It was this time last year that I did my annual predictions for the coming year. You can read the article for yourself here. Looking back on it, I didn’t really take any big swings, did I? But then again 2021 was a pretty exhausting year, and so was 2020. A little softball probably wasn’t out of the question if you think about it.
The big prediction I made was that mobile internet would be more and more important. I’m willing to say I hit that one on the head. There have been a couple of events that really made that prediction shine more than I thought.
5G takes off
5G really made a difference in 2022. It was there in 2021, but this was the year that we finally started to see some of the promise fulfilled. As 3G went dark, more and more spectrum was allocated to 5G and most people saw an increase in speed as a result.
AT&T and others continued to implement both mid-band and millimeter wave 5G in 2022, the result being that more users saw that desirable “5G+” icon which signifies ridiculously high speeds. Mid-band 5G allowed these speeds to come to the suburbs where the population density doesn’t really support millimeter wave.
At the same time, the adoption of mid-band 5G continues to be a problem near airports. Most people don’t live near an airport, but it does affect how well travelers can communicate. The aviation industry is still peddling the idea that 5G is going to make planes fall out of the sky. Maybe it’s true, but I think that industry still has a lot of trust to rebuild after they told us we couldn’t use our phones on planes at all for a decade.
DIRECTV users get to stream, too
The internet became more and more important for travelers as DIRECTV rolled out the latest version of its app for phones, tablets, and streaming devices. With this new app, DIRECTV satellite users can log in using their credentials. This gives them access to almost all of the channels in their programming packages from anywhere. It also lets them play content listed on their playlists.
This adds a huge amount of value to the service, effectively giving the satellite customer five extra receivers for free, as long as they have internet access where they are. I’d call that a benefit!
The disruptor
Even though Solid Signal doesn’t offer Starlink, we do offer a number of Starlink accessories on our site. A lot of folks in rural areas, in boats, and in RVs are starting to get on board with Starlink and we want to do our best to support it. It’s too soon to know how Starlink will affect mobile internet service, but we’re here to support you either way
Will we do better in 2023?
You’ll have to
