2 ms·

For the love of god, yes, design as if all of your users are going to be on a 1mbps connection that drops out for 5s every minute, because at some point, a lot

For the love of god, yes, design as if all of your users are going to be on a 1mbps connection that drops out for 5s every minute, because at some point, a lot of them (most of them, I would wager) will be using that connection. Often it is when you are on those connections that it is most important that your software work. The article looks at broadband penetration in the US. Which is useful, but you need to plan for worst cases scenario, not statistically likely cases. I have blazing fast internet at home, and that isn't helpful for the AAA app when I need to get roadside assistance. I want the nytimes app to sync data for offline reading, locally caching literally all of the text from this week should be happening.

SpaceNoodled 1y ago
One millibit per second might be a bit excessive. Surely we can expect more than just one bit every seventeen minutes.
- ripe 1y ago
  Ha! Your point reminded me of the NASA Mars rover deployed in 2021 with the little Ingenuity helicopter on board. The helicopter had a bug that required a software update, which NASA had to upload over three network legs: the Deep Space Network to Mars, a UHF leg from Mars-orbiting robotic vehicles to the rover, and a ZigBee connection from the rover to the Ingenuity helicopter. A single message could take between 5 and 20 minutes to arrive... Edit: I described this in an article back then: https://robotsinplainenglish.com/e/2021-04-18-install.html https://robotsinplainenglish.com/e/2021-04-18-install.html
genewitch 1y ago
I live in the US and use starlink - it's all i can get in my location, these days. Ping statistics for <an IP in our DC>: Packets: Sent = 98585, Received = 96686, Lost = 1899 (1% loss), Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds: Minimum = 43ms, Maximum = 3197ms, Average = 58ms it's almost exactly 5s per 60s of loss^. has been since i got it. for "important" live stuff i have to switch to my cellphone, in a specific part of my house. otherwise the fact that most things are usable on "mobile" means my experience isn't "the worst" - but it does suck. I haven't played a multiplayer game with my friends in a year and a half - since at&t shut off fixed wireless to our area. oh well, 250mbit is almost worth it. ^: when i say this, i wasn't averaging, it drops from 0:54-0:59, in essence, "5 seconds of every minute"

SpaceNoodled 1y ago

One millibit per second might be a bit excessive. Surely we can expect more than just one bit every seventeen minutes.

ripe 1y ago
Ha! Your point reminded me of the NASA Mars rover deployed in 2021 with the little Ingenuity helicopter on board. The helicopter had a bug that required a software update, which NASA had to upload over three network legs: the Deep Space Network to Mars, a UHF leg from Mars-orbiting robotic vehicles to the rover, and a ZigBee connection from the rover to the Ingenuity helicopter. A single message could take between 5 and 20 minutes to arrive... Edit: I described this in an article back then: https://robotsinplainenglish.com/e/2021-04-18-install.html https://robotsinplainenglish.com/e/2021-04-18-install.html

genewitch 1y ago

I live in the US and use starlink - it's all i can get in my location, these days. Ping statistics for <an IP in our DC>: Packets: Sent = 98585, Received = 96686, Lost = 1899 (1% loss), Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds: Minimum = 43ms, Maximum = 3197ms, Average = 58ms it's almost exactly 5s per 60s of loss^. has been since i got it. for "important" live stuff i have to switch to my cellphone, in a specific part of my house. otherwise the fact that most things are usable on "mobile" means my experience isn't "the worst" - but it does suck. I haven't played a multiplayer game with my friends in a year and a half - since at&t shut off fixed wireless to our area. oh well, 250mbit is almost worth it. ^: when i say this, i wasn't averaging, it drops from 0:54-0:59, in essence, "5 seconds of every minute"