"You see, back when 5G was still in its infancy, we were sold two big promises about 5G -- speed and capacity. For speed, the biggest example we were given was "You can download an entire movie while you sit on the tarmac waiting to take off! Well, concerns surrounding 5G and airport safety quickly quashed those dreams. Also: The best 5G phones in 2025: Where does the iPhone 17 rank? The other promise was capacity. The promise was "you can go to a concert and still stream to your friends back home" and yadda yadda. So far, in my experience, that has very much not been the case. Any time I find myself in an amusement park or a ballgame, my phone becomes a nice camera, as long as I don't try to send photos to anyone. It's been a while since I've run into that situation, so I wanted to take the temperature these days."
"When the Cubs advanced to the Wild Card playoffs, I saw an opportunity. Cubs games are typically well-represented, but considering the last time they played in front of a home crowd in the playoffs was back in 2017, I wanted to see how these networks handled me hanging around with 41,000 of my closest friends. Packing three identical , I headed down for some fun at the old ballpark - from the outside because getting tickets was impossible. The game plan Since traffic around Wrigley Field (and anywhere within a three-mile radius) is perilous at the best of times, I headed over to Wrigley Field from 10 miles away (hi, mom) on my Engwe LE 20 electric bike -- side note: I ride this bike more than my car during the summer months."
5G launched with two core promises: faster download speeds and greater capacity in crowded environments. Airport safety concerns undercut the high-speed, tarmac-download use case. Capacity promise—reliable streaming and sharing at concerts, ballgames, and amusement parks—has not materialized in practice. In crowded venues the network often degrades to a camera-only experience because uploads and sharing fail. A real-world test took place during a Cubs Wild Card playoff period with roughly 41,000 attendees to examine how major US carriers perform under heavy local load. Travel to the venue was by electric bike to avoid congested roads near Wrigley Field.
Read at ZDNET
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