Today, knowing I'd be in a place with less-than-excellent connectivity, I came prepared.

[stefano@mastodon.bsd.cafe]

Today, knowing I'd be in a place with less-than-excellent connectivity, I came prepared. I brought two MikroTik 4G routers with me (one, an old friend; the other, new and ready to be tested). I also have my smartphone with two SIM cards from two different mobile providers.

I noticed something extremely curious: the fixed FTTC connection sometimes has extremely strong drops or speed reductions (from 100 mbit/sec to 1 or 2). Knowing this, I brought the 4G routers on purpose to compensate. But I realized that when the FTTC connection fails, all four mobile providers also fail. The phenomenon is therefore correlated. This leads me to believe that, not being in a big city, there is a single (or multiple, but malfunctioning) point of connection that all providers, both fixed and mobile, connect to.
Note for the future: don't trust the mobile providers here.

#Networking

[mitch@hoagie.cloud]

@stefano where ya at?

I've heard that in certain parts of West Virginia, the schist-lined hollers cause any RF signals to bounce endlessly in a parabolic bowl and can jam itself.

[stefano@mastodon.bsd.cafe]

@mitch Northern Italy

[mkj@social.mkj.earth]

@stefano You'd think something like that would set off all kinds of alarm bells. I mean, even a *cursory glance* at a data transfer rate diagram would show a >>95% drop in throughput pretty clearly, even if it is brief in duration.

Maybe they have a problem that needs solving? ;-)

#networking

[stefano@mastodon.bsd.cafe]

@mkj I think they have. But I won't be involved in it 😉