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It's a little weird on HN to see someone refer to "rural wifi". Unless you're talking about a relatively rare form of mesh networking, there's not really any su

It's a little weird on HN to see someone refer to "rural wifi". Unless you're talking about a relatively rare form of mesh networking, there's not really any such thing as rural wifi, at least not in the sense that its different from any other kind of wifi - a very local RF network designed to share an access point. I assume you're using wifi as a stand-in for "internet" or "broadband". 4G speeds are completely fine for watching video - I do this often in very rural locations using a Verizon hotspot (4G only). Sure, less than that is problematic for video, but 1.87MB is still small over 3G.

dieortin 3y ago
I would guess he’s referring to a shared wifi network that connects to the internet through a low bandwidth link. That’s pretty common in small villages where I live. 1.87MB is definitely not small over a bad 2G link that you’re sharing with other people.
- brewdad 3y ago
  I can’t imagine a scenario where someone with that setup would be streaming YouTube often enough to spend the effort to block the ads. Seeing one ad a month isn’t worth the effort to manage YouTube ad whack-a-mole.
kortilla 3y ago
> Unless you're talking about a relatively rare form of mesh networking It’s not rare. Ubiquiti is very popular for setting up point to point links getting a single internet connection shared amongst a bunch of rural homes.
- PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
  We have a small house in Cerrillos NM that has point-to-point networking, run by a co-op (shout out to La Canada, great people). But my experience has been that this is fairly rare - La Canada is the only example I know in NM for example. Also, this isn't my understanding of what "mesh networking" really is. It's just providing RF access to a single wired access point. But it could be that I don't understand what mesh networking actually is.
michaelmrose 3y ago
Having worked for an internet service provider its common for people to literally refer to their internet connection as their "wifi" and fail to differentiate between their network and their upstream connection or even fail to differentiate between more obvious categories of things like their computer being able to turn on and "the internet". Their mental model isn't a graph its an amorphous blob. It's humorous if you ask them if they have a wire and wired device to test they frequently act as if you asking them if they have a vacuum tube or a teletype. Meanwhile they frequently struggle with wifi configuration problems with devices that are 3 feet from one another.
- brokenmachine 3y ago
  It blows my mind that people can be that disinterested in how the things they use actually work. I would never want to be that dependent on first-level helpdesk to solve my problems for me.
- JohnFen 3y ago
  > its common for people to literally refer to their internet connection as their "wifi" This. It's the same sort of error as when people refer to the web as "the internet" -- which common even on HN.
TheHappyOddish 3y ago
In Australia, NBNCo (our national wholesaler) provides a 'fixed wireless' solution for pretty much everyone rural. "Rural wifi" would be a valid synonym, just as "wifi" is a valid synonym to "Wi-Fi" to you. This is different to 4GLTE etc.

dieortin 3y ago

I would guess he’s referring to a shared wifi network that connects to the internet through a low bandwidth link. That’s pretty common in small villages where I live. 1.87MB is definitely not small over a bad 2G link that you’re sharing with other people.

brewdad 3y ago
I can’t imagine a scenario where someone with that setup would be streaming YouTube often enough to spend the effort to block the ads. Seeing one ad a month isn’t worth the effort to manage YouTube ad whack-a-mole.

kortilla 3y ago

> Unless you're talking about a relatively rare form of mesh networking It’s not rare. Ubiquiti is very popular for setting up point to point links getting a single internet connection shared amongst a bunch of rural homes.

PaulDavisThe1st 3y ago
We have a small house in Cerrillos NM that has point-to-point networking, run by a co-op (shout out to La Canada, great people). But my experience has been that this is fairly rare - La Canada is the only example I know in NM for example. Also, this isn't my understanding of what "mesh networking" really is. It's just providing RF access to a single wired access point. But it could be that I don't understand what mesh networking actually is.

michaelmrose 3y ago

Having worked for an internet service provider its common for people to literally refer to their internet connection as their "wifi" and fail to differentiate between their network and their upstream connection or even fail to differentiate between more obvious categories of things like their computer being able to turn on and "the internet". Their mental model isn't a graph its an amorphous blob. It's humorous if you ask them if they have a wire and wired device to test they frequently act as if you asking them if they have a vacuum tube or a teletype. Meanwhile they frequently struggle with wifi configuration problems with devices that are 3 feet from one another.

brokenmachine 3y ago
It blows my mind that people can be that disinterested in how the things they use actually work. I would never want to be that dependent on first-level helpdesk to solve my problems for me.
JohnFen 3y ago
> its common for people to literally refer to their internet connection as their "wifi" This. It's the same sort of error as when people refer to the web as "the internet" -- which common even on HN.

TheHappyOddish 3y ago

In Australia, NBNCo (our national wholesaler) provides a 'fixed wireless' solution for pretty much everyone rural. "Rural wifi" would be a valid synonym, just as "wifi" is a valid synonym to "Wi-Fi" to you. This is different to 4GLTE etc.