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  • nismotigerwvu - Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - link

    Wait, at the speeds they are hyping, you might actually be able to blow through that 15 gig monthly allotment in an hour. That's HILARIOUS!
  • madspartus - Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - link

    Uh, the typical user experienced speeds are supposed to be on the order of 1gbps. 15GB / 1gbps = 120 seconds, or 2 minutes, not 1 hour. Peak speeds are I think 20 gbps, but that never happens so no matter.
  • nismotigerwvu - Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - link

    Oh sure, under the right circumstances you might be able to sustain that (a large patch or a new game install from Steam while standing right next to the tower) but I'm saying a typical user could even do this under typical conditions even in this short of a time. You'd only have to average 33 mbps for an hour to hit 15 gigs. A 4k Youtube or Netflix stream would do that (and possibly then some depending on frame rate). This isn't even an edge case.
  • ZeDestructor - Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - link

    You can sustain 33mbps on LTE already in more modern LTE networks. For 5G, one would expect being able to sustain at least 200mbps...
  • niva - Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - link

    Wow this sounds terrible. I for one was looking forward to having 5G as an option but with these prices/caps it's going to be a while before it's a realistic option to get off Comcast.
  • nico_mach - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    Too many drawbacks. 5g is practically line of sight - meaning clear weather and outdoors, the walls of your house can be enough to block it. Now add in the incredibly low caps (15gb!? for a new expensive product!?) and lack of regulation and competition, and you're going to be stuck with Comcast for a long, long time. Technology isn't going to fix this.

    I think this is another time to just say, hey, phones are already really good and Netflix is screwed no matter what.
  • fred666 - Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - link

    under 6 GHz 5G is not going to be that much faster than LTE. They say only 15-50% faster
  • ajp_anton - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    I can already sustain 100Mbit LTE on my phone (average speed over a 1TB database sync, took exactly 24h). The network supposedly goes up to 600Mbit, but my plan is capped at "100".
  • Sttm - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    And to think they were touting the increased capacity of 5g and then turn around and sell 15g a month for $70 like its 4g...

    They can give you a TB on 5G without stressing the network, this is just price gouging due to a total lack of competition!
  • JKflipflop98 - Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - link

    Wow. $500 for a janky "hotspot" modem? $70 a month for 15 gigs of data you can blow through in less than 5 minutes?

    This is what happens when morons that think "a business exists to make money" actually get to be in charge of a business.
  • ImSpartacus - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    There's a cost to do business.

    There are plenty of wholesome businesses started, but the wild majority of them fail.

    Those left are those that think "a business exists to make money".
  • digiguy - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    except that when you get the price wrong, like here, you are bound to fail (or readjust before competition does)
  • Mikewind Dale - Saturday, December 29, 2018 - link

    What makes you think the price is "wrong"? New products are always expensive. That's just how it is. Remember the first cell phones? The Motorola DynaTAC cost $3,995 in 1983, which is $9,975.58 today (adjusted for inflation). And its battery could manage only 60 minutes of talk. I'm glad you're not in charge of marketing or development. Because if you were, you'd have told us that cell phones are just too expensive to be useful, and you'd have killed the whole industry.
  • Santoval - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    Business *do* exist to make money, however they can only make money if they do not price their products or services more than their targeted customers can afford. AT&T is not going to make any money witch such insane prices and so low data caps.

    Even those who can afford such "plan" are not so stupid (well, except the morons who well get this just to brag "I have 5G bitches!", of course). So they are testing the waters of what the market can afford. This is why they are not forcing annual commitments yet.

    Anyone who will commit to 5G within the first 6 to 12 months of its deployment, wherever he might reside, will seriously need to have his head checked. The first generation of phones with 5G will also have the drawback of much smaller batteries along with a higher power draw due to the external 5G chip and multiple active 5G antennas (more power - less space for the battery), so on top of all else they will have a severely reduced battery life.
  • Mikewind Dale - Saturday, December 29, 2018 - link

    So who do you think should be in charge of a business? People who think the business is a charity that should give stuff away for free?
  • Cellar Door - Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - link

    15GB for $70 - who are they targeting with this scam???
  • shabby - Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - link

    Plenty of fools with money out there.
  • FunBunny2 - Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - link

    inbred 1%-ers. who else?
  • PeachNCream - Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - link

