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Facebook '2G Tuesdays' to better understand markets like India

businessinsider.com

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Re: Facebook '2G Tuesdays' to better understand markets like India

#111

Post by shripadk »

dksidana wrote: post #16

We, at hike ( http://www.hike.in ), did following things: 1. gave the cheap android smartphone to use as their primary phone 2. asked employees to stay on 2G on their mobile phones It helped a us lot to improve our product for India market.

The first thing you need to fix is sending spam messages on behalf of a user to other contacts on his/her list. Here is a typical example that was automatically sent from my phone to a contact on my list without my consent:

"Happy Dussehra! Join hike this weekend & get a festive bonus of Rs. 51 free talktime on joining. It's 5 times faster with 10 new features. http://hike.in"

I'm thinking of reporting this to relevant authorities.

Re: Facebook '2G Tuesdays' to better understand markets like India

#112

Post by pdkl95 »

sliverstorm wrote: post #25
eliben wrote: post #23

Is Facebook still planning to gate the internet in India behind Facebook, though? I recall they had plans to give folks in third world countries access to Facebook only, which is extremely sad.

Except they were going to offer that service for free, which IMO changes the picture.

"free" is just a convenient excuse Facebook is using so they can pretend they have some sort of moral high ground when in reality they are just another big western-style business with dreams of imperialism.

If they actually cared enough to want to help people, they would be trying to help with something that is actually needed. An AOL-style walled garden is a joke compared to vaccinations, food, and energy. Instead, we are seeing a modern variant of the East India Company trying to insert itself into foreign affairs. This is rent-seeking of the worst kind.

Re: Facebook '2G Tuesdays' to better understand markets like India

#113

Post by kalleboo »

OJFord wrote: post #108
hrrsn wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

New Zealand is similar, one carrier is 3G/4G only, one of them is 2G/3G/4G, and the newest one only operates their own network in major cities on 2G/3G/4G and roams onto the second largest outside of it. I frequently get 3G in very rural areas and I haven't been in a 2G only area for months.

Three in the UK is 3G/4G only - but is noticeably patchier than other providers, since if you 'go rural' it will just drop out rather than fall back on GSM.

Three in Sweden got a big boost in coverage after the original legacy GSM licenses ran out and the frequencies got redistributed so that they got a slice of low-frequency spectrum to put 3G on.

Re: Facebook '2G Tuesdays' to better understand markets like India

#114

Post by schrodinger »

dksidana wrote: post #16

We, at hike ( http://www.hike.in ), did following things: 1. gave the cheap android smartphone to use as their primary phone 2. asked employees to stay on 2G on their mobile phones It helped a us lot to improve our product for India market.

You've got a typo:

>Free Group Calls With Upto 100 People With The Tap Of A Single Button!

"Upto" should be two words

Re: Facebook '2G Tuesdays' to better understand markets like India

#115

Post by hornetblack »

kalleboo wrote: post #99
stephentmcm wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Minor point but I'm fairly certain Telstra NextG is a 4G network.

NextG is their 850 MHz 3G HSDPA network. Their 4G network is just branded "Telstra 4G" and "Telstra 4GX" for 700 MHz.

I thought it was kinda funny when telstra had "NextG" in their marketing, because now it's essentially "PreviousG"

Re: Facebook '2G Tuesdays' to better understand markets like India

#116

Post by mason55 »

amyjess wrote: post #51
TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #48

Do Facebookers never venture outside of cities? Because maybe the UK is weird, but getting 2G even in developed areas isn't that uncommon for me. Sure there's 4G in cities and 3G in many places, but there's plenty of places with poor signal or outdated transmitters (like the town I live in). (This is especially noticeable if you're in a train or a bus where you're frequently changing cells.)

I'm American, and I took a road trip last month from Dallas to NYC and back (going through Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and tiny bits of a few other states). Unless I was in a city, I only had 2G signal, and in a few places I didn't even have that (but those were rare). Edit: for reference, my carrier at the time was Simple Mobile, an MVNO of T-Mobile (I'm no longer with them anymore: I just activated…

And this is the exact reason I left T-Mobile. AT&T have 4G coverage on pretty much the entire interstate system. When I had T-Mobile I'd drive from NYC to Columbus, OH and have no signal for the 8+ hours between the two cities.

Re: Facebook '2G Tuesdays' to better understand markets like India

#117

Post by kalleboo »

hornetblack wrote: post #115
kalleboo wrote: post #99

Earlier quoted context omitted.

NextG is their 850 MHz 3G HSDPA network. Their 4G network is just branded "Telstra 4G" and "Telstra 4GX" for 700 MHz.

I thought it was kinda funny when telstra had "NextG" in their marketing, because now it's essentially "PreviousG"

Same with how the Hutchinson networks around the world (UK, Hong Kong, Sweden, etc) are branded "Three" even now that they have 4G networks running.

Re: Facebook '2G Tuesdays' to better understand markets like India

#118

Post by rconti »

TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #48

Do Facebookers never venture outside of cities? Because maybe the UK is weird, but getting 2G even in developed areas isn't that uncommon for me. Sure there's 4G in cities and 3G in many places, but there's plenty of places with poor signal or outdated transmitters (like the town I live in). (This is especially noticeable if you're in a train or a bus where you're frequently changing cells.)

I have to say, when I visited the UK from the US last fall, for the first time with a smartphone, I was amazed at how atrocious the mobile coverage was. I did my research beforehand and went with Vodafone as I expected the best coverage. From the time I activated my phone in Bath, through 3 days driving through Wales, and then up the motorway towards Edinburgh, I got GPRS and EDGE if I was lucky. I think I only occasionally saw 3G and never saw 4G or LTE. I was very convinced that my unlocked iPhone 5s was somehow not able to use Vodafone's faster bands in the UK. It was simply unusable for navigation or even the most basic tasks, and I was very happy with my choice to bring a standalone satnav device as well as the phone.

Then I arrived in Edinburgh, and, bam, 4G -- which persisted back to Newbury and London.

In the US, particularly last decade, we felt that we had been left so far behind in mobile technology compared to Europe, but my coverage woes this last trip made me feel somewhat better-- as did the realization that roaming charges were still a thing in the EU (having assumed they must have gone away ages ago).

The best coverage I experienced was in Iceland, where even the most remote-seeming canyon had top-notch data service, and our apartment for the week had 50Mbps FTTH service.

On a slightly more recent trip to New Zealand, I went with Vodafone again, and had much better luck with coverage-- I only lost coverage on the west coast of the south island which did not surprise me given the remoteness.

Re: Facebook '2G Tuesdays' to better understand markets like India

#120

Post by toomuchtodo »

amyjess wrote: post #51
TazeTSchnitzel wrote: post #48

Do Facebookers never venture outside of cities? Because maybe the UK is weird, but getting 2G even in developed areas isn't that uncommon for me. Sure there's 4G in cities and 3G in many places, but there's plenty of places with poor signal or outdated transmitters (like the town I live in). (This is especially noticeable if you're in a train or a bus where you're frequently changing cells.)

I'm American, and I took a road trip last month from Dallas to NYC and back (going through Arkansas, Tennessee, Virginia, Pennsylvania, and tiny bits of a few other states). Unless I was in a city, I only had 2G signal, and in a few places I didn't even have that (but those were rare). Edit: for reference, my carrier at the time was Simple Mobile, an MVNO of T-Mobile (I'm no longer with them anymore: I just activated…

Project Fi rides on T-mobile and Sprint (T-mobile having the better network of the two).
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