man i just realised that my job actually affects mobile network infrastructure
wtflip who thought it was a good idea to put me in a position like that

@rose ur the one deploying the 5g towers to turn all the frogs gay

@coolbean @rose 6G will turn the politicians gay

@usernameswift @coolbean @rose omg when

@novenary @usernameswift @coolbean i think this is public info so
6g is being actively developed by nokia rn (dont know about other manufacturers), they're putting a lot of effort in it, public release is expected to be around 2030
i can confirm however that we have already integrated the gay rays (gays for short) into the protocol and have tuned it to target politicians specifically

@rose @novenary @coolbean >i think this is public info
[cut to footage of a court case]

@rose @novenary @coolbean Why do we need 6G
How is 10 gbit not enough 😭

@usernameswift @coolbean @rose hold up
5g can do 10gbps???

@usernameswift @novenary @coolbean idfk man at some point theyre compensating for something
soon theyll expect you to stream your consciousness over mobile data or some shit

@novenary @usernameswift @coolbean yeah it has a theoretical peak of 10gbps, but i doubt anyone will ever (or has ever) achieved it

@rose @novenary @coolbean Oh they'll find a way
6G is just a ploy to force the obsolescence of 4G phones

@usernameswift @coolbean @rose still floored that they're killing 2g and 3g networks tbh

@novenary @usernameswift @coolbean 3g maybe, but 2g is nearly 30 years old already, its incredibly legacy tech and not usable for practically anything anymore, it makes sense to kill off in favor of more 3g/4g/5g infra

@rose @usernameswift @coolbean not an expert of course but aren't there embedded devices that still rely on 2g networks and do not need the extra bandwidth?
allegedly 5g has a special mode for this that allows cheaper radios but it still means replacing existing deployments

@novenary @usernameswift @coolbean I'm not aware of any embedded device that still communicates to a network over 2g
are you thinking of 2.4ghz wireless stuff? Those are independent and have nothing to do with 2g broadband

@rose @usernameswift @coolbean I know the difference lol

@novenary @usernameswift @coolbean @rose emergency telephony needs 2g too under certain conditions, so do all calls when connected to 2g or 3g (and 4g and 5g if volte/vonr is broken/unsupported) 2g also has a much larger range compared to newer standards which does matter quite a bit if you are in the middle of nowhere and need help

@rose @novenary @usernameswift @coolbean there is a 30 year long tail of devices that do, but i don’t know how much relies on 2G data

@charlotte @usernameswift @coolbean @rose yeah, figured as much
volte has been so broken historically that i wouldn't want to rely on it being available but apparently it's happening anyway

@charlotte @novenary @usernameswift @coolbean devices at some point have to be cut off. 2g is 30 years old and it's not feasible to maintain legacy software forever
this isnt like a proprietary service being shut down where every device will become obsolete, its possible to build a custom cell network with a raspberry pi for those that want to experiment with old phones

@rose @charlotte @usernameswift @coolbean I mean yes, eventually things have to be retired but it feels like this is being accelerated in order to make room for new tech that is developing much faster than is reasonable
it's definitely too early to retire 3g when 4g is current
likewise, 5g is still in its infancy so 6g by 2030 is fucking insane
and both of them are aiming to solve problems that shouldn't exist (webshit bloat, exploding number of client devices)
it's normal to abandon old tech when it is truly obsolete, but we need to slow the fuck down

@rose @novenary @usernameswift @coolbean mobile network-connected devices to this day are built to support it, so it would affect every device.

infrastructure improvements are built according to demand, of which there is largely none in huge swaths of uninhabited land without legal incentives.

shutting down 2g would leave already underserved communities completely without access to mobile telephony and mobile internet in addition of cutting off uninhabited areas too. it would be challenging to cover with modern infrastructure, and completely impossible with current capitalist incentives. (instead we get not just 3 but 4 independent network providers building in the same populated areas)

it might be okay to shut it down locally i suppose, in densely populated areas where the added capacity would benefit.

also no there are a bunch of regulatory hurdles to building your own cell network. especially once it has been shut down and the frequency assignment has been absorbed by 4G and 5G. it is also not possible to do it with just a rpi since it requires special hardware

@novenary @usernameswift @coolbean @rose my guess is that 6G is going to be like 5G, where it really only matters in very dense urban areas

@novenary @usernameswift @coolbean @rose
>not an expert of course but aren't there embedded devices that still rely on 2g networks and do not need the extra bandwidth?
Not really except old dumb phones. Even modems in 15 year old cars are probably 3G compliant.

@charlotte @novenary @coolbean @rose I find it funny that the only part of my city that doesn't have 5G is the dense, urban downtown area