4 ms·

> Indirectly yes, they will ask why their computer is slow. Then they'll buy a new one and accept the salespitch for fiber gbps link. This evening there was th

by wott 8y ago

> Indirectly yes, they will ask why their computer is slow. Then they'll buy a new one and accept the salespitch for fiber gbps link. This evening there was that broadcast on our national radio about "white zones", I don't know if you listened to it. The 3 guests were directors in major telecommunication organisations and administrations of the country. They discussed how high-speed Internet should be available to everyone everywhere, and they declared that there should be fibre-to-home everywhere in the country. But in 30 or 40 minutes of broadcast I think that they did not ask themselves once: why should everyone have access to optical fibre? does everyone need it? what for? can we define what real problems and needs are? can we define a set of stuff that really matter? why do we even need a high-speed access to read and fill administrative paperwork (without paper)? what can be done to achieve the same functions with low- or medium-speed Internet for everyone, by not wasting ressources? I mean, it is crazy to be about to pour billions in something because... just because. Without a deep analysis of what is wanted and how to solve it. They have decided on a solution, but they have not defined the problem. They pretend to solve the case of a few people who are supposedly in trouble because they cannot fill important forms, but the real use will be that Jean-Pierre-Kevin and Rayanne will watch the same American blockbuster, each one on his own tablet or smartphone, but Rayanne will start watching it 10 minutes later, killing the global bandwidth because "eh! it's free". At my place, the Internet speed was upgraded (I don't think anyone asked for it?), as a result people started using TV-over-xDSL, VOD and streaming like pigs, and now in the evenings the speed is worse than it used to be before the upgrade... One must question the usage that is done with the infrastructure before spending billions building it, because the general consequence is a never ending abuse of the available infrastructure, whichever capacity it has. (For Agu: <https://www.franceinter.fr/emissions/le-telephone-sonne/le-telephone-sonne-31-juillet-2018> https://www.franceinter.fr/emissions/le-telephone-sonne/le-t...)

agumonkey 8y ago
That sarcastic example you're giving is most likely to be true. I had heated arguments on reddit with people (most likely gamers) being very tense about my dismissal of the need for FTTH. And the telecom companies are just in it for the new market, they couldn't care less about anything else. xDSL was also meant to be high speed for everybody, and it's not the case. And sadly, as long as there's a market, there will be products. Oh, and I don't know about you, but ISP are quite aggressive with FTTH these days. I see lots of tech upgrading links, and get more texts about new offers than I ever got .. that's a strong hint :) I often want to assemble low bandwidth low power (solar powered even) router nodes. Something you could drop in a field and have a mile radius range of wifi (some people on youtube got more than that with a tiny esp8266 IC). The rest would be some mesh network topology. Just enough for simple data, emergency, maybe compressed voice you know. Thanks for the radio link.
- wott 8y ago
  > And sadly, as long as there's a market, there will be products. Moreover, if there is no market, one will soon be created to fill the void and make some money of any 'underused' resource until it saturates. > I often want to assemble low bandwidth low power (solar powered even) router nodes. Something you could drop in a field and have a mile radius range of wifi (some people on youtube got more than that with a tiny esp8266 IC). The rest would be some mesh network topology. Just enough for simple data, emergency, maybe compressed voice you know. People will laugh at you. If I understood correctly, 4G (not DOS ;-) ) has become a basic human right, and no-one should be deprived of it for a 10 minutes ride, be it in an underground 20 metres below surface or in a country bus in the middle of nowhere. I mean, megabit 3G is already almost everywhere in the country, but it seems it is not enough for a decent human life.
  - agumonkey 8y ago
    Agreed, somehow people consider 4G as a requirement for normal life. Being in a low-tech phase I find that a waste but alas.

by wott 8y ago

agumonkey 8y ago

That sarcastic example you're giving is most likely to be true. I had heated arguments on reddit with people (most likely gamers) being very tense about my dismissal of the need for FTTH. And the telecom companies are just in it for the new market, they couldn't care less about anything else. xDSL was also meant to be high speed for everybody, and it's not the case. And sadly, as long as there's a market, there will be products. Oh, and I don't know about you, but ISP are quite aggressive with FTTH these days. I see lots of tech upgrading links, and get more texts about new offers than I ever got .. that's a strong hint :) I often want to assemble low bandwidth low power (solar powered even) router nodes. Something you could drop in a field and have a mile radius range of wifi (some people on youtube got more than that with a tiny esp8266 IC). The rest would be some mesh network topology. Just enough for simple data, emergency, maybe compressed voice you know. Thanks for the radio link.

wott 8y ago
> And sadly, as long as there's a market, there will be products. Moreover, if there is no market, one will soon be created to fill the void and make some money of any 'underused' resource until it saturates. > I often want to assemble low bandwidth low power (solar powered even) router nodes. Something you could drop in a field and have a mile radius range of wifi (some people on youtube got more than that with a tiny esp8266 IC). The rest would be some mesh network topology. Just enough for simple data, emergency, maybe compressed voice you know. People will laugh at you. If I understood correctly, 4G (not DOS ;-) ) has become a basic human right, and no-one should be deprived of it for a 10 minutes ride, be it in an underground 20 metres below surface or in a country bus in the middle of nowhere. I mean, megabit 3G is already almost everywhere in the country, but it seems it is not enough for a decent human life.
- agumonkey 8y ago
  Agreed, somehow people consider 4G as a requirement for normal life. Being in a low-tech phase I find that a waste but alas.