DocAndersen
The first technology I remember from my childhood was a shortwave radio. I took that radio with me to Thailand, and for a time it was my only connection to the outside world. I learned about Shortwave, AM and FM radio technology. Later, I was introduced to the CB radio craze in the US. I still have a CB radio. In fairness, I am more inclined now if I am carrying a radio to carry a VHF radio. The VHF radio system is designed for Marine vehicles. I was interested in HAM radio for a long time, I have a portable HAM radio, but my license has lapsed. I suspect I will renew that at some point in the future. The reason for talking about this is the reality of radio versus networks.
We don’t realize just how much bandwidth 4g LTE advanced (or for those who like to compare carriers the delightfully misleading 5g e). You can legitimately watch a movie on Netflix on your phone or tablet and suffer a massive amount of lag. You won’t spend all your time waiting for the system to bugger the video. Yes, there will be some buggering, but not a huge amount of time. Your cellular phone also has a built-in camera and GPS. But the next generation or the more properly called 5th generation or 5g networks are here. There are three US cities that have 5g for home networking, and two cities that will serve as of April 1, have 5g availability for cellular phones in the US.
There are already cities in Europe as well that will have 5g or have 5g service now.
The thing that interests right now is the growing area of portable projectors to go with that bandwidth. There are a couple of products that are shipping in the May/Juen time frame that is interesting. You see I believe that in the next five years you will not rely as much on a laptop, desktop or another computer. In the next five years as we head into the next industrial revolution, we will carry cell phones and tablets, and not much else.
The future of the world around us is the reality of the network of tomorrow, now available in Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Houston, and several other US cities.
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Have you ever steamed a movie?
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Yes
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No
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I would think that Japan and South Korea would’ve had 5g before anyone else…
It, 5g requires a lot more physical infrastructure than 4g. The reality of edge computer, and by that extension driverless cars, intelligent edge devices requires more bandwidth to the tower. The parts of the world where the wiring exists, are the first places to get 5g. Minneapolis MN, will have 5g to the handset on April 1.
Europe, Canada, and the US all have physical infrastructure.
you know more about it than I do, I just know that Japan and SK are pretty much entirely fiber optic, which made me think they’d be ahead of the game
I suspect both Japan and SK will be early in the game, They are heavy fiber. Their issue is more the reality of the internet (neither is a network hub).
Japan also had the first IPv6 backbone. But somehow Tokyo is behind Minneapolis, which kinda threw me
5g is all about the fiber. The US starting laying telephone lines 10 years before any other country on earth. The reason that the biggest cloud vendors are earth on in the US, is all the dark or unlit fiber in the US. Fiber baby! While the speed of light is a limit, it beats the heck out of in air transmission.
but the US remains largely wire where Japan is almost entirely fiber optic…
Amazon and Microsoft own more dark fiber than people realize. If you want to argue fiber, I would say “Montana” vs. Japan. Overall the US east coast today ist he most densely packed fiber network in the world.
but that’s only good for communications on the east coast. if you’re in Baltimore and you want something from Santa Fe, you’re gonna bottleneck. that doesn’t happen so much in nations that are entirely fiber
So what’s dark fiber?
Dark fiber isn’t lit (or connected to the broader mesh) AWS, Microsoft, Google and others have massive non-connected Fiber networks.
As for the concept of national or all fiber you are correct. that is what 5g changes. While there is the distance (tower to the user) for gigabit speeds, the bigger impacts to fiber-based networking are geographic features.
Japan, Korea etc, all have massive fiber networks until you get to the mountains. Their mesh is coastal. But you are correct in that they have a lot more connection than in the US.
…I thought fiber optic only carried light. now I am confused
You are 100% correct, the fiber only carries light. When it is not connected it is called dark fiber. When it is “lit” it is called fiber.
what is the point of having a fiber network that isn’t connected to anything?
It is only connected within the organization. For example, AWS has a dark fiber network that is connected to their various data centers, but it is not connected to the public network (dark fiber). It’s like the dark web. The dark web is there, but it is not routed.
two things confuse me- if the AWS network is carrying any traffic at all, it must be lit, even if it refuses traffic from non AWS sources
if the darknet isn’t routable, how do you get there? I get that it isn’t searchable and only uses DNS addresses and even then only certain browsers can parse it, but still it would have to reachable it from a remote terminal
The dark fiber is routed within the organization. Its called dark because it is only accessible within the organization.
Technically all connected fiber is lit. The term dark fiber refers to the ability of someone on the internet to connect to that mesh.
so basically a fiberoptic intranet?
yes
it doesn’t route outside the organization. Within the organization, it is routed. It allows AWS, Azure, IBMCloud to move data quickly without touching the public internet.
I can have an instance in AWS=East and another in AWS-West but I don’t have to route that “trickle” connection over the internet. I can keep both sides up to date without the latency of the internet.
so then dark only in the sense that it isn’t visible to the world wide internet, but still lit since it is swapping packets (for anyone else trying to follow)
Yes routable within Amazon but not visible to the rest of the world.
The definition of lit and dark fiber comes from the connection to the public internet. Many providers (telephone companies) have lots of dark fiber. Amazon, Microsoft and Google have more!
so long as they’re not using taxes to make private networks, I am okay with that…
There are two sides of taxes in this conversation. Direct US Federal, Direct EU, Direct US State or other countries funding a private network.
Why would you care if the US Government had cheaper more reliable solutions that they offset the cost of with taxes?
I care if my taxes are funding private networks that I can’t use. Let the companies pay for their own networks or use the public ones…
Ok.
So let’s talk about what use is. Do you have your garbage collected? Can you dial 911 and have a person respond?
Do you use the internet?
See the thing is that as governments get out of the IT business, and move to cloud solutions. they are funding private networks regardless.
The other side is always difficult, but the reality is you are paying for that private network already.
if I pay for the private network by using their services, that’s fine but they can’t use tax dollars to build a private network. the government shouldn’t be using public cloud solutions anyway, too insecure…
I remember the first radio and CB stations. In our country, CB stations mostly used truck drivers.
In the US CB radio was heavily truckers. It actually still is!
I think that it is still very popular with our truck drivers in our country. So says the son who also drives a truck
I suspect it is very much a trucker thing! I know that I used to listen and use a CB radio a lot more in the past.
haha,,.. Nice Dog, and post also nice
Thanks what did you like about the post?
Ha, in the past I also enjoyed CB Radio and became an amateur broadcaster for AM radio too.
After my country launched a new satellite recently, it looks like 5G which has been tested since around the middle of last year will soon be launched as well.
5g will also require hundreds of miles of fiber cable be laid. A new satellite, gets you what is called 4g LTE advanced (or what AT&T is called 5g e in the US).
for 1 gig to a cellular handset of bandwidth, you will need fiber.
I don’t know for sure when it will start, but certainly, for application, my country is still waiting for the 5G ecosystem readiness. Maybe in 2022.
I think 2020 is the current plan, but it is going to be a huge boon for many organizations.
There are various parties here who say different times, I think 2022 is a safe number to mention.
I suspect you are right on the safer numbers. I do know that the first US city to be lit with 5g is Minneapolis MN. It goes live on April 1.
I have quite a number of acquaintances in several telecommunications operators here for I have ever been their consultant, amazingly, they have different calculations and plans about it.
When will your area apply 5G?
Of the 30 US cities slated for 2019 we are on the list, but I suspect we are in the 20’s in fairness.
Oh I remember CB radio’s. I remember having one of those as a teenager. Had lots of fun with that. How technology has progressed!
That’s a big 10-4 good buddy!
Got your ears on?
I loved talking on the radio! There was a magic in that.