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back to article Qualcomm takes 5G to spooky millimetre land

It's barely six months since the industry agreed on a standard (5G NR) for exploiting millimetre wave spectrum, and now Qualcomm's silicon has achieved a 5G connection in the extreme high-frequency millimetre wave (MMW or mmWave) portion of the spectrum, between the super high frequency and the far infrared bands. MMW is …

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  1. Mark 110

    Oldham

    Last place I felt like i was about to be mugged. Happened twice.

    First time: Went to look at car. On my phone walking there just keeping better half informed and using Maps to get there - three lads suddenly tracking me, invading my space enough to regfister they were following me. 'Hard stare' they backed off.

    Second time: Went to do the paperwork and finance on car purchase and waiting for the better half to pick me up. Messaging her on my phone. 3 lads getting closer and closer. Same ones I think - I hadn't concentrated first time. Gave them a 'Really?;' look. They wandered off looking a bit sheepish.

    And yes it was raining.

    2 3 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Oldham

      I like Oldham.

      You can get a donner kebab at the market on a Saturday morning though if you use one of the "free" car parks you need to get a ticket or you'll get a ticket.

      0 0 Reply
    2. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: Oldham

      May I suggest a trip to the Ardnamurchan penunsular. It rains there a lot more than in Oldham (so I'be heard)

      The Peninsular would be a good place to test 5g. A lot of the cottages and bothy's have walls several feet thick.

      4 0 Reply
      1. Tom 7
        Reply Icon

        Re: Ardnamurchan

        No - not a good place to test. It might not work in the bothys and cottages so could not be foisted on the public to test.

        0 0 Reply
    3. mosw
      Reply Icon
      Joke

      Re: Oldham

      "Last place I felt like i was about to be mugged. Happened twice."

      I have a similar story...

      I was hanging out with my 2 buddies on the street in Oldham just like we always do after school and this stranger shows up checking out cars. He looks suspicious so we keep an eye on him until he turns and stares daggers at us. He was a scary guy so we took off.

      Then he shows up again a few days later and the three of us try to keep a eye on him but man was he aggressive and scary.

      Just proves you can't trust outsiders.

      3 0 Reply
  2. Commswonk

    Laws of Physics

    The X50 demo took place in Qualcomm's San Diego labs...

    ...where I suspect that power consumption was not much of an issue. Unless things have changed somewhat in the period since retirement making a radio work at SHF is far more demanding of "power" than one working at (say) 800 MHz. So what is the battery life of a practical (impractical?) device going to be if it has to operate at SHF? Modest, I would expect.

    Where was the nice PP slide showing "get battery consumption down to sensible levels"?

    Oldham? Ardnamurchan? I've been to both (neither recently) and if at the latter the last thing I would want would be a working cellphone. All I would want would be a dry (and hopefully cloudless sky) so that I could look at the stars without light pollution spoiling it all. Breathtaking.

    On reflection having the lights on in Oldham also tends to spoil the view as well, for the simple reason that without the lights you can't see it.

    Sorry Oldham.

    3 0 Reply
  3. SpammFreeEmail
    Megaphone

    Finally a chance again for crossed lines?

    When I was a kid (in the pre digital dark ages) it was common for phone lines to either die or 'cross' when it was raining.

    Does this mean we might finally get the full 'landline' experience using mobiles?

    HELLO, HELLO.....CAN YOUR HEAR ME??!!

    5 0 Reply
    1. MrDamage Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: Finally a chance again for crossed lines?

      > ”Does this mean we might finally get the full 'landline' experience using mobiles?

      HELLO, HELLO.....CAN YOUR HEAR ME??!!"

      I used to use Vodafone on Australia, and that was exactly the experience we got. They then had the gall to claim that the phone I owned was "incompatible with their network".

      Funny, considering I bought it from them as part of the plan.

      Never again will Vodafail grace my devices.

      1 0 Reply
  4. Anonymous Coward
    Headmaster

    Millimetre wave?

    Millimetre wave is generally reckoned to be 300GHz and up. Like because it's only at 300GHz (OK, 299.792458 GHz to be exact) that you get a wavelength of 1mm.

    3 0 Reply
  5. Kevin McMurtrie Silver badge

    Attenuation sometimes a good thing

    Attenuation is a good thing for urban areas. You don't want the signals bouncing off walls hundreds of times then arriving as a mess of echoes. You don't want devices in shouting matches, each trying to get above the background noise of the others. High attenuation essentially creates perfectly clean point-to-point communications.

    Downside - we're back to holding the phone up in the air to get a signal.

    1 0 Reply
    1. Roland6 Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: Attenuation sometimes a good thing

      >Downside - we're back to holding the phone up in the air to get a signal.

      I knew we would find a real use for Selfie sticks and bluetooth connected headsets.

      0 0 Reply

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