Right.
Today I was going to publish my third and final part of ‘The Joy of Ku’.
What with Jaiku’s recent announcement that YES they are re-opening registrations and that NO Google are not turning out the lights on our beloved life-streaming app.
What announcement am I talking about? Well here’s this from Jaiku’s own Jaikido blog:
“We’ve been working quietly for a while to port Jaiku to Google infrastructure. Today we’re taking off our welding goggles to announce Jaiku will be one of the first apps to run on the new Google App Engine.
The Google App Engine enables applications to leverage powerful Google technologies and scale up to millions of users without infrastructure headaches.
Jaiku will be fully deployed on the Google App Engine in the near future. Andy & co. are working hard to ensure the port is a success and we will make a further announcement once the port has been completed.â€
Fantastic news!
Jyri was quoted on Jaiku later on that day as saying:
“…if all you notice is an increase in speed and reliability and re-opening of registrations, we’ve been successful.â€
Brilliant.
However – today I will not be finalising my Jaiku opus. Something has reached my shores this morning that NEEDS to be blogged. I could NOT believe it when I read it. Could NOT!
The reason why I’m so annoyed about this is that I’ve been kicking around an article for while that reviews the quite frankly, fantastic Nokia N82. At the moment the Nokia N82 is (in the UK anyway) an o2 exclusive… The piece was going to end something like:
‘On o2? Get an N82. Not on o2? Move Networks and get an N82’.
However, that will no longer happen.
No Sirree bob.
News has come to me this morning from Vero Pepperrell, Chief Blog Mistress at Taptu, that The Register is reporting that o2 3G customers are being capped/throttled/limited to speeds of 128Kb/s.
128Kb/s!!!
A quick 3G speed test on my Vodafone N95 8GB hits me with slap bang on 300Kb/s.
That’s 3G only (not 3.5G aka HSDPA).
That’s more than double what o2 offer! And that’s before we even think about leaping onto 3.5G!
According to Vero, some smart chap over at 3G.co.uk did a speed test on the o2 network and here are the results:
GPRS 44kbit/sec
EDGE 145kbit/sec
3G 112kbit/sec
HSDPA 124kbit/sec
WOW. I am amazed.
iPhone owners on o2 using the EDGE network are getting FASTER connections than anyone on their 3G network!
*gasp*
I don’t really have much else to add to be honest…
My N82 review is still in the pipeline (as is my final part of the Joy of Ku), but I really must say RIGHT NOW that if you’re considering getting a new handset and you want to experience the wonders of the Mobile Web (over your network) then DO NOT go to o2.
I just needed to get that out of my system.
The FULL story is here on The Register – including updates and quotes from o2
And again – huge props to Vero at Taptu for waving this in my face first thing this morning.
Just before I read the Register’s story, I spotted the staggering news that, in a
I was about to defend O2 on the basis of this comment to the Reg article which makes a good point, but then this happened and whilst it still might not be as bad a decision as it appears on the surface they deserve a kicking for allowing anyone in their organisation or their suppliers to dis-respect their customers so much.
Poor show O2.
Ben Smith’s last blog post..Insuring against the ?curse? of the SMS Text News contributor
When downloading the 1MB file on http://text.dslreports.com, my N95 8GB hits between 200kbps and 441kbps. Vodafone HSDPA in central London. Why on Earth would anyone settle for less than a third of that?
I know I shouldn’t bad-mouth Vodafone’s competitors… but… wow…
If they do get the much rumoured 3G iPhone, will it actually be slower than the 2.5G one?
Now, don’t forget that 3G speeds to vary depending on how many users there are in a cell, how congested the network is, how good your phone is and how busy the site is… But what exactly is the point of limiting the speed like that?
You’re such a geek Terence 😉 Why would you EVER need more than 128k?
Just checked my UMTS E65 in an area with 5-bar 3G coverage and only managed 82kbps.
So that confirms that I’m not a geek?
🙁
HeavyLight’s last blog post..O2 rebrand cock-up shock!
I have kinda noticed that HSDPA was slower than EDGE when try’na access sites I visit on my handset. Not majorly slower, but enough to notice. But to be honest thats awful of them.
Have o2 throttled 3G speeds to make the iPhone on EDGE seem super fast? 😉
Oh, and o2’s PR guys? You know you’ve done an excellent job of promoting 3? (Have you read the comments to the Reg article?!) Ironically, probably better than 3’s PR guys!
Anthony’s last blog post..EXCLUSIVE: Nokia N800 vs. NEC e808Y video comparison
Quick!
Someone knock up some ‘128k’s enough for me’ T-shirts for the next MoMo or Unlimted drinks…
Interestingly enough, this has been known about since at least 2005.
See http://forum.xda-developers.com/archive/index.php/t-248989.html
Oh the irony, this appeared today of all days… O2 Gets ‘Better Connected’: http://www.mbmagazine.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2901&Itemid=62
Anthony’s last blog post..D’oh 2! If you like it nice and slow… Yeah baby, yeah!
Of course, it’s still easy enough to buy a Nokia N82 unlocked/SIM-free from almost any online shop (Expansys springs to mind). No reason to give the clearly incompetent O2 any money whatsoever…..
Steve Litchfield’s last blog post..Fear of flying?
I am on O2 with an E90
Just done a test and got 483K with average signal.
I did a test yesterday with high signal strenth and got over 600K.
Shocking – lets hope that the 3G iPhone arrives on a carrier that can give users what they want – 3G speeds!
Neil’s last blog post..BBC iPlayer on Nintendo Wii
@NTS Paul – The official line from o2 is that ‘high end’ customers get upgraded to the faster network. I would guess that you fall under that umbrella…
James Whatley’s last blog post..SpinVox: ?Rather Useful? says The Gadget Show
All O2 3G customers are equal, but some are more equal than others…
nice one 🙂
nice one 🙂
nice one 🙂
Good Information. Thanks a lot
so…