    There isn't any evidence to support the idea that the top 1% have problems with inbreeding. I'd argue that most of the 1% represents a segment of the population that has higher education and maybe favorable conditions in childhood versus the remaining 99%, but the breeding thing just seems like an unhealthy amount of jealous envy.
  • fred666 - Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - link

    what so funny is that many people commenting on this web site are part of the 1%.
    You only need to make over $32k USD to be part of the GLOBAL 1%.
    Even if you factor cost of living, at least half of the people in most "first world" countries are part of that 1%.
  • Valantar - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    While the concept of a "global 1%" is definitely of value, it really doesn't apply when discussing domestic services that are (at least theoretically) priced in alignment with the cost of living and income level of that country. While there is obviously such a thing as absolute poverty on a global scale, poverty is also highly relative. Someone working two or three minimum-wage jobs in the US and barely managing to make ends meet is still relatively well off on a global scale, but there's still no doubt they are poor. Whether you have a higher income than x% of the population in foreign country A doesn't say anything about your ability to feed yourself and your family or afford the necessities of life. This is particularly true in high cost of living countries that also have levels of high socioeconomic inequality, a scale on which the US is among the "top" countries globally. Also, which services are necessary to pay for can vary wildly between countries.

    While 5G service is hardly a necessity (frankly I don't see why it's really needed given that 4G can do 4k streaming and high-bandwidth downloads just fine), broadband internet service is, and the US has a well-earned reputation for terrible and expensive broadband access. Even counting early-adopter tax, $70 a month for 15GB is atrocious. Here in Norway, mobile internet is far more expensive than our neighbouring countries (partly 'cause we have a lot of mountains, so getting good coverage is expensive, but for other reasons too), but you can still get a plan with unlimited data for NOK 500, or around $58. And while our median income is lower than the US, our cost of living is higher, so it really ought to be the other way around. In Finland, you can get an unlimited data plan for around $25. So: US pricing is atrocious. Period. And this 5G plan is particularly bad.
  • ajp_anton - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    I live in Finland. Here you pay for speed, data caps don't exist. With 1Mbit for $5 you're effectively capped at 300GB, but you can get 100Mbit for around $15.
  • Santoval - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    Can we switch homes and countries please? At least for one year? :)
  • surt - Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - link

    Not that I think it matters, but the upper echelons have a well documented history of inbreeding problems.
  • PeachNCream - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    That sort of thing is illegal in the US. I don't see any modern examples and I'd imagine that if you account for historic examples and had a complete picture of the data, you'd find an equal problem among the masses for such activity as well and that activity persists more commonly among lower income levels in isolated places like West Virginia, Texas, or panhandle Florida, but not among the modern 1%.
  • FunBunny2 - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    -- That sort of thing is illegal in the US.

    it was satire/sarcasm, of course. the point being only morons (classic side effect of inbreeding) with lots of money will sign up for such a turkey. as to historical inbreeding among the Upper Crust, oh boy howdy, sure has been!! OTOH, there's "Deliverance".
  • PeachNCream - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    Ah, gotcha. I'm sorry for missing that so badly. Probably need to replace the batteries in my sarcasm detector.
  • Retired Budget Gamer - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    Came out of retirement to say the only person that could afford this would be someone in the 1%, however only someone who is in the 1% and is inbred would actually pay for it.
  • fred666 - Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - link

    Nobody, that's the whole point.
    This way they can brag being "first" with 5G and continue to test it. Since there will only be either 0 or 1 user per tower, the initial speed will be good. When the device doesn't fall back to LTE, of course.
  • Kepe - Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - link

    15 GB/mo, that's hilarious :D In the last six months I've used, on average, over 330 GB/mo on my desktop PC alone (I have an LTE modem). Add to that my TV, laptop, PS4 and tablet. On my phone, I've used 25 GB in the past 18 days of this month, and that's just Netflix, Youtube, social media and some web browsing. How can anyone survive with 15 GB/mo in this day and age?
    My phone's plan has unlimited data at 200 Mbit/s, unlimited calls and unlimited texts for 19 €/mo (21,5 USD including taxes). Why do ppl in the US put up with this crap? Oh yeah, government control of anything is "socialism" so I guess that's what the freedom of capitalism and price fixing costs you...
  • voicequal - Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - link

    You didn't share who your provider is...
  • Kepe - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    Telia. I'm in Finland.
  • voicequal - Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - link

    You didn't share who your provider is...
  • shabby - Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - link

    Laugh it up you European, at least our healthcare is... oh wait nevermind. Americans love taking it up where the sun don't shine.
  • bji - Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - link

    There are pros and cons to just about anywhere. Our networking speeds may be slow and expensive, but they do fine for me. I tend to, you know, get out and do stuff more, so I don't really need that much streaming media.

