Internet from the dark ages?!

sweetintuition

Bigphil1474 wrote: »

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.

I hear you! I long for the good ole days when I wasn't expected to be answerable and reachable when travelling for work.

And unfortunately in this case, I work in technology where the expectations of relying on using mobile technology are pretty high in the industry in general, or at least my boss's are!

wiogs

sweetintuition wrote: »

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!

I suspect it is just you.

InsideInsurance

sweetintuition wrote: »

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.

Its only mobile internet that I dont have home but then now I have broadband (that was another saga) then the phones connected by wifi anyway so Facetime etc is fine.

No idea who uses who's network but the lass that is next to me is on Orange/ EE with an iPhone 6 and they have 3 bars of signal and GPRS connection. They can only actually make or receive calls by going to the north west corner of the building. My iPhone is next to theirs on O2 and I have 5 bars of signal, 4G connection and by the constant stream of PPI calls I've had today, its working fine at our desk.

If O2 shares their network I dont know if they prioritise direct customer or something else. Certainly Wikipedia suggests that EE has its own masts etc.

kwikbreaks

IMO the OP would be far better off living and working in Norfolk. Takes away ALL the uncertainty about whether or not mobile broadband is going to work...

debitcardmayhem

kwikbreaks wrote: »

IMO the OP would be far better off living and working in Norfolk. Takes away ALL the uncertainty about whether or not mobile broadband is going to work...

Kwik are you implying it's Norfolking Good:cool:

RumRat

kwikbreaks wrote: »

IMO the OP would be far better off living and working in Norfolk. Takes away ALL the uncertainty about whether or not mobile broadband is going to work...

I spend a lot of time in North Norfolk and always inform everyone that I'll be incommunicado for the duration of my stay......As soon as you mention Norfolk they just nod and say see you when you get back to civilisation......:cool:
But, I still love Norfolk...:D

kwikbreaks

debitcardmayhem wrote: »

Kwik are you implying it's Norfolking Good:cool:

I've got a caravan here that I use most of the season. The only way to get 3G at it is with a MiFi that accepts an external antenna.

http://www.digitalham.co.uk/mobile-broadband/

That works on Three but I made a mistake having a Three SIM for the phone - I pretty much need to sit on the van roof to use the phone.

I'm not singling out Three or Norfolk particularly. Outside of urban areas and away from main roads you'll be hard pressed to get decent 3G most places.

Big_Graeme

sweetintuition wrote: »

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.

Mobile means you can carry it around, not that you can use it at all times while in a large moving metal box acting as a huge Faraday cage.

RumRat

Big_Graeme wrote: »

Mobile means you can carry it around, not that you can use it at all times while in a large moving metal box acting as a huge Faraday cage.

How last century......:eek:

GunJack

sweetintuition wrote: »

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



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.

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

not "unnecessarily sarky" at all - perhaps you may wish to study radio wave propagation, antenna placement, sources of RF interference, and as Big Graeme pointed out (as did I in my original reply without stating the blindingly obvious), mobile Faraday cages, to see just how unfriendly a city/urban environment can be for any type of RF signals :cool:

Oh, and yes, I do have FTTC along with best part of 30 years of RF experience

p.s. almost forgot... "acting accordingly" in the case you mentioned would ensure all written e-mails were saved as drafts so you could transmit them reliably when OFF the bus and in an area of reliable signal & service - recognise and understand the limitations of what you are using and "act accordingly"