Germans Grow Frustrated with Their Slow-Poke Internet • Hacker News Board

Re: Germans Grow Frustrated with Their Slow-Poke Internet

#321

Post by em-bee » Tue, Aug 06, 2019, 2:15 PM UTC

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.

it does kind of make sense if you consider that roads and rail lines are good places to put data cables, and that you have to dig up roads for the cables to be placed. so having the authority do do so within one ministry sounds like a good idea.

Re: Germans Grow Frustrated with Their Slow-Poke Internet

#322

Post by lm28469 » Tue, Aug 06, 2019, 2:29 PM UTC

lonesword wrote: post #41

I recently moved to Germany. I used to work as a software dev in India before this. I was horrified to learn that (urban) India has way better internet than Germany. When it comes to mobile data it's even more depressing - back in India I used to get 1.5GB _daily_ 4G mobile data for 200 rupees (around 2.5 euros) a _month_. Even after adjusting for purchasing power, 2.5 euros a month for virtually unlimited mobile dat…

If you have friends in EU countries consider getting a foreign phone contract through them. I'm in DE with an FR contract, 4 euros for 40gb a months and I can connect to any carriers. It's still slow as hell though.

Re: Germans Grow Frustrated with Their Slow-Poke Internet

#323

Post by close04 » Tue, Aug 06, 2019, 2:40 PM UTC

arvinsim wrote: post #267

nesadi wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The crazy thing I think is how expensive internet is, in whatever form, in Germany compared to the rest of Europe while simultaneously being so terrible.

I thought that Germany(or at least Berlin) has become a IT hub. How could that happen with bad connections?

Averages can be deceiving. Plenty of places in Berlin and Germany have great internet connections. The problem is that for every 1Gbps link there are 20 5Mbps links and the average will still show up as a decent 50+Mbps. ("decent" meaning you can get by just fine for most activities an average consumer would perform).

Re: Germans Grow Frustrated with Their Slow-Poke Internet

#324

Post by pingyong » Tue, Aug 06, 2019, 2:58 PM UTC

gingabriska wrote: post #62

foepys wrote: post #3

It's really expensive for companies, too. The company I work for (small to medium sized) has a 34/34 Mbit/s fiber connection and it costs us 600€ per month. Included are 8 IPv4 addresses and an 8h response time (which has never been met and when we sued after a week of non-working internet, we lost in court). It's just ridiculous how expensive it is for businesses. We simply cannot afford a 100/100 MBit/s connection…

When I worked for Audi in Germany, they had 1Gpbs internet. Maybe German government wants everyone to work for big German companies instead of small ones.

That company must have been in the middle of nowhere, because in every major city you can at least get a 100/40 connection for ~45 euros / month. Not super amazing, but decent at least.

Re: Germans Grow Frustrated with Their Slow-Poke Internet

#325

Post by pingyong » Tue, Aug 06, 2019, 3:00 PM UTC

Mo3 wrote: post #304

I really cannot concur. I live in the depths of Bavaria in a small village with ~2000 residents. Our apartment is connected by two 100MBit/s DSL and 500MBit/s Cable lines, set up in failover configuration in case one goes down (which always only happens on Cable for a few minutes, and that setup exists only because I work 100% remote). The village is located in a mountainous region, yet everywhere I go, I have +100Mb…

>30,00 for unlimited LTE

Where can you get unlimited mobile data plans in Germany?

Re: Germans Grow Frustrated with Their Slow-Poke Internet

#326

Post by sneak » Tue, Aug 06, 2019, 3:17 PM UTC

robert_foss wrote: post #103

I'm centrally located in Berlin, and have an unmetered 400/12mpbs cable connection for 40Eur/m. I can't say that I'm impressed, but having just lived in Canada which is _far_ worse I'm happy about it not being quite as bad. However, 10 years ago in Sweden I had an unmetered 1000/1000mbps fiber connection for 4Eur/m. I feel like I'm doomed to forever have a shittier connection.

In Kreuzberg, in central Berlin, many places don’t have fiber or cable available, and can only get 14mbps down ADSL2+.

I lived that way for a decade. It was terrible.

Re: Germans Grow Frustrated with Their Slow-Poke Internet

#327

Post by Jnr » Tue, Aug 06, 2019, 3:24 PM UTC

siddhant wrote: post #2

It’s not just the speed. The costs are depressing as well. A 50Mbps connection (DSL, because cable is not even available in this area) at my current location costs €40/month. 40! It’s mind-blowing.

I get 600Mbit for 12 EUR. Greetings from Latvia! :)

Re: Germans Grow Frustrated with Their Slow-Poke Internet

#328

Post by Mo3 » Tue, Aug 06, 2019, 4:23 PM UTC

pingyong wrote: post #325

Mo3 wrote: post #304

I really cannot concur. I live in the depths of Bavaria in a small village with ~2000 residents. Our apartment is connected by two 100MBit/s DSL and 500MBit/s Cable lines, set up in failover configuration in case one goes down (which always only happens on Cable for a few minutes, and that setup exists only because I work 100% remote). The village is located in a mountainous region, yet everywhere I go, I have +100Mb…

>30,00 for unlimited LTE Where can you get unlimited mobile data plans in Germany?

Freenet FUNK is mine and the cheapest. Besides that Telekom, Vodafone and o2 all offer uncapped LTE at prices ranging from 59,99 to 90,00/month.

Re: Germans Grow Frustrated with Their Slow-Poke Internet

#329

Post by flurdy » Tue, Aug 06, 2019, 4:32 PM UTC

anoncake wrote: post #301

flurdy wrote: post #295

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 cove…

> However, in the UK the inept politicians demanded 97% of the population, not geographically. Which is completely backwards. You don't need mobile where you live (as long as you can get a landline), you need it everywhere else.

Well I don't really know anyone that has a landline any more, so my correction would be you need it everywhere. Especially with 5G arriving soon.

Re: Germans Grow Frustrated with Their Slow-Poke Internet

#330

Post by deisner » Tue, Aug 06, 2019, 4:49 PM UTC

For what it's worth, the price/bandwidth in Cologne isn't bad: https://www.netcologne.de/privatkunden/telefon-internet/tari.... And not surprisingly, it appears to be fiber (FTTB and HCF): https://www.ftthcouncil.eu/documents/CaseStudies/NETCOLOGNE_...