• clgoh@lemmy.ca
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    9 months ago

    I feel that they will soon have built-in 5G that you can’t disable, to phone home.

    • HelloHotel@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      Like u/circuscritic said, its expensive to use 5g modems here, so they have to:

      1. leach off the negbors guest wifi,
      2. hostage the consumer until they give you internet
      3. use 3g or 4g modems.

      For option 1 or 3: or rip out the antennas/put it in a faraday cage. (Yes, tinfoil works)

      For option 3 only: remove the sim card if possable.

      For option 2: not much I can say but buy a tv without option 2. Try buying a model no later than 2021-22 ish.

    • circuscritic@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      That would be incredibly expensive. 5G modems are not cheap, and I can’t imagine there’s enough consumer demand that would justify the additional upfront cost and ongoing recurring charges. They’d be in clearance bins within a year or two.

      I’m sure some niche displays already have embedded 5G WWAN modems, but they’d be commerical displays for digital signage, videoconferencing, etc. Those won’t be cheap, or consumer standard issue anytime soon.

    • Mongostein@lemmy.ca
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      9 months ago

      That would require a subscription to a 5G carrier, which would be crazy expensive here.

      I can’t remember which brands, but some have been found to connect to any open wifi network to do it.

      • TragicNotCute@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        They basically did the same thing several decades ago with Kindles and whispernet. It’s not really that crazy.

        • Mongostein@lemmy.ca
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          9 months ago

          Sure, but that required a partnership with carriers for a legitimate use. I hope none of the carriers would allow use of their networks for things that don’t need it, but who knows?

          • TragicNotCute@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            You’re right. They care about our privacy and would never do anything to sully that trust. Certainly not through a partnership with an electronics manufacturer that pays them to do it…

            • Mongostein@lemmy.ca
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              9 months ago

              That’s a good expansion of what I meant by “who knows…?”

              Maybe there needs to be laws in place to prevent devices that don’t need it from having 5G access. 🤷🏻‍♂️