I’m always surprised when coffee shop wi-fi is way slower than LTE tethering. It’s great the cell networks are usually so fast now, but it feels all backwards (and in a way, kind of wasteful).

@manton When I see that I sometimes check what ISP is backing the WiFi. A lot of land-based internet supply in the U.S. is from anti-competitive localized monopolies who have been providing substandard service for years. Around here, that’s Comcast.

It’s either that or bad WiFi configuration.

@manton Or the flip side, how long until we don’t need wifi and the cell network is fine for most stuff.

@manton probably a bit inevitable. One of those things is an actual product that folks have expectations for and they’ll change their spending if they’re disappointed. The other is a perk (haha) delivered alongside the actual product that will annoy people but the vast majority will not base their purchasing decisions on.

I’d pay real money to know what sort of bandwidth and tech solutions most shops have. Be really interesting to see and compare.

@manton I assume this is due to the total lack of competition for wired residential/SMB networking in many areas. If the only provider in town is AT&T offering 12Mbps DSL, they have no incentive to improve service, but almost everywhere in the US has at least 3 cell companies competing to provide service.

@manton I no longer even bother to hook to wifi on my iPad. Cellular for iPad is standard for me. Most places I go now are 5GUW