    The USA does get all the tech cheaper and first, so that's a plus.
  • bji - Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - link

    By "all the tech" I mean all new technologies, new hardware, etc. Part of the cost of being first to adopt technologies is that sometimes you get stuck with something older once it has established itself as the local standard. But getting the new tech first and cheapest is nice. I can't count the number of times on tech forums that I've heard Europeans lament the cost of hardware that we get much cheaper here, with much more availability, and usually months before they get it over there. Like I said, every place has its pros and cons.
  • Kepe - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    What kind of tech do you mean? Like the affordable OnePlus smartphones that have been officially available here in Finland since the OnePlus One in 2014, and landed in the US in 2018? All major hardware, such as processors and GPUs are released worldwide, thinking USA somehow gets everything first is really weird. Do you really think the rest of the world gets their hardware months after you do in the US? Speaking of technologies...
    First GSM network - Finland
    First 3G network - Japan
    First public 4G network - Norway and Sweden (first fully functional test network - Italy)

    I guess the iPhone is the only piece of tech that is really launched a week or two ahead in the US before coming to other markets. But iPhones aren't even that popular outside of the US anyways. Out of the twenty close relatives and a dozen or two closer friends that I have, one uses an iPhone and even he is switching to Android because iPhones are so ridiculously priced.

    The only reason stuff is less expensive in the US is because of lower taxes. Lower taxes are also the reason you have such ridiculous health-care and non-existant social services. Also, if you look at European prices online, those already include tax, unlike in the US where you need to add your local VAT to all the prices.
  • PEJUman - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    Tesla? The Finns do have to thank us for that one.
  • PeachNCream - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    I don't think Tesla really is the shining technology beacon it once appeared to be now that a lot of the erratic craziness of the fallen celebrity founder has started to come to light alongside failures to deliver a credible product and financial difficulties. Few people would want to thank anyone for Tesla's rolling fireballs.
  • PEJUman - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    Finna bought a lot of Telsas. Also, most tesla don’t catch on fire. How Elon’s brain works, I have no idea. But I know enough about powertrain development to understand that Telsa is an engineering marvel, by virtue of high risk tolerance and crazy investor confidence.
  • bji - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    They are very popular here in Silicon Valley and everyone I see who has one is immensely happy with it. I suspect you are just blowing hot air.
  • bji - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    Mobile phones were first available in the USA. The Internet as a consumer 'product' pretty much started in the USA. Electric cars ala Tesla. VR. 3D Printing. Nearly every model of computer was first available in the USA. The graphical desktop for example was first done here with the first Mac, which was first available in the USA. The first true smart phones (i.e. iPhone 1) was available first here. The Atari game console and other early game consoles were first available here. Social media web sites (for what they're worth) were first available here - i.e. Facebook, twitter, whatever. Streaming media like Netflix and Amazon first available here. Probably 3d movies were first done here, although I can't verify that, but it does seem like something Hollywood would try first. Those are all things that I just thought up off the top of my head, I could go on and on and on and on but I think you get the idea. Most tech is invented here or first productized here. Not all, but most.

    All you are talking about is refinements to mobile phone technology. Those are just iterations on an idea (high speed mobile networks, or smartphones with better specs than the last generation), not new ideas. But like I said, not *all* tech happens here first. Just most. And almost all tech is cheaper here, certainly hardware based tech.
  • bji - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    I agree that lower taxes is part of the reason for the lower total cost of buying goods here; but it's not the entire reason. The USA is a very large market and companies compete to stay in it.
  • Kepe - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    Ok, let's do a test. I have no idea how much an i9 9900K costs in the US. I'm not even sure how much it costs here. I'll go find out and report back here.
  • Kepe - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    On Newegg, an i9 9900K costs 550 USD + tax
    On Jimm's, one of the most popular PC part retailers here, it's 599 € including our 24% VAT.
    Now let's switch that to dollars and remove the VAT. So it's 684 USD in Finland. 684 USD / 1,24 = 551,6 USD. So without tax, an i9 9900K costs a whopping 1,6 dollars, or 0,3 % more over here. Where is that price advantage of the US you were talking about? It's all just tax.

