Working from home.
Jul 11th 2012 | 10:13 am
#62
Beep
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 8,311
From: Here
Re: Working from home.
Not my experience. I've even got e-mails from providers where they basically say point blank that whatever it is, the connection etc. will be unreliable under x conditions. Read the terms and conditions for their wishy washy get out clauses.
I understand what you're on about, and yes, I think in N America where fibreoptic has pretty good penetration and certainly in many Asian countries like Japan and S Korea the internet is pretty good, although you can always get shafted by a tower being blocked.
However in Europe where you've got to dig up old, narrow streets to put fibre optic in and city blocks are strange shapes that causes problems with towers and other receivers it's more of an issue.
For example the UK Govt. is talking about subsidizing Virgin Media to put in fibre optic precisely to deal with these issues. To get "super fast" connections of 80 Mbit/s. Super fast in the 80s, maybe. In Japan they have home connection speeds of 1 Gbit/s.
But that isn't really the issue, it's the reliability of the connection rather than the speed of it, I can remote in on connections as slow as 10 kbit/s.
DSL over copper, data cards and whatnot are nowhere near as good as fibreoptic.
I understand what you're on about, and yes, I think in N America where fibreoptic has pretty good penetration and certainly in many Asian countries like Japan and S Korea the internet is pretty good, although you can always get shafted by a tower being blocked.
However in Europe where you've got to dig up old, narrow streets to put fibre optic in and city blocks are strange shapes that causes problems with towers and other receivers it's more of an issue.
For example the UK Govt. is talking about subsidizing Virgin Media to put in fibre optic precisely to deal with these issues. To get "super fast" connections of 80 Mbit/s. Super fast in the 80s, maybe. In Japan they have home connection speeds of 1 Gbit/s.
But that isn't really the issue, it's the reliability of the connection rather than the speed of it, I can remote in on connections as slow as 10 kbit/s.
DSL over copper, data cards and whatnot are nowhere near as good as fibreoptic.
In London we had fibre optic connection with VM.
+1
Jul 11th 2012 | 11:03 am
#63
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 14,227
Re: Working from home.
I'd never had a problem with internet that's lasted more than a few hours until I came to Canada. Although to be fair, those times where the fault of BC hydro not my ISP.
I think Steve_ is generalizing his own experiences when he says that Canada has better infrastructure.
I think Steve_ is generalizing his own experiences when he says that Canada has better infrastructure.
Jul 11th 2012 | 12:08 pm
#64
Grumpy Know-it-all
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 8,928
From: Calgary, Alberta
Re: Working from home.
I'm not generalizing at all, it's factual: Top-ranked G20 countries with fibreoptic penetration
The UK isn't even on the list! UK doesn't rank in top 30.
I do actually do this for a living you know, I do have a clue what I'm talking about. (And yes I realize those examples are for home fibreoptic penetration which is not exactly the same thing as for business premises and backbone but still it's a relevant international comparison).
Coincidentally: Fire at Shaw building disrupts communications in Calgary.
Which is the sort of thing that puts me off cloud services. I've had connections go down for a wide variety of reasons, high wind, flood, criminals chopping through it with a chainshaw or to steal the copper, etc.
A few hours is a long time when it affects an entire building and everyone in it. Or an entire exchange because the DSLAM fails for example.
A get brochures for connections with "six sigma" QC on them, oooooh. Well first of all that is bullshit, but secondly, six sigma = eight hours a year so that means basically they're saying the connection will go down the equivalent of one workday a year. When you put it like that, doesn't sound so great.
The UK isn't even on the list! UK doesn't rank in top 30.
I do actually do this for a living you know, I do have a clue what I'm talking about. (And yes I realize those examples are for home fibreoptic penetration which is not exactly the same thing as for business premises and backbone but still it's a relevant international comparison).
Coincidentally: Fire at Shaw building disrupts communications in Calgary.
Which is the sort of thing that puts me off cloud services. I've had connections go down for a wide variety of reasons, high wind, flood, criminals chopping through it with a chainshaw or to steal the copper, etc.
I'd never had a problem with internet that's lasted more than a few hours until I came to Canada.
A get brochures for connections with "six sigma" QC on them, oooooh. Well first of all that is bullshit, but secondly, six sigma = eight hours a year so that means basically they're saying the connection will go down the equivalent of one workday a year. When you put it like that, doesn't sound so great.
Last edited by Steve_; Jul 11th 2012 at 12:15 pm.
Jul 11th 2012 | 12:20 pm
#65
Grumpy Know-it-all
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 8,928
From: Calgary, Alberta
Re: Working from home.
Don't talk bollocks, I have no idea what job you have but it's clearly a hell of a lot easier than mine.
Jul 11th 2012 | 12:21 pm
#66
Grumpy Know-it-all
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 8,928
From: Calgary, Alberta
Re: Working from home.
Canada already has 4G LTE, in the UK they're not even auctioning off the frequencies until the end of the year, let alone having it working.
