Inciting Public Fear and Hysteria Over 5G - Where is the Science?

[Steve R.]

The Aviation Industry's Ongoing Beef With 5G: Everything You Need to Know

AT&T and Verizon want to roll out 5G near airports. The FAA says this could pose safety risks.

www.cnet.com

The planned roll-out of 5G phone capability at airports has hit a highly preventable snag that is generating a lot of melodramatic news converge that only refer to vague unsubstantiated "concerns" and "safety" related to possible harmful effects. Possible effects, not documented effects.

The wireless industry and the aviation industry have spent the past week publicly clashing over deployment of the newest version of 5G service. On one side are wireless providers eager to activate the high-speed networks for their customers, and on the other are aviation regulators and airlines warning that the signals could interfere with key equipment in airplanes.

In casually reviewing articles related to the 5G rollout, none of the articles appear to fully look into any underlying research that would either document the "concerns" or refute the "concerns" related to possible harmful interference.

The aviation industry and the FAA cite a report from October 2020 that concluded even with the guard band, there was possible harmful interference. The FAA contends the FCC has ignored its concerns about interference. Now that the spectrum is being deployed, the FAA believes the possibility of interference poses too great a risk to the public, which is why it has issued warnings and restrictions. (emphasis added)

If research had been done, why do these articles apparently overlook that. The article does note the existence of an October 2020 report but goes on to state: "The FCC says it hasn't ignored these concerns. It just disagrees with the FAA's conclusions. It has reiterated that after years of study, its engineers believe there's no meaningful interference between 5G devices operating in C-band and aircraft systems."

The FAA, FCC, and the airlines have had years to work on resolving this issue, which has now (in typical fashion) become a last minute crises. Reporters, instead of spreading vague unsubstantiated "concerns" should be looking into any research (such as talking to those engineers) that may have been done. Seems that this 5G "crises" is another example of big government and big industry not resolving an issue proactively.

 

[Pat Hartman]

They don't seem to have a problem with 5G interference in the EU. I can't figure out who benefits from this stupidity. Is someone at the FAA being paid to not approve 5G? Or is Hunter being paid and so Daddy told the FAA to not approve 5G or even conduct any research because the research may show there is no problem?

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Or is it that the Democrats don't want publicity over a non-problem. It's kind of a back-handed corollary of "Never waste a good crisis."

 

[JonXL]

What is the real risk of delaying 5G rollout in the small areas near airports? Slower porn downloads for a handful of nearby residents?

On the other hand, with problems like those of the 737 Max, I'd give a bit of credence to claims by airlines that their planes generally suck...

 

[Pat Hartman]

NO ONE wants to risk interference with the plane's electronics. However, we don't seem to be doing any actual studies to determine if there is a problem and countries in the EU have run studies and haven't found a problem.

 

[AccessBlaster]

Wasn't too long ago airline's restricted cellular use on aircraft because of safety precautions. Turns out that wasn't the case, they wanted to sell you their cellular service at a higher rate. Go figure.

 

[Isaac]

Why do I feel oddly at peace with my ignorance, as I neither know nor want to know what 5g is.

When my wife asked me honey what is this 5G stuff, I told her honey, all I know is that when we went from 2,3,4g I never noticed anything, and I doubt honestly most people did either.

Sometimes companies don't realize how out of touch they are with the public. Go ask a random person on the street what 4g is and how it differs from anything else. Do it once a day, come back in a year, I doubt you'll have more takers than you can count on one hand. Yet the commercials never cease...3g, 4g, 5g. Yo, wazzup G ?
That's about all us Cricket customers know

 

[KitaYama]

all I know is that when we went from 2,3,4g I never noticed anything

Have you ever tested with one of on-line speed meters?

As a separate note, since October 2019 the use of Smart phones, Tablets etc during flight is allowed here. No matter 4G or 5G. And we haven't had any crash (yet).
Most of airlines offer free wifi usage too.

 

[oleronesoftwares]

all I know is that when we went from 2,3,4g I never noticed anything, and I doubt honestly most people did either.

i also experienced similar thing with my GSM provider. i didn't notice improvement when the network was upgraded

 

[oleronesoftwares]

They don't seem to have a problem with 5G interference in the EU. I can't figure out who benefits from this stupidity. Is someone at the FAA being paid to not approve 5G? Or is Hunter being paid and so Daddy told the FAA to not approve 5G or even conduct any research because the research may show there is no problem?

How many companies in the world when introducing new technology prioritize public safety over their company's profitability?

 

[oleronesoftwares]

Wasn't too long ago airline's restricted cellular use on aircraft because of safety precautions. Turns out that wasn't the case, they wanted to sell you their cellular service at a higher rate. Go figure.

Does this apply to all airlines? Can it be verified?