I remember trying to buy a TV that does not have "smart" functionality a few years ago. It was a chore. Today it seems impossible.
And not just TVs: ovens; refrigerators; dishwashers — all have "smart" options. In fact, it seems that more and more the available non-smart models are only the simpler ones, less performant in ways that are not related to any smart functionality missing.
My non-smart TV was available only with lower resolutions than "smart" models of the same brand.
1/
your "smart" tv isn't smart anymore if you refuse to connect it to the internet
@ares I don't trust it not to connect to open WiFi by itself. Do you?
Also, cars already come with 4g modems and SIM cards, wanna bet TVs are somewhere down the line also?
@miklo @rysiek @ares This is it major goal of 5G.
The limitation that was the bottleneck with 4G was simultaneous connections per tower. If the 4G network were used in this way, the price per connection would soar as the network became overloaded.
With 5G, this is a minor issue, with each tower being able to handle an absurd number of connections.
@urusan @miklo @rysiek 5G technologies are designed to use multiple transport channels. Besides of traditional 5G towers, cable modems and *DSL devices are a part of the overall infrastructure, as those reduce the capacity issues in urban environments. First stage is mainly focused on phones using WiFi as much as possible (for individual customers themselves), but telco ISPs are also making those devices part of the mobile data infrastructure.
@adamierymenko @rysiek Not sure what is happening with Alexa mesh network, but it surely sounded like a mess.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2021/05/amazon-devices-will-soon-automatically-share-your-internet-with-neighbors/
From 2021: "millions of people will be co-opted into the program whether they know anything about it or not."