After a while, I realized that my habituation to constant connection wasn't actually making my life more enjoyable... but for telework I'm rooting for a connectivity solution via Starlink.
Life was wonderful. I was outside a lot.
You mean, the way I and several billion other people do right now?
American data connectivity is just that bad. It's worse than eastern europe. Worse than Asia. Worse than Africa.
I imply no such thing. You're projecting your own biases.
I'm merely stating a fact: That not everyone uses Netflix and YouTube, and to consider those life essentials is absurd.
Also, you tweet about streaming shows on FoodNetwork Go, so why do you act like that's any different from Netflix and Youtube?
If you're not talking about the developing world, and just look at the rural and those who don't want a connection, that's not nearly enough people. So it's not wrong at all for people to assume you meant the developing world.
And nobody said they were 'life essentials'.
Well, you certainly are, but I don't think the person who originally brought it up was.
It was really nice to be able to communicate with my travel buddies reliably, but this is definitely the tiered internet people are afraid of.
However just because 3/4G exists doesn't mean people can afford it. In Madagascar for example, the minimum topup is 100 ARY or about 3 cents. Most people can't afford significant amounts of data, especially not when an autoplay video can bankrupt you.
That's the big problem with the argument that starlink is helping developing countries. These countries would be much better off with better rural cellular coverage first, not expensive satellite networking. Unless spacex will subsidise developing nations, who's paying for it?
60% or more of the population in Alaska and Wyoming live in an urban setting. In Texas it's over 80% and in California it's over 90%.
New Jersey's population is 99% urban, does that mean they all chose to live in an urban setting or that the State is so crammed full of people that there's no place to live in isolation?
Looking at a map of New Jersey, it looks like if you managed to setup camp in the middle of a state park you might manage to be 5 miles from the nearest town.
If you live on a yacht with cheapest sat connection (which is really obscene at $150 per month) you get a mere 2kbps. That's not even enough to load html. You only get to get email and weather via specialised software.
This is what life was like for me when I first got the internet back in the 90s. 14.4 dialup translated to around 1.5KB/sec. And I lived at home. I didn’t get to enjoy travelling the world in a yacht.
I didn't even mention the web in my original comment though, and that was on purpose. When you live on a yacht, you get to be out exploring the world and enjoying life. Why would you want to be cooped up in the cabin, scrolling Facebook or Twitter, or watching Netflix all day? If that's what you want, you should probably sell your yacht and get an apartment with broadband.
There are plenty of people out there who still live without broadband. People on small islands, or in 3rd world countries. They may not be wealthy, but they have happy lives. With a yacht you can go visit some of them. Spend some time eating food and enjoying different cultures. The world is a big place.
You won't be able push a git commit with those speeds. Let alone debug a SaaS app.
Plus pulling to port is one the largest expenses when living aboard. Maybe 4G on the coast can be quite affordable, but depends on the country.
30yr ago speed.
For programming, it is especially wasteful, as compared to an article with code samples, or, if necessary for the particular topic, a screenshot or two.
However.. i just don't get that. I imagine several billion people can disagree about many "important" things. Does that dismiss the importance of those items? How many millions of people live below basic human means? Should those basic means be considered unnecessary?
I imagine if i lived in the woods in the middle of no where i might scoff at the idea of electricity. That doesn't invalidate peoples dependence on electricity. Which, is what is what i take from your comment. Sure, Youtube vs Electricity, not quite a fair comparison - i get that. Nevertheless your comment strikes off the mark for me, but perhaps i don't get your intent.
It's slow but still a bit faster than dial-up. You can watch short youtube videos but not movies - unless you like to wait.
The main problem is latency, so it's completely impossible to use your phone over wifi.
Netflix still does DVD rentals, and though it's been a few years since I've used it, they had a great selection and except for some new releases just after relese, they were always in stock.
In the years before streaming netflix, I often did Redbox. Pick up a DVD on the way home form work on Friday. Return is Saturday when I go out shopping.
Do it twice a month, spend $2 (or $3 when they raised the price).
Netflix was 9.99 or more, and you basically had to watch 5 or 6 DVDs a month to "get your monies worth". So I often found myself watching a DVD when I didn't want to because I had already paid it, so I could send it back and get the DVD I actually wanted but didn't get because it was out of stock.
I still have a few blockbuster VHS's floating around that I was so late on returning, I had to buy them.