taking into account light users, namely those who stick to Facebook and the like, I could believe it as being an alternative for them.

For anyone else, particularly gamers who can quickly go through it with the sizes game downloads can be, it's not really a realistic option as there would likely be a cap (unless you pay more for a higher cap of course).

As others suggested above, latency could be an issue too.

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Originally Posted by DanceswithUnix

I struggle to believe they can offer 1TB per month at sane costs.

I use their pay as you go, it's awesome value and am generally very pleased with their service but I can't see them becoming my ISP.

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Their 2014 One Plan whcih i had was unlimited with a teeny tiny asterisk. If you did more than 60GB a week, they would throttle your remaining time till next statement at 2.3mbps. It was "unlimited".

Three are very data focused.

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Originally Posted by Output

If it was taking into account light users, namely those who stick to Facebook and the like, I could believe it as being an alternative for them.

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I would have thought most people in that category are mainly covered with their phone contracts and free wifi.

People using facebook and the like on PCs are a dwindling breed these days it seems.

I haven't read the ins and outs but I was under the impression 4G costs a lot/has small allowances because its swamped. Is there any provision to stop 5G becoming swamped also?

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Originally Posted by shaithis

Is there any provision to stop 5G becoming swamped also?

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With the price of new phones these days, I'd imagine that's already covered!!

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Originally Posted by Ttaskmaster

I struggle to believe that will be enough for gamers and power users anyway, so it's off the cards for me. I first had a 40GB limit with BT, but could hit the limit on that within days.

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Not checked for a few years, we used to use 500GB per month. I suspect it has doubled since then. Mostly YouTube and Netflix though, we don't really do 4K and you can only watch so many hours a day so I wonder what would make it go up any further.

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Originally Posted by chj

It would be good to see some figures on latency because I can't imagine this being an option for online gamers.

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It's a better option than poor broadband that looks like it will never be solved. I game on 4G at my parents through tethered to my phone. I get 80ms. I'm sure with a dedicated router at the top of the house that could be brought down to ~50ms.

Roughly translated, I think this means 'get ready for some prices to go up'. They no doubt want to pitch it as being worth as much as your broadband bill + your mobile phone contract...

Should we be worried about the health issues that might be caused by 5G?

https://eluxemagazine.com/magazine/dangers-of-5g/