Will 4G & 5G kill the stranglehold of wired ISPs? (Verizon, computer)

[harry chickpea]

I recognize bandwidth is an issue, but especially in rural areas that haven't had infrastructure upgraded to include wired or fiber internet, cell coverage is becoming the way kids can get schoolwork done on the internet. Hotspots on phones give access speeds similar to what I used to have on Hughsnet a few years ago.

I note that android has tried to make accessing the net through a phone wifi hotspot harder, and under control of the carrier, but this won't last. Could it be that the days of $200 bundled internet and TV will be going the way of AT&T long distance phone call charges?

[TowBar]

I believe so. Over the past few years I have noticed how the cell phone has slowly taken the place of the computer. I still have a computer that I rarely use; mostly for word processing and doing spreadsheets, which I don't even really need internet for. Web surfing, email, social media, online bill paying, and banking is all done with my phone now.

I don't think we are at that point yet however, as there are still things that works better with wired ISPs like streaming TV, home security systems, and so forth. When I connect my phone to T Mobile, I get less than 2 Mbps download speeds, which really isn't sufficient to do data intensive stuff like streaming. But if I drive 5 miles down the road, I get 10+ Mbps download speeds. So until the cell phone companies can increase their coverage to provide more accessible (and unlimited) high speed data in more locations, then I don't see ISPs going away. But just like I believe online streaming services is making a major dent in cable and satellite TV, the same will likely happen with cell phones and wired data services.

[ccm123]

OP, you may or may not be aware, both T Mobile and Verizon (maybe others also) are rolling out 5g Fixed Wireless Broadband Internet to compete with “wired” ISP’s, such as telcos and cable companies.

Obviously, the quality and reliability of service will be based on the subscriber’s signal quality from the cell towers in the area.

We have been using T Mobile 5g Home Internet (to replace my old ISP - AT&T) since June, 2021. Our experiences have been excellent. We routinely see download bandwidth between 400-570 mbps and uploads at 15-80 mbps. Other metrics (latency, etc) are very good also.
We can stream and do video conferencing reliably without buffering, etc. We are located in a major metropolitan area, so the cellular infrastructure is pretty robust. Experiences will vary.

The provider supplied gateway device to support this technology is essentially a cell phone hotspot on steroids. I’m oversimplifying, of course, but functionality is the same - conversion of 5g signals to Wifi.

[TexasLawyer2000]

Without a doubt. I remember in the early 2000's when this was the discussion. The idea was that 4G would replace corded internet. However, this was quickly realized as a failure to start in 2008 when 5G was being discussed. 5G was designed to succeed in what 4G failed. We know that with today's speeds of ~500mbps, we are nowhere near the wired internet speeds of 2000 mbps (2gbps) speeds we see on fiber to residential homes.

But 5G also aims to provide sub 5ms latency and we're already hitting that. It's only a matter of time until 5g reaches reasonable speeds.