Last edited by Steve_; Jul 11th 2012 at 12:25 pm.
Jul 11th 2012 | 12:22 pm
#67
Beep
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 8,311
From: Here
Re: Working from home.
I'm not generalizing at all, it's factual: Top-ranked G20 countries with fibreoptic penetration
The UK isn't even on the list! UK doesn't rank in top 30.
I do actually do this for a living you know, I do have a clue what I'm talking about.
Coincidentally: Fire at Shaw building disrupts communications in Calgary.
Which is the sort of thing that puts me off cloud services. I've had connections go down for a wide variety of reasons, high wind, flood, criminals chopping through it with a chainshaw or to steal the copper, etc.
The UK isn't even on the list! UK doesn't rank in top 30.
I do actually do this for a living you know, I do have a clue what I'm talking about.
Coincidentally: Fire at Shaw building disrupts communications in Calgary.
Which is the sort of thing that puts me off cloud services. I've had connections go down for a wide variety of reasons, high wind, flood, criminals chopping through it with a chainshaw or to steal the copper, etc.
You're obviously in some form of IT support.
Jul 11th 2012 | 12:25 pm
#68
Beep
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 8,311
From: Here
Re: Working from home.
Right, so you're on vacation and one of your clients calls you and tells you their accounts system has gone up the snuff and they need help immediately NOW and you're "silly" if you actually do your job and sort it out for them, thereby basically securing your continued employment, are you?
Don't talk bollocks, I have no idea what job you have but it's clearly a hell of a lot easier than mine.
Don't talk bollocks, I have no idea what job you have but it's clearly a hell of a lot easier than mine.
Working on vacation is silly, and choosing to work for a company who doesn't cover absence within business critical areas is silly.
Jul 11th 2012 | 12:26 pm
#69
Grumpy Know-it-all
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 8,928
From: Calgary, Alberta
Jul 11th 2012 | 12:33 pm
#71
Grumpy Know-it-all
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 8,928
From: Calgary, Alberta
Re: Working from home.
This was my point really about the negatives of working at home, do they even know you've gone on vacation, because they never see you at the office so they don't notice you are absent, and people get so much e-mail even if you send it out in a circular it's just one more thing they haven't noticed.
Anyway the main thing about working from home is that bosses like their little empires and buildings with the name of their company on the side of them and if you think there is a trust issue with putting files in the cloud, the thought of allowing people to work from home is too much for many control freaks.
Jul 11th 2012 | 12:35 pm
#72
Grumpy Know-it-all
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 8,928
From: Calgary, Alberta
Re: Working from home.
Jul 11th 2012 | 12:39 pm
#74
Beep
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 8,311
From: Here
Re: Working from home.
Not everyone works for massive corporations. And frankly I know people who do the same job as me at massive corporations, such as Comcast and HP and they're even more likely to get interrupted during a vacation than I am. Assuming they can ever get away.
This was my point really about the negatives of working at home, do they even know you've gone on vacation, because they never see you at the office so they don't notice you are absent, and people get so much e-mail even if you send it out in a circular it's just one more thing they haven't noticed.
Anyway the main thing about working from home is that bosses like their little empires and buildings with the name of their company on the side of them and if you think there is a trust issue with putting files in the cloud, the thought of allowing people to work from home is too much for many control freaks.
This was my point really about the negatives of working at home, do they even know you've gone on vacation, because they never see you at the office so they don't notice you are absent, and people get so much e-mail even if you send it out in a circular it's just one more thing they haven't noticed.
Anyway the main thing about working from home is that bosses like their little empires and buildings with the name of their company on the side of them and if you think there is a trust issue with putting files in the cloud, the thought of allowing people to work from home is too much for many control freaks.
Maybe I work for more progressive people. I'd much rather work in my culture than yours. Maybe that's why you're always grumpy
Jul 11th 2012 | 12:41 pm
#75
Thread Starter
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 14,227
Re: Working from home.
Not everyone works for massive corporations. And frankly I know people who do the same job as me at massive corporations, such as Comcast and HP and they're even more likely to get interrupted during a vacation than I am. Assuming they can ever get away.
This was my point really about the negatives of working at home, do they even know you've gone on vacation, because they never see you at the office so they don't notice you are absent, and people get so much e-mail even if you send it out in a circular it's just one more thing they haven't noticed.
Anyway the main thing about working from home is that bosses like their little empires and buildings with the name of their company on the side of them and if you think there is a trust issue with putting files in the cloud, the thought of allowing people to work from home is too much for many control freaks.
This was my point really about the negatives of working at home, do they even know you've gone on vacation, because they never see you at the office so they don't notice you are absent, and people get so much e-mail even if you send it out in a circular it's just one more thing they haven't noticed.
Anyway the main thing about working from home is that bosses like their little empires and buildings with the name of their company on the side of them and if you think there is a trust issue with putting files in the cloud, the thought of allowing people to work from home is too much for many control freaks.
