3 ms·

What about lte connections? I live 40km from Berlin and I get 5G. 4G would be quite decent too.

dx034 6y ago
40km from Berlin isn't really rural though. Try going 100km further. I recently drove through rural Brandenburg & Saxony close to the border to Poland. Some villages had 2G, I also encountered (tiny) villages with basically no mobile connection at all. I can understand why people are forced to leave for bigger cities if you cannot even get reliable 4G or decent internet at home.
csunbird 6y ago
Mobile data in Germany is very, very, very expensive. An hour of video meeting consumes around 1GB (I think, probably even more), you can not keep up with the cost, I think.
- dx034 6y ago
  Absolutely. Vodafone sells unlimited data (incl. 5G) in the UK for £26/month (~30€), in Germany the maximum you get is 40GB for 60€/month. And 40GB is nothing if you are on the road a lot. Other providers are similar.
detaro 6y ago
that's far from universal.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
aardvark179 6y ago
The highlands are difficult. They have lots of hills, lots of bedrock very close to the surface, and low population density. It’s hard getting any mobile coverage in some areas let alone 3, 4, or 5G. It’s even tougher on the islands as cables can get damaged and microwave links perform poorly during winter storms.
- dx034 6y ago
  I'm really curious if Starlink et al. will change the region over coming decades. Its attractiveness is undeniable. I'd be surprised if remote places (esp islands) receive more interest if fast internet is available everywhere.
- raesene9 6y ago
  4G in the highlands has massively improved in the last 5 years thanks to the ESN project. The area I live in (west highlands just past the Rest and be thankful) has good 4G coverage anywhere in the village and even on the road up to the A83 now. Whilst the ESN project has been a bit of a disaster overall it's really helped rural connectivity.
llampx 6y ago
You are lucky. Germany is the absolute worst for good 4G connection outside the cities and along some autobahns.
- piva00 6y ago
  I posted a couple days ago my anecdotes about Germany's internet when visiting there, even inside big cities the 4G connections are spotty. I have first-hand experiences with Hamburg, München, Frankfurt and Berlin. I still experienced many times signal drops from 4G to 3G in Berlin late 2019, it's baffling coming from the perspective of Sweden.

40km from Berlin isn't really rural though. Try going 100km further. I recently drove through rural Brandenburg & Saxony close to the border to Poland. Some villages had 2G, I also encountered (tiny) villages with basically no mobile connection at all. I can understand why people are forced to leave for bigger cities if you cannot even get reliable 4G or decent internet at home.

csunbird 6y ago

Mobile data in Germany is very, very, very expensive. An hour of video meeting consumes around 1GB (I think, probably even more), you can not keep up with the cost, I think.

dx034 6y ago
Absolutely. Vodafone sells unlimited data (incl. 5G) in the UK for £26/month (~30€), in Germany the maximum you get is 40GB for 60€/month. And 40GB is nothing if you are on the road a lot. Other providers are similar.

detaro 6y ago

that's far from universal.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

aardvark179 6y ago

The highlands are difficult. They have lots of hills, lots of bedrock very close to the surface, and low population density. It’s hard getting any mobile coverage in some areas let alone 3, 4, or 5G. It’s even tougher on the islands as cables can get damaged and microwave links perform poorly during winter storms.

dx034 6y ago
I'm really curious if Starlink et al. will change the region over coming decades. Its attractiveness is undeniable. I'd be surprised if remote places (esp islands) receive more interest if fast internet is available everywhere.
raesene9 6y ago
4G in the highlands has massively improved in the last 5 years thanks to the ESN project. The area I live in (west highlands just past the Rest and be thankful) has good 4G coverage anywhere in the village and even on the road up to the A83 now. Whilst the ESN project has been a bit of a disaster overall it's really helped rural connectivity.

llampx 6y ago

You are lucky. Germany is the absolute worst for good 4G connection outside the cities and along some autobahns.

piva00 6y ago
I posted a couple days ago my anecdotes about Germany's internet when visiting there, even inside big cities the 4G connections are spotty. I have first-hand experiences with Hamburg, München, Frankfurt and Berlin. I still experienced many times signal drops from 4G to 3G in Berlin late 2019, it's baffling coming from the perspective of Sweden.