5G is the next generation of cellular broadband, promising to bring mobile users into a future where Full-HD movies can be downloaded in seconds and emerging technologies such as self-driving cars and augmented reality are commonplace. Source: https://www.livescience.com/65959-5g-network.html
Tag: Broadband
A Cell Tower In the Swiss Alps Is Struck By Lightning More Than 100 Times a Year
Wave723 quotes IEEE Spectrum: Atop a rocky peak in the Swiss Alps sits a telecommunications tower that gets struck by lightning more than 100 times a year, making it perhaps the world’s most frequently struck object. Taking note of the remarkable consistency with which lightning hits this 124-meter structure, researchers have adorned it with instruments for a front-row view of these…
FCC Kills Part of San Francisco’s Broadband-Competition Law
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The Federal Communications Commission today voted to preempt part of a San Francisco ordinance that promotes broadband competition in apartment buildings and other multi-tenant structures. But it’s not clear exactly what effect the preemption will have, because San Francisco says the FCC’s Republican majority has misinterpreted what the law does. FCC Chairman…
Amazon Seeks Permission To Launch 3,236 Internet Satellites
Amazon is asking the FCC for permission to launch 3,236 satellites that would be used to establish a globe-spanning internet network. Seeking Alpha reported that Amazon expects “to offer service to tens of millions of underserved customers around the world” via the network, which the company is developing under the codename Project Kuiper. Tom’s Hardware reports: So what does this plan…
Netflix Could Lose Almost a Quarter of Its Subscribers If It Started Running Ads, Study Shows
According to a recent Hub Entertainment Research survey, twenty-three percent of respondents said they would definitely or probably drop their Netflix subscription if it began running ads at its current price point or a dollar cheaper. “That percentage would represent a loss of nearly 14 million subscribers from Netflix’s 60 million paid subscribers in the U.S,” reports CNBC. From the report:…
SpaceX has lost contact with three of its Starlink satellites
On May 23rd, 2019, SpaceX launched the first batch of its Starlink constellation, a fleet of satellites that will fulfill Elon Musk’s promise to provide broadband satellite-internet access to the entire planet. The deployment of these 60 satellites was the first in a series of six planned launches that would see around 720 satellites orbiting at an operational altitude of 550…
A DIY Internet Network In NYC Now Covers Large Parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Motherboard: A community-run operation named NYC Mesh is on a mission: to deliver better, cheaper broadband service to New York City. The locally-run nonprofit project says it’s engaging in a dramatic expansion that should soon deliver a new, more open broadband alternative to big ISPs to a wider swath of the boroughs of Manhattan…
The Days of Getting a Cheaper Cable Bill By Threatening To Leave May Be Over
With internet service growing faster and more profitable, subscribers are becoming expendable, meaning pay-TV companies no longer need to entice customers who are threatening to quit with discounts and special offers. Bloomberg reports: Over the past few years, pay-TV stocks have suffered wicked swings as investors reacted to growing subscriber losses. But they’ve recovered as the companies shift their focus to…
Fermi observations provide insights into the nature of Terzan 5 globular cluster
Using NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, astronomers have collected important data that could disclose the real nature of the globular cluster Terzan 5. The new study, presented in a paper published May 24 on arXiv.org, delivers new information regarding the cluster’s pulsar population and its broadband emission spectrum. Source: https://phys.org/news/2019-06-fermi-insights-nature-terzan-globular.html…
Tiny dips in star brightnesses reveal 3 exocomets
It’s amazing we can detect comets in distant solar systems at all! These are the first 3 exocomets found in data gathered by TESS, NASA’s newest planet-hunter. The comets orbit the famous star Beta Pictoris. Source: https://earthsky.org/space/3-exocomets-famous-star-beta-pictoris…