Why is the Golze 200 withdrawn?
Peter wrote:
Why is the Golze 200 withdrawn?
https://www.ing-golze.de/articles_adl200_phase_out.jsp
Apparently, 190 is cheaper and iXXX should be able now do some things for which you needed Cellular in the device (not sure if that works with Android, but maybe @Sebastian_G knows that).
I don’t consider this a real problem in Scandinavia at least. I don’t know if the talk quality is any good, but data is OK all the way up to 10k at least. Probably further, but never tried. This is without an external antenna and I have no clue what the bandwidth is up there, probably not much.
A couple of years ago I removed all cables and fiber to my house. My internet (and of course also phone, tv everything) is going through an external 5g antenna exclusively. This is a directional antenna, about 15 by 15 cm, and must be pointed directly toward a 4g/5g “tower”. The one I got came “for free” with the service, don’t know the price of my particular antenna. I think high speed 5g is very short range also. You have to be close, or it will switch over to lower frequency with lower bandwidth.
So, I think this is very dependent on the technology actually used. In Norway we have one company (Ice) who has made it their specialty to enable mobile internet everywhere. They use 450 MHz frequency for 4g, which gives 40 Mbit/second max. This is what aeroclubs also use in SAR missions, transferring images from aircraft to the ground. You do need a special router for this from Ice. How far up does it work? 10k feet at least. High speed 5g is 3600 MHz. The higher frequency, the lower range. Ordinary 4g/5g use a range of frequencies from 700 to 3600 MHz.
Then there’s the problem with senders transmitting horizontally. This is also more of a problem of range. The higher up you are, the farther away, in the horizontal direction, a usable tower exists. This greatly benefits lower frequencies.
LeSving wrote:
I don’t consider this a real problem in Scandinavia at least. I don’t know if the talk quality is any good, but data is OK all the way up to 10k at least. Probably further, but never tried. This is without an external antenna and I have no clue what the bandwidth is up there, probably not much.
My experience from the Mälardalen area (which is the most densely populated area in Sweden, including Stockholm) is that you lose connectivity above 2500 feet, except when very close to major cities.
Airborne_Again wrote:
lose connectivity above 2500 feet
How is that even possible. 2500 feet is 700 meters. Something to do with your mobile plan? 3g only or something? (not 2g or 4/5g) I cannot remember I have ever lost connection, not even in the middle of nowhere, where I usually fly 
I don’t constantly watch for it either though.
LeSving wrote:
How is that even possible. 2500 feet is 700 meters. Something to do with your mobile plan? 3g only or something? (not 2g or 4/5g) I cannot remember I have ever lost connection, not even in the middle of nowhere, where I usually fly I don’t constantly watch for it either though
4G.
Not long ago I forgot to switch my iPad over to its in cockpit wi-fi connection before takeoff and it kept getting internet traffic up to about 5000 ft. Then traffic died, I figured out my mistake and turned on wi-fi to get ADS-B traffic.
3G is being phased out in some places but 4G isn’t and is likely to be by far the most common denominator for many years in Europe, and 5G is likely to be vapourware in most of Europe.
IMHO the only way to deliver some sort of connectivity for GA above say 3000ft is to use SMS (which is a byproduct of GSM signalling) and use a hacked GSM stack in the radio. And this will never be commercially (or even non commercially) viable due to the need to root the device.
and 5G is likely to be vapourware in most of Europe.
5g has already become the “new fiber”. If it’s of much use for phones in general is another matter.
LeSving wrote:
If it’s of much use for phones in general is another matter.
5G cells are quite a bit smaller than 4G ones, so the intention has been to use 5G in densely populated areas and 4G elsewhere.
