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Submission + - 5G In US Averages 51Mbps While Other Countries Hit Hundreds of Megabits (arstechnica.com)

An anonymous reader writes: Average 5G download speeds in the US are 50.9Mbps, a nice step up from average 4G speeds but far behind several countries where 5G speeds are in the 200Mbps to 400Mbps range. These statistics were reported today by OpenSignal, which presented average 5G speeds in 12 countries based on user-initiated speed tests conducted between May 16 and August 14. The US came in last of the 12 countries in 5G speeds, with 10 of the 11 other countries posting 5G speeds that at least doubled those of the US. The US's average 5G speed is 1.8 times higher than the country's average 4G download speed of 28.9Mbps. User tests in neighboring Canada produced a 4G average of 59.4Mbps and a 5G average of 178.1Mbps. Taiwan and Australia both produced 5G averages above 200Mbps, while South Korea and Saudi Arabia produced the highest 5G speeds at 312.7Mbps and 414.2Mbps, respectively.

In the US, average download speeds for users who accessed 5G at least some of the time was 33.4Mbps—that figure includes both their 4G and 5G experiences. This was the second lowest of the 12 countries surveyed by OpenSignal, with the highest speeds coming in Saudi Arabia (144.5Mbps) and Canada (90.4Mbps). The US fared better in 5G availability, the percentage of time in which users are connected to 5G; the US figure in that statistic is 19.3 percent, fifth best, with Saudi Arabia placing first at 34.4 percent and the UK placing last at 4.5 percent. OpenSignal says it collects "billions of measurements daily from over 100 million devices globally."

Comment Re:No kidding (Score 1) 569

For the record, I'd prefer to live down the street from a nuclear plant than a gas or coal or oil-burning power plant. And I did the math: if I covered my roof in solar panels, I'd lower my electric bill by at most 50-60% on sunny days, and only 30% averaged year round.

Unless you live in a "tiny house" or run a server farm in your basement, you should probably recheck your math.

Comment Google Fi (Score 1) 226

I use Google's Fi service which uses T-Mobile, Sprint and U.S. Cellular as well a WiFi. Its advantages are that the network with the best signal is used for a call and that unlimited text and voice costs $20/month with an additional $0.01 per megabyte of data. The disadvantage is that the service is limited to Nexus 5/6 and Pixel phones.

Comment Google Project Fi (Score 1) 208

I started with Sprint then switched to AT&T after a couple of years. After a couple of more years with AT&T I switched to Simple Mobile for the unlimited data and the low cost. During a cross country car trip I switched to Straight Talk because Simple Mobile did not have coverage through large swaths of Tornado Alley. I currently use Google Project Fi while my wife is still on Straight Talk. Most of my data usage is on WiFi so the $0.01 / Mb data charge works well for me. My wife will probable switch also when we get her a new Google-phone.

Comment Look Into Straight Talk at Walmart (Score 1) 142

I made a road trip from California to Vermont and back this June. I started off using Simple Mobile which operates on the T-Mobile network because it has the best connectivity at my home. Heading Northeast from San Diego through Utah and Western Colorado I had decent service through Denver. I lost service East of Denver and did not regain it again until half way through Kansas. Coverage between Kansas and Vermont was generally satisfactory except in some extremely rural areas. On my return trip I was a bit concerned about weather conditions and decided that I wanted better data coverage. I bought a prepaid Straight Talk sim kit at a Walmart in Ohio and switched over. The sim kit has sims for connectivity on the T-Mobile and AT&T GSM networks as well as provisions for connecting on the Verizon and Sprint CDMA networks. I selected the AT&T sim and I had pretty good coverage through Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota as long as I was on a major highway. Coverage in Montana was a bit spotty because we were headed to Glacier National Park near the Canadian border. I had good coverage all the way down the West coast. The cost is reasonable at $45 for 30 days unlimited talk, text and 5 GB of 4G LTE data and unlimited 2G data after the 5 GB is used up.

Comment It can be done (Score 1) 433

I was able to do it after retiring from the navy. I did most of my lower division work through several community colleges in the area and then transferred to a state university to complete my degree. It took eight years to go this route. I was lucky because my employer was very supportive of my efforts and allowed me to adjust my work hours so that I could attend certain classes that were not offered at night.

Comment Re:Incidentally... (Score 1) 633

Sam Adams and Yuengling are actually quite good. Budweiser is Belgian, Coors and Miller are South African. I giggle when people complain about American beer because they don't realize the worst swill we produce has been purchased by other countries.

I think that Yuengling is very good but unfortunately is available only on the East coast.

Australia

Fine-Structure Constant Maybe Not So Constant 105

Kilrah_il writes "The fine-structure constant, a coupling constant characterizing the strength of the electromagnetic interaction, has been measured lately by scientists from the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia and has been found to change slightly in light sent from quasars in galaxies as far back as 12 billion years ago. Although the results look promising, caution is advised: 'This would be sensational if it were real, but I'm still not completely convinced that it's not simply systematic errors' in the data, comments cosmologist Max Tegmark of MIT. Craig Hogan of the University of Chicago and the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill., acknowledges that 'it's a competent team and a thorough analysis.' But because the work has such profound implications for physics and requires such a high level of precision measurements, 'it needs more proof before we'll believe it.'"
Image

Woman Wins Libel Suit By Suing Wrong Website 323

An anonymous reader writes "It appears that Cincinnati Bengals cheerleader Sarah Jones and her lawyer were so upset by a comment on the site TheDirty.com that they missed the 'y' at the end of the name. Instead, they sued the owner of TheDirt.com, whose owner didn't respond to the lawsuit. The end result was a judge awarding $11 million, in part because of the failure to respond. Now, both the owners of TheDirty.com and TheDirt.com are complaining that they're being wrongfully written about in the press — one for not having had any content about Sarah Jones but being told it needs to pay $11 million, and the other for having the content and having the press say it lost a lawsuit, even though no lawsuit was ever actually filed against it."
Space

ESA Releases Lutetia Flyby Images 48

The European Space Agency has released images from yesterday's close approach of asteroid 21 Lutetia by the Rosetta probe. At its closest, the probe was a mere 3,162 km from the asteroid, passing at 15 km/s and snapping photos sharp enough to make out features as small as 60 meters. "Rosetta operated a full suite of sensors at the encounter, including remote sensing and in-situ measurements. Some of the payload of its Philae lander were also switched on. Together they looked for evidence of a highly tenuous atmosphere, magnetic effects, and studied the surface composition as well as the asteroid’s density. ... The flyby marks the attainment of one of Rosetta's main scientific objectives. The spacecraft will now continue to a 2014 rendezvous with its primary target, comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It will then accompany the comet for months, from near the orbit of Jupiter down to its closest approach to the Sun. In November 2014, Rosetta will release Philae to land on the comet nucleus." There is also a replay of the media event webcast on the ESA's website.
Crime

Mom Arrested After Son Makes Dry Ice "Bombs" 571

formfeed writes "Police were called to a house in Omaha where a 14-year-old made some 'dry ice bombs' (dry ice in soda bottles). Since his mom knew about it, she is now facing felony charges for child endangment and possession of a destructive device. From the article: 'Assistant Douglas County Attorney Eric Wells said the boy admitted to making the bomb and that his mother knew he was doing so. The boy was set to appear Tuesday afternoon in juvenile court, accused of possessing a destructive device.'" She's lucky they didn't find the baking soda volcano in the basement.

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