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Germans Grow Frustrated with Their Slow-Poke Internet

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Re: Germans Grow Frustrated with Their Slow-Poke Internet

#291

Post by fluffything »

lonesword wrote: post #43
ofrzeta wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can assure you that trains are as bad as Internet.

And I can assure you that the trains are much much better than in other parts of the world (eg: India). In India, trains running on time are an exception, not the rule. At least all the German trains that I've been on were on time to the very minute.

I take the train in a big German city every day. If my train were to arrive on time one day, I would share that information with all my friends as something more than exceptional. This never happens. I can't wait till i've saved enough to buy a car and stop using the trains and subway.

Re: Germans Grow Frustrated with Their Slow-Poke Internet

#292

Post by eurg »

terminalhealth wrote: post #158
sc11 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Even very close to big cities like Frankfurt, having an uninterrupted phone call is a difficult thing to have. The German Minister for Economic Affairs has stopped taking calls with foreign colleagues during car trips because he was too embarassed by the constant interruptions...

They also have a "Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure" as if expertise in one domain would easily transfer to the other. The only commonality seems to be that things are being transported from A to B via some network, but it pretty much ends there.

The infamous "Datenautobahn".

Re: Germans Grow Frustrated with Their Slow-Poke Internet

#293

Post by danielh »

Most of the discussions focus on end-users, here is an anecdote how this affects businesses: my current client recently moved to Cologne, the 4th largest city in Germany. They ordered a broadband connection from Deutsche Telekom three months before the move. As it turns out, Telekom needs SIX months to provide service. This is in one of the top-tier business centers, which was built in 2009.

Depending on your mobile provider, you also only have edge connectivity in most of the building.

Re: Germans Grow Frustrated with Their Slow-Poke Internet

#294

Post by cyborgx7 »

The promise of privatization of the Telekom was higher speeds and lower prices. The opposite of that happened. This country is now far behind many comparable countries in Internet speed and penetration. And the state, in selling the Telekom, lost the ability to do it themselves when private industry fails. Terrible development.

Re: Germans Grow Frustrated with Their Slow-Poke Internet

#295

Post by flurdy »

nextos wrote: post #193
sc11 wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Even very close to big cities like Frankfurt, having an uninterrupted phone call is a difficult thing to have. The German Minister for Economic Affairs has stopped taking calls with foreign colleagues during car trips because he was too embarassed by the constant interruptions...

I have had the same experience both in Germany and in some areas of the UK, like downtown Cambridge which was shocking. In contrast, both Scandinavia and many parts of Southern Europe have great mobile and landline Internet. I guess it has something to do with the structure of the market before EU enforced massive privatizations.

It is partly down to inept politicians and the concessions they dictated to the mobile networks.

In Norway, they demanded the networks cover 97% of the geographic areas. It's why you might get 3G or even 4G in the middle of nowhere, on top of a mountain, wherever you might drive.

However, in the UK the inept politicians demanded 97% of the population, not geographically.

So all the UK networks just built perfect coverage for all the cities and towns, and could mostly ignore everywhere else.

Which means even in the populous South East England whenever I drive slightly outside my town towards one of the bigger cities 20-30 minutes away I can not have a conversation in my car as the connection is always lost. Nor on the train into London. And also must be a nightmare for the small villages that fall outside the 97%.

(On the plus side whenever we go to the country pubs around here, I can not be reached, and noone can look at the phone during dinner...)

Re: Germans Grow Frustrated with Their Slow-Poke Internet

#296

Post by thaumasiotes »

eurg wrote: post #292
terminalhealth wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They also have a "Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure" as if expertise in one domain would easily transfer to the other. The only commonality seems to be that things are being transported from A to B via some network, but it pretty much ends there.

The infamous "Datenautobahn".

Sounds like a pretty close translation of the "information superhighway".

Re: Germans Grow Frustrated with Their Slow-Poke Internet

#297

Post by afiori »

disillusioned wrote: post #268
terminalhealth wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They also have a "Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure" as if expertise in one domain would easily transfer to the other. The only commonality seems to be that things are being transported from A to B via some network, but it pretty much ends there.

Strictly speaking, aren't they both just series' of tubes? /s

Let's join also the ministry of health then! :)

Re: Germans Grow Frustrated with Their Slow-Poke Internet

#298

Post by bsod90 »

LargoLasskhyfv wrote: post #247
LargoLasskhyfv wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you aware of https://freenet-funk.de/ ? That's basically one GB per day for 99ct, no contract, only available per app, though no roaming, and no tethering, only for mobile devices, and using Telefonica/O². They got some bad press recently for kicking some users which overused it, and accusations of retroactively changing their terms of use. https://www.golem.de/news/funk-unlimited-freenet-kuendigt-ku... https://w…

Sorry, mispaste. The fourth link should have been https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Missbraeuchliche-Nut...

actually they do not prohibit tethering just using the simcard in a 4G router for home wifi (to prevent users from using it as a replacement for crappy DSL). Tethering from the phone should be fine.

Re: Germans Grow Frustrated with Their Slow-Poke Internet

#299

Post by phoenixdblack »

filmor wrote: post #167
terminalhealth wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They also have a "Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure" as if expertise in one domain would easily transfer to the other. The only commonality seems to be that things are being transported from A to B via some network, but it pretty much ends there.

Oh, that's not really an issue, he shows very similar levels of incompetence in both areas.

I second this

Re: Germans Grow Frustrated with Their Slow-Poke Internet

#300

Post by kolmogorov »

geff82 wrote: post #61

I recently did vacation at the North Sea (land side, not the islands). It was heartbreaking. In many areas the iPhone showed "No Service", in most areas we had "Edge" connection with virtually no data throughput. Even when it showed "3G" I was mostly unable to use WhatsApp. And this is a region where people live! And let's not talk about the landline broadband.... our rented appartment had a meager 1MBit download spe…

I agree with your comment but the same is true for San Francisco / Silicon Valley. The connection is often times terrible and try having a VOIP call on the 101.
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