    Both shops were chosen by whatever came to my mind at first. The i9 9900K seems to be selling for 549 € in some shops in Finland, which, when taxes are removed from the price, is 505,6 USD. For comparison, the cheapest 9900K I can find in the US is 539 USD. So when taxes aren't taken into account, a 9900K is cheaper in Finland. Where is your lower pricing?
  • bji - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    My point is that new technologies typically are available here first. Often times they are niche before they catch on, but if you want early access to new tech, if there is anywhere that you will see it first, it is here. When whole tech categories (i.e. VR, 3d printing, game consoles, etc) first are invented and productized, the first market that they are sold into is generally the USA. It's just a fact. Like I said above, every country has its plusses and minuses. I was simply using new tech to demonstrate that idea. My point was a counterpoint to the original poster bragging about how great and cheap mobile networks are in his European country. And the counterpoint is valid.
  • sseyler - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    Yeah, but you didn't really do enough to acknowledge that your original point wasn't articulated clearly. You'd do well to be less attached to your original point and concede it to the Finn, especially since the original argument you made was wrong—at least until you clarified that you meant "whole classes of technology". And, frankly, your "corrected" point about these entire technologies is a much weaker point, given that there isn't much benefit to having access to expensive, immature technologies whose kinks haven't been worked out yet and whose prices restrict accessibility to a very limited number of businesses/people. The counterpoint is valid, but weaksauce.
  • bji - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    I work at a company that created some of the first DVRs. Yes, it's not exactly new technology now, but it was 15 years ago, and it was available here well before anywhere else.

    I am not going to go out and do a comprehensive survey of every product category and where it was available first, and I'm pretty sure you aren't either, so neither of us is really going to be able to conclusively argue the point ... but I am comfortable in my conclusion that historically most new technologies have been first available in the USA.
  • ajp_anton - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    In the past, a lot of tech appeared in the US (and Japan?) first, but thanks to globlization, nowadays pretty much every new gadget is released simultaneously everywhere. "Revolutionary" new tech might still first appear where it was developed, but evolutionary tech no.

    It's true that most tech is developed in the US or Japan/SKorea, but to really simplify things, I'd say its because those places are better for business while Europe in comparison is better for "people".
  • bji - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    HDTV came first to Japan. That's one I can think of. Also some of the early, but not the earliest, game consoles. And lots of weird stuff like arcade games that simulate S&M and other odd things.
  • Kepe - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    Your point can be countered by saying "Finland also develops technologies and products, and Finland gets them first in the world." Of course when someone invents something new and starts making just a few products, they tend to sell them locally before expanding the business. Things like heart rate monitors, studded tires and safety reflectors are Finnish inventions that were available over here first, before spreading to other countries. Linux, SMS messages and internet browsers that support graphics instead of being text-only are also Finnish things. So yeah. The US isn't the only place in the world developing new tech.

    Anyways, this is all completely off-topic. This is about mobile phone/data plans. In the US, those suck big time. They are expensive and have ridiculous data caps. And Ajit Pai as the head of FCC isn't helping at all.
  • bji - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    Your points may be valid; but Linux definitely was not exclusively Finnish in any way in terms of its availability. The first release was immediately disseminated on the internet and thus probably more readily available in places with good internet connectivity (at the time almost certainly better in the USA than Finland). But it's a minor point. I concede that your argument overall is sound.
  • Kepe - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    That's why I mentioned Linux and SMS in a different sentence after the ones that were more regional. Also, compared to the US, Finland has had the same amount of internet users per capita since the internet has existed, and even surpassed US in the early 2000's. Source: https://royal.pingdom.com/2011/12/27/visualizing-i...
  • maxijazz - Sunday, January 6, 2019 - link

