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

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

#121

Post by [deleted] »

mason55 wrote: post #116
amyjess wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[deleted]

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

#123

Post by witty_username »

nantes wrote: post #92
connor4312 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And Windows, of course, has Fiddler: http://www.telerik.com/download/fiddler

And for completeness, Linux has tc [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tc_(Linux)

Practically speaking, wondershaper is way simpler for basic throttling.

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

#124

Post by _jgdh »

kamaal wrote: post #85
corysama wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm suggesting that it's complicated. In all of your replies you are talking about what you want to pay for and what you expect in return. But, this isn't about you. It's about hundreds of millions of the poorest people on Earth. If you went on tour of India to personally tell a few tens of thousands of them that because free Facebook access would set a bad precedent (which you are totally right about, btw) they shou…

I'm from India. Facebook access isn't like Polio vaccination. Poor people in India worry more about food than Facebook/Internet access. Even if they were given internet access, Most don't know how to read and write. Those capable of spending around 2000 rupees on a smartphone(lower middle class) can also buy a pre paid internet pack for an affordable price. And already do. If you want to see the real innovation happe…

I agree with most of what you've said, but I think its inaccurate to say that most don't know how to read and write. According to the 2011 Census, the literacy rate is 74% [1]

[1] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_Census_of_India#Literacy

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

#125

Post by rizwank »

mason55 wrote: post #116
amyjess wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

With Band 12 LTE, this is changing rapidly on TMO.

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

#126

Post by Splines »

connor4312 wrote: post #74
ejdyksen wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, Mac OS and iOS have the Network Link Conditioner, which can do the same thing (from a network perspective) at the system level: http://nshipster.com/network-link-conditioner/

And Windows, of course, has Fiddler: http://www.telerik.com/download/fiddler

NEWT may be more appropriate if you are interested in not-HTTP:

http://blogs.technet.com/b/juanand/archive/2010/03/05/standa...

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

#127

Post by somberi »

I had recently started building a payment network business in India and the bandwidth situation is constantly at the top of our minds.

What makes the situation in India peculiar is not just the lack of 3G, but the variance within the band. It is not unusual to see "3G" connection with 15Kbs speeds.

A recent study, which I am unable to dig into at this moment, showed that the aggregate bandwidth of a 3G connection in India is only marginally (~18%) faster than a 2G connection.

The second challenge we encounter is "fake" connectivity - even though the phone shows 3G or 2G, it is not a guarantee that there exists a data network at all.

And yet another study found that more than half of the country did not get what upgrading to 3G meant. If and when the phone companies successfully win the mind share of this half and encourage them to switch over to 3G, the situation will deteriorate even further because of the load on the band.

A dated but an effective coverage of the situation - http://www.economist.com/node/10214756

Creating adaptive (and even offline apps, especially regulated financial industry apps) is super-challenging from a product point.

I will be glad to answer any other questions, related to this topic.

P.S - I have spent ~15 years in NYC and a few years in London and can empathize with the comments in this thread. But building mobile apps for India, takes a different thinking IMHO. We need to wear the hat of a microkernel / embedded systems developer from 8085 era.

Shameless Plug - we are hiring programmers / mathematicians to solve problems like this. If interested, please email me. ID in my profile.

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

#128

Post by shubhamjain »

somberi wrote: post #127

I had recently started building a payment network business in India and the bandwidth situation is constantly at the top of our minds. What makes the situation in India peculiar is not just the lack of 3G, but the variance within the band. It is not unusual to see "3G" connection with 15Kbs speeds. A recent study, which I am unable to dig into at this moment, showed that the aggregate bandwidth of a 3G connection in…

There is also a problem of cellular companies with fake "unlimited" plans. Basically, they offer 3G speeds only till a certain limit after which they throttle it down so much that it is barely usable, like Idea Cellular[1].

I have stopped having any mobile data on my phone and mostly prefer WiFi, since I hate paying for such a limited internet.

[1]: http://www.ideacellular.com/idea/select-circle?PlanType=3Gne...

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

#129

Post by colechristensen »

rizwank wrote: post #125
mason55 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

With Band 12 LTE, this is changing rapidly on TMO.

Upgrading to a Nexus 6 made vast improvements to my T-Mobile coverage as it supported the new bands.

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

#130

Post by yompers888 »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #120
amyjess wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

In my experiences, T-Mobile is much better to have when you have both. If you're somewhere where you're just hoping for anything at all, Sprint wins. T-Mobile has fast data, but falls off quickly outside dense areas. I find the two complementary in a way that gives Fi a powerful synergy.

My reference areas are Maryland,DC,VA (through NOVA and down to farming areas around Charlottesville); a weeklong road trip from Phoenix to Los Angeles with Las Vegas and Grand Canyon stops; and a month-long road trip going through VA-MD-PA-NY-NY-OH-IN-IL-WI-MN-SD-WY-MT-ID-WA-OR-CA.

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