5G is already available in Poland, but so what? The future feels sad (opinion)
Fools and paranoids did not prevent regulators and operators from implementing the final version of 5G in Poland. There was a lot of shouting, it was sometimes funny, but there were no arguments. With 6G it may be worse.
Confusion around EMF
It is worth recalling that they were in force in Poland just before the pandemic Soviet radiation standards for radio transmitters. Far from optimal and preventing full and cost-optimal use of available radio band resources. After implementing the standards that have been in force for years in Western Europe, we were supposed to fry, if not from microwaves, then from the fires of hell falling from condensation clouds or kilograms of mercury in vaccines. Common sense won in terms of regulation, while the pandemic and the slowness of the PiS government postponed the consumer launch of 5G in the 3.x GHz bands only until the beginning of 2024.
Real 5G? We have it
Plus was the first to launch true 5G by definition, which took out unused, slightly dusty frequency bands from the drawer. The Greens did not have to wait for the end of the 5G auction, they could confidently say “we have 5G at home”. At this point, Plus still has not launched 3.x GHz, because it still has real 5G (although not the fastest), while the rest of the operators changed the fraudulent 5G DSS to the real one wherever they could. In my apartment, this meant a jump from a few or a dozen megabits in “supposedly 5G” (seriously) to 700-900 megabits in “real 5G”. The difference is, needless to say, colossal.
Unfulfilled promises
Every generation of a new network, operators trick us with how the world will change thanks to the “new G”. However, we were not convinced by video calls over 3G or there are no reports of surgical operations performed remotely via 5G. There were also supposed to be autonomous cars or smart cities straight from Star Wars, but no. The direction of change is different. All this serves no lofty purpose, but leads us inevitably to…
Life on a subscription basis. The sad future of humanity
Let’s make an agreement – no one cares what technology they use as long as that technology works. We don’t do Speedtests when YouTube isn’t cutting and the kids are uploading their TikToks at the same time. It doesn’t seem that 5G will be enough for this marketing, selling 6G to customers will be a huge challenge. For a long time, telecommunications services were not an end in themselves, but only a means. Unlimited messages, calls and a large or unlimited internet package currently cost pennies. We can spend much more on other subscriptions.
My friends and family are still surprised that “they only offer MS Office as a subscription now.” With a hint of bitterness, I also pay for other tools, but mainly for entertainment. I used to laugh at people who pay for the full TV package even though they don’t watch even 10% of the programs, now I probably spend more than them on various VoD platforms. I pay for “free” Allegro deliveries and for equally free Glovo deliveries, in fact – I even paid for no advertising on Facebook and Instagram. Under the guise of some savings, the subscription list is constantly growing. While now in most cases it is only an option, in the future, the option may become compulsory. A subscription will always be more advantageous for the supplier than a one-time purchase. After all, it is a certainty of permanent income, and a seemingly small monthly installment may significantly outperform the one-off model over the years.
Operators like Poczta Polska
The subscription to a mobile phone or fiber optic cable itself is an increasingly less sexy product. There was a time when people were tempted to buy phones for one zloty, but here too, it has been a long time since we felt that the operator paid anything for our happiness. At best, these are only zero percent installments, and in addition, after a series of abuses by crooks, the phone usually becomes ours only after the last installment – until then it is the property of the operator. Yes, exactly – this one In fact, the phone is also just a subscription. Therefore, it is better to choose an offer without the device, and buy the phone for cash or in zero percent installments in an electronics store – when we get bored, we will not have any legal burdens and we will sell the device legally.
So what are the operators trying to trick us with now? Well, additional services. VoD packages, insurance, access to music, e-books, audiobooks, discount programs, codes, vouchers, coupons and balloon voucher. Any minute now each operator will be like a Poczta Polska branch. If you can’t make money on stamps, sell them a bottle of perfume, a sandwich and an album with Kalisz’s photos.
At some point you will forget why you came to the post office
Once the operator will completely become a marketplace to play with combinations of promotions for various types of benefits, we will probably forget why we came to him. In fact, it is quite possible that the final telephone bill will include few fees for telecommunications services. Their share will begin to decline and perhaps eventually disappear altogether. The large mosaic of connections with business partners may eventually lead to a situation that the customer will have the illusion of a completely free telecommunications service, which in practice will be divided into installments in numerous subscriptions that are purchased. Box diet with free internet? And why not?
The giants of the digital world may also start sharing with operators the goods they obtain from seemingly free services. After all, Google and Facebook must ensure that sheep have a way to use their services. Modern AI services that we will be willing to pay for are fast approaching – operators can also look for potential here. You don’t have to refer to some hi-tech, subscriptions will also cover taxi rides, breakfasts or coffee at Ropuszka. PLN 5 for each subscription for the operator and the customer will not see the fee for the mobile subscription on the bill. At first it will be good, we will accept all these discounts with relief and a smile on our faces. However, for a while.
You can’t escape subscription
Once we become addicted to subscription endorphins, the price increases will start. These will be small amounts, but prices will increase more and more often. Operators will throw up their hands – they are just messengers, and your contract is with Netflix or an insurance company. You can cancel some package, but this will mean losing the discount on the remaining ones. So you will stay in this subscription golden cage, surprised to see that PLN 150 at the end of the contract suddenly turned into PLN 250. And when you want to leave, they will give you a discount that reduces the package price to PLN 200, they will add something extra for PLN 50 and If you think you’ve won, you’ll be fooled again. Although this may be too strong a word, let it be said that it deceives. You will then miss simple telecommunications tariffs where you paid PLN 30 for a handful of internet and no-limits… and these may no longer be available.
