Internet from the dark ages?!

sweetintuition

Is it me or does it seem like NOTHING works anymore with regard to technology?

I don't mean this just in the rhetorical sense but are things just actually becoming slower, more buggy, or NOT WORKING at all - or am I just missing who the best providers and products are?

Today alone, it's taken me the whole of my 40 minutes bus ride to work to google something to get an email, then send the email which ended up getting lost b/c my internet dropped off when I hit send and it didn't save in drafts (due to crappy signal). Hence, I wasted 40 mins on an email that never got sent in the end. This is a daily struggle. I'm on EE (was originally a happy Tmobile for 10 years until they merged with Orange). I've called EE multiple times and of course, they had no solution.

I already pay for and carry around with me a 3Mobile dongle as back up for when my mobile phone goes off and for my iPad which I often find myself having to use most of the time b/c my phone seems to NEVER have internet signal. But even that is choppy and slow at best. And no matter what cafe I go to, theirs is also slow.

It's not just my device (iPhone 4s) b/c I also always carry my iPad with me which is the latest generation! So I'm trying to connect on a few different providers across more than one device and I get very little love any which way I try.

Does anyone here actually have consistent, relatively fast internet most of the time (instead of 10% of the time). Or are my expectations just too high that I want to be able to connect and use my phone for the things it was made for - sending an email and browsing the internet?

I often travel to the states for work and when I am there, the connection is good to speedy most places I go and I can actually get work done in transit. A friend recently told me she was in Indonesia and internet was like the speed of light. I remember once upon a time I could quickly and effortlessly send a simple email here too but not the case anymore.

Am I just not getting the formula right or with the wrong provider? Or is the UK just a third world country when it comes to broadband technology now?!

Help! Seriously considering moving to a new country!

Bigphil1474

Nice one m8, love your comedy writing. Unfortunately, I'm old enough to remember dial up, and also when the thing my phone was made for was for making phone calls. You should work in the public sector, my work phone can only make/receive calls and send texts. Avoids losing internet of course. Me thinks your expectations are a little high.

GunJack

mobile internet is notoriously patchy, the fact you're trying to do this on a moving bus shows maybe you don't understand too well how it all works, or you'd act accordingly.....

RumRat

Most of the answer would lie in where you live and the coverage.
Personally, in my home town I have no trouble sending and receiving email via phone and tablet either by 3g or 4g.
As your iPad works well in the USA, I'm guessing that the EE coverage is a bit patch where you are.....Try a PAYG sim of another provider to test your bus route and see if a move to another network would be the best option.
If you can move to another country, then that maybe the preferable option....;)

agrinnall

#1stWorldProblems

There will be huge chunks of the USA that have very little mobile data coverage. I expect that places like Indonesia will have invested heavily in mobile technology as they won't already have the landline infrastructure in place that we have.

I remember when we used to sit on the bus either reading the paper (which we'd had to pay for, no freebies in those days), snoozing, or being grumpy at the other passengers, no staring at a little screen or having banal conversations to somebody who probably doesn't want to speak to you anyway ("I'm on the bus...I said ON THE BUS...").

thescouselander

Yes, I get great service from my mobile provider and my data connection is fast and reliable. I do find location has a big influence though.

Kaimoo

Our adsl connection was that slow it was unable and currently in a dispute with bt, paying nearly £35 for lime rental and Internet that is 6mb off peak and less than 2mb off peak making it useless in a house with a small family.

My lines capable of getting up to 7mb but come 5pm till 9am it's usually less than 2mb, our three mobile 3G speed is a consistent 5mb so we use it for Netflix and love film and general browsing.

Luckily though our local exchange is being upgraded to fibre within the next six months, annoyingly though just 20 miles away I can get 4G on three with speeds nearer 20mb

sweetintuition

Thanks to everyone for insight on their personal experience. First world problems indeed and I do miss the days when just reading my book on the bus was sufficient but unfortunately the world (and my job) is becoming more mobile, global and heavily reliant on fast internet so it seems unavoidable. I guess that's why there's a need for fibre optic in the first place!

Oh and NO THANKS to GunJack for your unnecessarily sarky comment.

GunJack wrote: »

mobile internet is notoriously patchy, the fact you're trying to do this on a moving bus shows maybe you don't understand too well how it all works, or you'd act accordingly.....

Sorry you feel so frustrated by my post. I think we're both talking about "mobile technology" right? Working for a technology company myself, I think it's fair to say that this phrase means "mobile technology" which also means it's not totally unrealistic to expect to not have zero bars on my signal for over a 3 mile radius in a major city.

Also not sure what you mean by "act accordingly". I thought I did that by trying to find a workaround (trying different devices and services). I guess that means you won't be updating to fibre optic when it comes to your area b/c who needs that right? Good luck with that, let me know how it goes!

I think what I asked for people's personal experiences rather than cynical opinions but there's always one in the lot who can't act accordingly.

Anyway, thanks for the rest of you for your helpful info!

InsideInsurance

We are trying to push technology further and faster. To do the retro things, like making phone calls on a mobile, I would certainly say signal is a lot better, sound quality better and calls dont drop as often than with my 90s brick of a phone.

As to internet on the move, the problem is that one one has universally great coverage. In the City I have for years found that only O2 provides reliable coverage, I've worked in several clients office where only us on O2 could even make/receive calls let alone data. Vodafone used to report reasonable signal inc 3G but never actually do anything.

My issue is that at home there is ok O2 voice signal but no 3G or Edge and so when we were without broadband at home I had to go out and buy a Three sim for my mifi device (which had no signal at my desk in the City where O2 has strong 4G connection)

sweetintuition

InsideInsurance wrote: »

We are trying to push technology further and faster. To do the retro things, like making phone calls on a mobile, I would certainly say signal is a lot better, sound quality better and calls dont drop as often than with my 90s brick of a phone.

As to internet on the move, the problem is that one one has universally great coverage. In the City I have for years found that only O2 provides reliable coverage, I've worked in several clients office where only us on O2 could even make/receive calls let alone data. Vodafone used to report reasonable signal inc 3G but never actually do anything.

My issue is that at home there is ok O2 voice signal but no 3G or Edge and so when we were without broadband at home I had to go out and buy a Three sim for my mifi device (which had no signal at my desk in the City where O2 has strong 4G connection)

I hear you!

Definitely a fair point re: universal coverage (hence my multiple devices and services!) but saying that O2 is the only one I've not tried. I did do a stint with GiffGaff which I found to not be great and assumed it was b/c of the shared network with O2 (like Orange/Tmobile). But I'll maybe give O2 itself it a try and see if it's an improvement.

It would be frustrating to not have signal at home if you use your mobile at home a lot. I guess for me, mobile internet is more important for my job than home signal as I use my landline or FaceTime for calls from home but of course everyone's needs are different.

Ugh, if only we could have it all! Maybe one day…I'm staying positive!

sweetintuition

thescouselander wrote: »

Yes, I get great service from my mobile provider and my data connection is fast and reliable. I do find location has a big influence though.

That's something to stay hopeful for!! Who's your provider and where are you located?