Well, here we go again. Jim’s the pretty one. Oh, don’t worry, I’m used to it.
Yet another way that New Jersey is better than Idaho, and it is a way that impacts this blog substantially. Internet speeds! Jim’s got ’em, and I don’t. I always knew that his residential speed was better than mine, because where I live there is one provider and the service is kind of meh. I think Jim runs his toaster off the internet, not to mention every other electronic item in his house.
Now I know why. Seem’s Idaho has the slowest internet speeds in the nation! When I think about it, I’m really not too surprised. At work where I have the “good” internet connection, there are times of the day when thing get really bogged down. Simply doing refreshes of screens I’m looking at on the internet can take 20-30 seconds. I never really thought about it too much, until I went back to Wisconsin this last time, and there were times when my folk’s wifi network was running 5 computers at once, and never skipped a beat! In my house I can’t get the internet in all parts, and the signal is very weak in other places. I know my wifi technology is good, it is just the strength of the signal coming into the house that is the problem. I’ve been waiting for Verizon or Clear to get out to my neck of the woods, and it is much closer than it was just a year ago, so I’m thinking that eventually it will get there, but for now we muddle along.
There was actually a very interesting article about this in today’s New Your Times. You can read the article here. I guess they are just poking a little fun at the Gem State. Its ok, we’re used to it, and we have other things like Brewforia, and Blue Turf, and Grizzly Bears.
How does your state measure up? I guess I better end this post, or it will take 24 hours to download. 😉
-Don
Beer & Whiskey Brothers 
Home is South Jersey and I have Fios, so the internet connection is superb, particularly the upload speeds, especially when compared to what I had with Comcast. Work is Philly and a T1 connection. Also superb! Your internet speed may suck, but I’m guessing the view out your window is usually prettier than the view out mine. But you can keep the grizzly bears. 🙂
Well that depends, do you look out on a black asphalt parking lot at ground level? I do. Suitable for tailpipe inspection for every vehicle that drives past. I’ll bet the view off my front porch is better tho. 😉
Actually… my office looks out at an alley where ambulances park. And in the winter I get a CO induced high when their fumes seep into my office. As far as the actual view, I once saw a body in a body bag being wheeled by my window and then loaded into a funeral home hearse. My office is slightly below street level and slightly above what I like to call “the bowels of the building”, i.e. the Maintenance Department is directly below me. Good news is that I may be moving to the 11th floor of a brand new building. The bad news is that people will actually be able to find me!
I say stay in the Bowels…that really didn’t sound right.
I don’t know why he’s complaining, G-LO. I’m surprised he has Internet at all out there!
Don’t laugh…3 years ago we had dial up!
This explains why it always takes you so gaddamn long to write your posts!! 😉
No Jim, that’s just cuz I’m lazy!
Also, is reading the the New Your Times like eating a plate of Krab or buying John Voight’s car?
It’s a little reassuring that Nebraska is on the ‘Ten Slowest’ list as well, because we too have similar issues with our WiFi, and we know it’s not the technology in the house, its the service from COX (although they will vehemently deny it!)
Yeah, being last sucks, unless you are talking about giving a speech or dying.
Don, wireless signal strength has nothing to do with the bandwidth you are getting from your provider. Your router is just a radio that puts out a signal and if you can’t receive that signal, it doesn’t matter how good the connection from the router to the provider is. If your house has particularly dense walls, heavily insulated or perhaps log construction (I once had to install a network in a multi-room late-1800’s log cabin used as a day camp) your signal strength will drop. Also the type of wireless router you have will impact signal to noise ratios. There are any number of things you can do from buying new antennae for your router to building “shotgun” style boosters (current record for distance is a few miles from a home-built antenna). Or give up and run some Cat-6 cable to jacks scattered around the house. You could even combine that with a wireless repeater hung off of one of the jacks.
All that said, if your bandwidth sucks, being able to log onto the network won’t do you a bit of good…
Bandwidth does suck! I actually have no problem gettin on my home network, it is all about the service capability once I do. I guess I misspoke a bit. I can get on my network quite easily, once I’m there however it grinds and grinds.
Yeah, you’re pretty much screwed then. At least you don’t the horror of living in NJ too !
Good point! 🙂
Wait a minute…
😦