5G

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‘Non-Standalone’ 5G Exposes Phones to Stingray Police Surveillance

Andrew Orr ·

5G that uses “non-standalone architecture” is rife with security issues and doesn’t protect people from Stingray police surveillance.

Borgaonkar and fellow researcher Altaf Shaik, a senior research scientist at TU Berlin, found that major carriers in Norway and Germany are still putting out 5G in non-standalone mode, which means that those connections are still susceptible to stingrays. The two presented at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas last week.

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Parts of AT&T’s 5G Network Will Run on Microsoft Azure Cloud

Andrew Orr ·

Microsoft and AT&T announced a joint venture on Wednesday that will have the carrier run core parts of its 5G network using Microsoft’s Azure cloud.

The newer generation of networks, which AT&T began rolling out in 2018, is designed to rely more heavily on software and data centers for routing traffic rather than telecommunications specific gear.

Microsoft intends to use the newly acquired technology – plus the experience gained helping AT&T run the network – to build out a product it calls Azure for Operators, which it will use to go after core network business from telecommunications companies in the 60 regions of the world where it operates.

That sounds really cool to me that some phone traffic can run through data centers. I wonder if this move would make it easier for harder for government surveillance.

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New Studies Show no Harmful Effects to Humans From 5G

Andrew Orr ·

Researchers from the Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency (ARPANSA) and the Swinburne University of Technology in Australia analyzed studies that find no evidence of 5G harming humans.

Aside from looking at animal and lab experiments, one review also analyzed epidemiological studies of radar, which uses the same sort of RF (low-level energy fields above 6 gigahertz to as high as 300 GHz) that 5G is expected to rely on. Their conclusions, based on reviewing data from over 100 studies, should be reassuring.

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T-Mobile Announces New ‘Magenta MAX’ 5G Plan

Andrew Orr ·

T-Mobile announced on Monday the release of its new Magenta MAX 5G plan. It includes 40GB of mobile hotspot.

Magenta MAX delivers unlimited Premium Data — 4G and 5G — on your smartphone. That means you can’t be slowed down based on how much you use. Plus, Magenta MAX is made for video streaming with UHD (ultra-high definition) streaming up to 4K resolution and Netflix on Us on all MAX plans, now including single line customers. And Magenta MAX comes with the industry’s most generous smartphone mobile hotspot at 40GB of high-speed data included for consumers.

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Xfinity Mobile Expands its 5G Network Across the Nation

Andrew Orr ·

Xfinity Mobile has expanded its 5G network nationwide, and offers 5G data plans. One is a By-the-Gig shared data starting at 1GB for US$15, 3GB for US$30 and 10GB for US$60, or Unlimited for US$45 per month per line.

Xfinity Mobile customers already have access to the fastest Internet at home with Xfinity Internet, and now they can access a fast nationwide 5G network when they are on the go.