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Comment by noble_pleb | Hacker News Reader

More interesting than 5G is the Amazon's ambitious LEO Project[1], a plan to launch several lower orbit satellites (LEOs) so that plebs can have internet access directly. Will be very useful in dictatorial regimes who censor/control internet in their countries. This will probably render 5G useless.

[1] https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/4/18295310/amazon-project-ku...

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5G won't become useless by satellite internet. Satellite internet has upper limits on bandwidth per area.

5G access (non mobile) deliberately supports 'non-terrestrial networks' of which satellites, floating balloons, repeaters on planes etc are part.

Seamless access/mobility and accessibility to maritime, airline, remote satellite phones etc is one of the ways 5G is hoping to sell 'access anywhere' and diversify from just mobile.

Most NTN access is via a terrestrial satellite basestation acting as a gateway into the mobile networks.

I think one day the communication 'transport' will be a worldwide mesh and operator profitability will be solely about business services on top of that.

Already seeing that to some extent with multiple operators sharing towers, radio front haul and spectrum. At the moment its early days of course.

Where 5G should excel (and LEO fail) is large gatherings like concerts and sporting events.

Communication with satellites requires end devices to have huge antennas. They can maybe be put into cars, but definitely not into phones. Satellites are useful, for those 5% of users that live in so remote areas that you'd have to do a ton of digging to give them fiber, but this myth that they will render 5G or LTE useless is repeated often but wrong.

Satellite phones for remote areas have been a thing for decades specialized uses.

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