Why I hate being out of the office, part 72

[jgreco]

Wifi suckage makes real work difficult. "10.0.0.1" appears to be the local gw.

AAAARRRGGGGH

 

[Ericloewe]

With round-trip times like that, you might want to consider more modern alternatives, like hiring someone to sneakernet your data around or sending it by carrier pigeon.

 

[depasseg]

Please tell me that's hotel wifi. That better not be yours.

 

[Bidule0hm]

Actually it's way faster, if you don't care about ping time... :D

 

[Ericloewe]

Actually it's way faster, if you don't care about ping time... :D

In this case, the latency of someone physically carrying the data over to the access point might just be lower, especially after you consider time-outs due to the insane ping.

I guess now would be a good time to discuss interconnects, particularly the latency vs. bandwidth issue.

 

[Robert Trevellyan]

Looks like the kind of ping times you get from a satellite connection.

 

[jgreco]

With round-trip times like that, you might want to consider more modern alternatives, like hiring someone to sneakernet your data around or sending it by carrier pigeon.

Amtrak Metropolitan Lounge. Probably transiting packets on passing freight trains.

No, but seriously, I don't really understand why it is that in the Loop the best Internet service they could come up with was that. Too many places seem to think that offering "Internet" consists of hooking some wifi routers up in a daisy chain configuration and connecting them all to a crappy DSL line. That might have been passable 15 years ago, but today, bored morons will happily try to run YouTube or Netflix on it and fsck everyone else.

 

[jgreco]

In this case, the latency of someone physically carrying the data over to the access point might just be lower, especially after you consider time-outs due to the insane ping.

I guess now would be a good time to discuss interconnects, particularly the latency vs. bandwidth issue.

I'm still A.P.O. that all these years later, in many places residential Internet speeds are still snail-paced especially for upstream. Yes I'd like symmetric 100Mbps at a not-stupid price. Pathetic that 50/5 is the best they can manage around my neck of the woods.

 

[Bidule0hm]

The biggest problem here (in France), I don't know if it's the same elsewhere, is that you use a (very) old copper pair designed for voice to pass way higher frequencies instead of redoing the network with proper cables and/or fiber. Ahh, money...

In the bigger towns we do have fiber (both the crappy one where you have fiber ending in the neighborhood and then copper cable from there to your box (again, money...), and the proper one where the fiber goes right to the box) but it's very sparse elsewhere.

 

[Ericloewe]

The biggest problem here (in France), I don't know if it's the same elsewhere, is that you use a (very) old copper pair designed for voice to pass way higher frequencies instead of redoing the network with proper cables and/or fiber. Ahh, money...

In the bigger towns we do have fiber (both the crappy one where you have fiber ending in the neighborhood and then copper cable from there to your box (again, money...), and the proper one where the fiber goes right to the box) but it's very sparse elsewhere.

We used to be in a similar situation. These days, fiber is being aggressively rolled out (phone wiring is owned by the former state monopoly ISP, so the other two don't want to touch that.

Besides that, 4G LTE has seen an even more aggressive expansion, with villages in the middle of nowhere where your phone will easily do 20Mb/s, realistically.

The biggest issue is pricing. Vodafone sells 50/5 with IPTV and VOIP for 27 bucks, and they're by far the cheapest. With some negotiation and with promotional deals, you can typically get extras for free, like 100/10 or 200/20 bandwidths, extra channels, etc.
However, the good stuff, 400/40 (nope, not symmetric) adds a crazy 70ish bucks per month and 1Gb/s down + 50Mb/ up (still not symmetric) costs 150 bucks.

 

[Bidule0hm]

phone wiring is owned by the former state monopoly ISP

Yep, exactly the same here --> the former very major phone supplier was France Telecom, but they rented and sold parts of the old network to the new ISPs.

The fiber here is not that expensive, but the problem is that it's not spread either...

 

[joeschmuck]

I don't know what the OP is complaining about, this is way better than my 110 baud acoustic modem back in 1978.

 

[Jailer]

You all got me beat. I'm out in the sticks and my only option is a local WISP that runs 4.5/1.5 at $55 a month plus $5 a month for a fixed IP. I'd be real happy with some of the options you guys have but I like where I live and I'm not moving just to get better internet service.

 

[solarisguy]

I don't know what the OP is complaining about, this is way better than my 110 baud acoustic modem back in 1978.

But that ain't Internet man.

Da Internet connection is always fast, especially when using the newest smartphone. Once you buy one of the newest models your whole life would turn around. You do not even know what you are missing, if you are still using the gear you got for Christmas in 2014...

 

[joeschmuck]

Like @Jailer I have the only game in town so I'm stuck with a slow cable modem (yes, Jailer may have a much slower connection that I do). FIOS isn't available because they are forbidden to sell here which sucks. Now I'm not complaining about my internet connection, it does what it needs to do.

 

[anodos]

We used to be in a similar situation. These days, fiber is being aggressively rolled out (phone wiring is owned by the former state monopoly ISP

state-sponsored monopolies? In America the monopolies sponsor the state.

Doesn't seem to be working out very well for us.

 

[jgreco]

It's working out very well for them. You're aware, presumably, that they were effectively "paid" hundreds of billions of dollars two decades ago to bring a high speed data network to everyone's doorstep, yes?

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2007/pulpit_20070810_002683.html

Cringely took a lot of that from here: http://newnetworks.com/ShortSCANDALSummary.htm

This should make every technology loving American want to hang our telecom company executives by the neck, with copper cabling, until they're dead, dead, dead. Profit and corporate greed made America a proud member of the broadband third world.

 

[anodos]

It's working out very well for them. You're aware, presumably, that they were effectively "paid" hundreds of billions of dollars two decades ago to bring a high speed data network to everyone's doorstep, yes?

http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2007/pulpit_20070810_002683.html

Cringely took a lot of that from here: http://newnetworks.com/ShortSCANDALSummary.htm

This should make every technology loving American want to hang our telecom company executives by the neck, with copper cabling, until they're dead, dead, dead. Profit and corporate greed made America a proud member of the broadband third world.

Bah, get yer facts off my snarky comment's lawn!

 

[jgreco]

Beware the Grinch bearing fiber.

 

[anodos]

Beware the Grinch bearing fiber.

In my neck of the woods the only fiber to be found is the type that makes you regular. Cable, DSL, or satellite.