Reflections

TRAI has been publishing results of 4G speeds of various Telecom Service Providers, as reported by various news media {refer Bibliography of the article}; in the most recent update I saw, as well as the one in January, it was noticeable that most providers were providing speeds starting from 5mbps. This is surprising, and does not fully tally with my experience, tabulated in this article for the past 3 months or so. My speed tests have been done on Speedtest.net; I have also downloaded the TRAI App today to crosscheck, and while the results are comparable, there are differences.   4G : The Performance Before we look at the exact performance as experienced by myself, let us look at some history. The one caveat I place here is that while I have recorded the speeds since Nov-2016, I have not kept a record prior to this. I have used 3G in large parts of Maharashtra where I work, and Indore city my home town. I clearly recall I used to get 3G speeds between 3mbps – 5.5mbps, ...

UNDERSTANDING THE INTERNET : Reaching Into The Gut Of Existing Systems At first glance, the title – understanding the internet – seems an anachronism, something out of place in the modern world, where the internet is ubiquitous, at least among the educated classes; and is rising fast in the rest of the people. You only have to look around to see people using the internet, gaining from it, and being completely comfortable with this medium. And yet, that is precisely what my contention is : that this medium is actually the least understood, and in just about everything. The potential of this medium is being felt in just about every human endeavour, and as I have observed before, its raw power to reach into the gut of existing models is only just being felt across industries. What is this raw power I am referring to? And why is it the least understood medium? The average person comes across individual levels or layers of the internet at various times; this interacti...

THE PROBLEM STATEMENT The title says it all. WhatsApped! That is exactly what I was, as I noted 1086 messages on my mobile one fine day. I was flabbergasted, and literally stunned, and more than a little irritated. I have seen 100 messages, 200, and even 300 in a day. But 1000 messages? That is much too much, any which way you look at it. There is simply no way I was going to read all 1086 messages, that much was certain.  Then my mind turned to my own addiction to WhatsApp - and I realised I was part of the problem, not a victim. I was both the problem as well as the victim of overload - not because I was a massive and active contributor to the stream of messages on a daily basis; but because I was an active reader of the jokes and other pointless messages. My participation was usually limited to Politics and news related issues, which make up less than 5% of the daily flow.  I further asked myself : was I really enjoying those jokes and messages? Answer : Some, I...

Digital divide: World gets 4G iPad, India still struggling for broadband - The Economic Times : 'via Blog this' While the west moves to 4G, we are still trying to get Broadband. Nothing surprising with that - we have been late movers in communication technology and therefore, it is only to be expected. But if you look at the Broadband scenario in India, the statement that we are struggling is simplifying the state of the market in this space. In India, Broadband solutions in the B2C space are given by Wired and Wireless technology platforms and at speeds ranging from the basic 256/512 kbps to 4 mbps and above. What has been their experience? Have they managed to cover costs? Is there a market for 4G services that is big enough to justify investments? My take on this is that it might just be premature to roll-out 4G services in a market that has yet to fully experience 3G and broadband. First, the market needs to mature and second, the current hypercompetitive phase of th...