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Comment by metters | Hacker News Reader

If you sign a new contract with an internet provider in Germany , you will have to wait up to three weeks until somebody comes and turns one switch and you have Internet.

In South Korea they will connect you on the afternoon of the same day.

Sources: I am German and my neighbours are Korean (not the best Korea kind of Koreans)

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Internet in Germany is abysmal, and not only in the countryside. I live in Berlin, our capital. I can't work from my studio since internet is too slow there. I know whole companies having moved their offices to different districts because they did not get sufficient internet. At the place I am currently at, I have LTE and officially it's listed to be in the highest category in terms of speed: I have about 1 mbit/s download. Some base station seems to be broke, but that is the case for months, and I would not even know where to complain about this. I’m actually only writing this while waiting for my software to update, so I can finally start doing something. And again, this is central Berlin, not somewhere remote.

For the "why?": in 2013 our chancellor Merkel said (on the NSA scandal) "Das Internet ist für uns alle Neuland." which translates to "The internet is unchartered territories for all of us." – in 2013! As far as I know, they only have Wifi in the Bundestag (the parliament) for like two or three years, and I would not be surprised, if most of our politicians still read their emails printed out on paper. Seriously, it is that bad. Germany is in the stone age in this regard.

It's bad, but it's not universally bad. I'm in Berlin and have 400MB/S at home But our apartment was built in 2011, so that might have something to do with it.

It's even worse: when you cancel a contract, they can turn it off remotely, but when you get a new contract, a technician has to come out and turn it on.

If you already have the connect with the company, comcast can switch it in 20 minutes. (I did a direct move from one comcast to another comcast location)

Yessir, same thing in Denmark. Ordered Wi-Fi for my new apartment two weeks before I moved there, just so I knew it would be activated when I moved in. Ridiculous.

I do think some of the new fiber companies are same-day, though.

On one occasion I was given a complimentary hotspot+SIM to use while waiting for the installer to show up. That wasn't a good sign.

Vodafone does this. They also explained to me i get to keep the Mifi+SIM, to use it in case the landline goes out (edit: never had to use it once in 3+ years).

Not sure how this is not a good sign, i suppose they do that pretty regularly? Also, in my case the announce 4-week window was 2 weeks in the end, so not sure if there's much of a complaint there.

Are we really expecting to just summon things at will now?

> On one occasion I was given a complimentary hotspot+SIM to use while waiting for the installer to show up. That wasn't a good sign.

Doesn't necessarily even work. My current flat is apparently rather well shielded, before I ordered a microcell I couldn't even send an SMS from inside the flat unless I stood in front of an open window.

I get full signal on the balcony, barely any inside with the door closed. It was a painful few weeks before my wired 'net issues got resolved.

Also funny bit: the flat L-shaped, the AP is at the end of long arm (because that's where the study is).

I don't get any wifi when standing in the small arm either. Took me some time to realise why: the elevator is in the crook of the L, so blocks the signal.

Why can’t you put AP in the corner of the L?

It's possible but it means moving the cable modem & AP there, then adding cabling back to the study (or buying a CPL kit and hoping it works well enough). So far it's really not been worth even considering, the small branch is just the kitchen and I'm not much of a cook so my internets requirements over there are limited.

I could also put some sort of wifi repeater there, seems simpler than moving the AP, but even that's not been much worth investigating for now.

Same in Perth, Australia, a major city -- and IIRC, Canberra too. This was 2013-ish. I was amazed, appalled, and confused -- a service visit was unnecessary. I think if you signed up for the massively overpriced privatized carrier Telstra, it was faster -- but any competitor ISP using their copper had that two-week setup delay.

For what it's worth, NBN Fttp (and maybe other connection types?) is same-day, usually within the hour. Launtel even have daily rates so you can quickly switch to them if you need a backup provider.

Sounds like with the implementation of the NBN, it's gotten better, thank God.

Here in Canada, depending on your ISP (Rogers, in this instance), the activation is instant. In fact, they only give you a two-hour window to get home and plug your modem in, otherwise you have to call and have them re-send the activation ping.

(a wired connection, just to clarify)

Yes, it is ridiculous, and very common with Telekom (though there is a difference wrt. existing vs. new connection, that takes a couple of days usually everywhere) but of course the old tenant didn't have internet on the appt. Of course.

I had the same in Cambridge, UK. Probably not 3 weeks but at least 2. Ridiculous.

to be fair i always got the exact date and somewhat accurate time for when the switch will be made. I think when switching providers this is mandatory by law to ensure of the continuation of services...

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