Zero G: Some German mobile users still waiting for a signal

guest · Aug 20, 2020

Zero G: Some German mobile users still waiting for a signal
August 20, 2020
https://apnews.com/1a29c754044d8f2a593911368e86d028

From his home on a former East German army base, Jens Raeder can power up a carefully restored Soviet shortwave transmitter and communicate with military radio enthusiasts around the world.

Getting a signal on his smartphone is a different matter, however. To connect to the mobile network, Raeder has to drive 5 kilometers (3 miles) to a nearby village with a cell tower.

“People have learned that I’m simply not reachable on my cell,” the 57-year-old said during an interview in Harnekop, population 100, about a 90-minute drive from Berlin.
Raeder is among hundreds of thousands of Germans who live in a “Funkloch,” or radio hole, as such coverage dead spots are known.
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With fixed-line broadband equally patchy in parts of Germany, some are placing their hopes in the next generation of mobile technology, known as 5G.

Growing demand for bandwidth also means that speeds that were acceptable a few years ago aren’t sufficient for data-hungry applications such as streaming, video calls or online games, he said.

Asked whether he sees any chance the rollout of 5G might boost village life, Raeder was skeptical.
“People would be very happy if they even had 4G here,” he said.
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Zero G: Some German mobile users still waiting for a signal

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