SlowG

The Millenicom MiFi unit indicates it is 3G speeds at South Park Colorado. Could have fooled me. Typical internet speeds during the daytime have been slow. Very slow. Best description is SlowG. Checking with internet measurement tools, download speeds ranged from 10KiloBytes/sec (KBs) to 30KBs. That is during the day time.

Not sure why the big change after ten at night, but the speeds magically improve. Some of the speed tests reported 100KBs. That is much better. Those late night tests also included a few tests of 30KBs. Never any at 10KBs. I remember the days when I was happy with 10KBs --National Access 1X speeds. But hey. This isn't the old days. This is 2013.

The really frustrating part of today's internet is all the graphics and advertising that accompany any page download. The requested information is accompanied with sidebars loaded with advertising. Sometimes the information requested includes words and teaser graphic for a video of a talking head saying what you could easily read.

And there is no way to turn off the graphics with a single click on a browser icon. That was possible in the old days of the internet.

Firefox is my browser and the PageTweak add-on is used to reduce some of the advertising. It helps, but some graphics still appear. The advertising that can't get through PageTweak just becomes a challenge for some programmer to get around that limitation. It's only a matter of time before PageTweak has to improve the algorithms and rules to stop the latest programmer innovation.

The advertising and web page developers work in an unreal world. Their in-house internet is speedy and there is no concern for large graphics or videos in the requested text or in a side bar.

Those of us who use the cellular network exclusively to get to the internet are at the disadvantage. Web page developers and advertisers create for 99% of the users accessing the internet using high speed cable or equivalent speeds. Those users don't experience the impact of all that graphic material on every web page. It just happens.

Back to 3G at South Fork. The cell companies monitor traffic and usage on their towers. They recognize that their 3G bandwidth is not meeting local demand at South Fork. South Park is essentially a vacation place for the summer months. By the end of September, the summer traffic will be gone and many businesses will be closed for the season. No doubt year round usage dictates company policy for improving the 3G bandwidth or adding 4G to the local towers.

If I return to South Fork next year, will I have better download speeds. Guess I will have to come back to find out. Since my stay here was mostly indoors due to rain and clouds, a revisit in 2014 would be a good idea so I can explore and hike the area.

In the near term, I will head to Durango where I hope the internet speeds are better than SlowG.