Slow, slow, slow Internet

[Packard]

It seems to me that if you advertise “free WiFi” that the WiFi should be fast enough to be useable. 

I was in Panera Bread the other day and trying to post here using their WiFi.  I got a message:  “Unable to connect to server”, which lost my typed post. 

I used my OOKLA Internet Speed App that gives a readout on the speed of the WiFi:

Download speed:  1.44 Mbps
Upload speed:  1.50 Mbps

Barnes & Noble had even worse upload speed (but better download).  It seems that the down-load is the determining factor because I am currently on B & N WiFi and it is working OK.

Download speed:  5.36 Mbps
Upload speed:  0.99 Mbps

These are not the slowest I’ve come across, but near the bottom.  (I only check when I am having trouble down- or up-loading.)

 

[luvmytoolz]

Sounds like they have QoS configured on a per IP basis, not per protocol as most tend to do.

 

[Packard]

Sounds like they have QoS configured on a per IP basis, not per protocol as most tend to do.

I understood all the words except QoS and IP, but despite only missing two words, I have no idea what you meant.

 

[luvmytoolz]

QoS is Quality of Service, it's a way of prioritising traffic through networks based on any of a number of criteria.

For example if you had an internet service and a VOIP (Voice Over IP - phone) service, QoS would be configured to provide a minimum bandwidth to the VOIP protocol, so matter how the internet service gets hammered, the phone will always have a guaranteed minimum bandwidth.

So cafes in general will set QoS so people who torrent might get a low figure of bandwidth based on the protocol, being torrents usually port 6881, or certain sites online might be restricted, etc.

Or they just have a simple QoS that if they have a 100Mb link, each user gets a percentage of the bandwidth, or a fixed amount.

Hope this all makes sense?

 

[squall_line]

Sounds like they have QoS configured on a per IP basis, not per protocol as most tend to do.

I understood all the words except QoS and IP, but despite only missing two words, I have no idea what you meant.

QoS: Quality of Service - a method of divvying up limited bandwidth

IP: Internet Protocol - the individual "address" given to your device on the network

There are different ways to divvy up limited bandwidth, some of which include throttling non-streaming services so that streaming services can have the bandwidth they need to provide quality video.  This QoS method would be based on the destination for the outbound traffic.

QoS on an IP basis means limiting bandwidth on an individual device-by-device basis.

In a busy location trying to limit loitering, they may decrease the bandwidth for everyone to encourage customers not to linger.  They could even go so far as to use time-limited protocols that throttle you more and more the longer you stick around.

Or, it could be that there are a few inconsiderate patrons who are hogging all of the bandwidth by streaming movies and music and participating in video calls.  Some of them may even just be sitting in the parking lot doing so.

 

[Packard]

I only go to Panera Bread at their off-peak business hours.  Often there are more employees there than customers. I don’t remember that particular day, but it is likely that I was the only computer user there.  Though there could have been a handful of people sending/receiving texts.

For a while, Panera has small signs asking people that used computers to do so on off-peakhours.

They wer more concerned about “turn time” (how long they occupied a table) than how much data they used.