    I adore how much of proud you have being Finn.
    Definitely you might were leading cell(phone) adoption due to Nokia. That is long past.
    Linux is just evolution of proprietary Unix. Actually an American came up with idea of open sourcing it.
    Similar SMS and internet browsers. Just evolution.
    Nonetheless Finns have their share of inventions similar to other nations.
  • Mitch89 - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    Actually we get the new iPhones first here in Australia, we’re on the day-one launch list and we come first because of the time zones.
  • sorten - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    Damn. I don't know how much data I've used in the past month b/c it doesn't matter. I pay a fixed rate for any amount of data.
  • Matt Humrick - Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - link

    If it wants to differentiate between 5G bands, AT&T should call its mmWave service "5G" and its sub-6 GHz "5G-"
  • FSWKU - Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - link

    Coming to Louisville, KY eh? That should be interesting, when I can't even get decent LTE speeds in most of the city. Fastest I've EVER gotten on AT&T was 50/25. Strangely enough, that was in the middle of nowhere outside Jacskon, TN. Never got anywhere even close to the supposed 300mbps peak regardless of where I've been. Barely got ANYTHING in Denver, and Austin was also pretty crap for speeds as well.

    I don't see 5G being much better, especially with AT&T's track record.
  • cmvrgr - Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - link

    They should be ashamed. 5G has so much bandwidth and speed that data should be unlimited with 70$.
  • oRAirwolf - Tuesday, December 18, 2018 - link

    Is this a joke?
  • sorten - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    A bit of a preview for the BOM on current gen 5G phones.
  • yeeeeman - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    What are we gaining here? The fact that we get the internet wirelessly and not via a fiber cable?
    Fiber is much lower latency, doesn't really care about many users being on the same network and has unlimited traffic with much lower prices. So, again, what problem are we solving with this?
  • sing_electric - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    With a 15GB cap? Slow LTE speeds on your hotspot or 4G device (tablet/laptop w/a modem). Of course, if you're moving enough data that average LTE speeds are a serious issue, 15GB likely won't be enough....
  • Holliday75 - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    Fiber has a finite length and when I drive around it will eventually run out and snap. Not to mention it getting caught up on other cars, tripping jobbers and possibly beheading small children at the bus stop.
  • Mitch89 - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    Haha
  • Lolimaster - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    Telecoms still don't get it, fast access and data caps should never go together.
  • Despoiler - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    15gb a month for $70? What a joke! AT&T once again proves they don't want to compete.
  • sing_electric - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    Everyone's missing the downside of this: At these prices, AT&T can practically GUARANTEE that there'll be no congestion on their 5G network!
  • Supercell99 - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    This is a joke. 15GB for $70. This is why there needs to be more competition in the wireless network and broad space.
  • surt - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    Is it possible they meant 15TB? I'm a pretty light user but I blow through 700GB / month currently.
  • Mitch89 - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    I’m sorry, but 700GB on any internet service (cellular or otherwise) is not light usage.
  • Kepe - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    If you stream everything you watch on TV, it's easy to use that 700 gigs of data. I've had months with 2 terabytes of traffic on my LTE connection.
  • Kepe - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    Streaming three and a half hours of 4K content each day will use up that 700 GB per month.
  • SpaceRanger - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    Is that package with or without the KY?
  • Holliday75 - Wednesday, December 19, 2018 - link

    It looks like AT&T is trying to re-coup their investment into 5G very quickly. I hope potential customers stay away and give them the silent middle finger.
  • lakedude - Thursday, December 20, 2018 - link

    There must be some mistake. I just read that Verizon 5G might be unlimited for $70/month...

    https://www.verizonwireless.com/5g/home/
  • puttersonsale - Sunday, December 30, 2018 - link

    No one is talking about the health concerns of 5g.

    Apparently during testing people have come down with cancer and many animals have died around the 5g towers.

    Personally I hope it's not true. However, our health should not be compromised.
  • rawkee - Thursday, January 3, 2019 - link

    Source please?
  • Impulses - Monday, January 14, 2019 - link

    Hmm, I'm glad in finally getting fiber at home... It didn't seem that economic (not saving anything vs my cable package essentially) but for the same $70 I'll have gigabit speeds and unlimited use. I'm curious to see whether AT&T will even attempt to deploy 5G+ here in Puerto Rico in the near future...

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