This hurts a ton-80: British darts champ knocked out of home tourney by lousy internet connection
- Reference: 1587201613
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/04/18/darts_champ_wifi/
- Source link:
Anderson, the Scotsman who took home the World Darts Championship in 2015 and 2016, confirmed [1]today's report from Sky Sports that he could not make the upcoming home streaming events for the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC). He even posted a speed test showing just how lousy the connection was in his rural neighborhood.
[2]pic.twitter.com/tJxGMq4qcS — Gary Anderson (@GaryAnderson180) [3]April 17, 2020
In case you are wondering... Yes, this is the same Gary Anderson who was [4]once accused of sabotaging an opponent with flatulence.
Congratulations! You finally have the 10Mbps you're legally entitled to. Too bad that's obsolete [5]READ MORE
The latest event in question is a special PDC event planned to replace the tournaments that had to be cancelled due to the coronavirus lockdown. A special 32-night [6]streaming event would see all tour players compete against one another by broadcasting live from their homes.
The first phase of the home tourney is set to kick off on Friday night.
Alas, the stay-at-home event will actually be two players shorter, as Anderson was joined by fellow tour pro Daryl "Superchin" Gurney, who said that he too did not have the required network speed.
Sorry to everyone but I won’t be participating in the fantastic [7]@OfficialPDC innovation darts at home. My internet WiFi is not up to scratch and the set up I use for practice wouldn’t be sufficient good luck to everyone — Daryl Gurney (@Superchin180) [8]April 17, 2020
Jokes aside, lousy broadband speeds in rural areas are a lingering problem both in the US and the UK. With few residents spread out over long distances, many telcos simply don't see a way to make money running costly high-speed broadband lines and equipment to those areas, prompting calls for local and federal governments to step in and fill the gap. ®
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[1] https://www.skysports.com/darts/news/12288/11974476/pdc-home-tour-gary-anderson-ruled-out-of-event-due-to-poor-wifi
[2] https://t.co/tJxGMq4qcS
[3] https://twitter.com/GaryAnderson180/status/1251102148638670848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[4] https://www.bbc.com/sport/darts/46245993
[5] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/09/18/legal_right_to_speeds_of_10mps_will_be_obsolete_say_mps/
[6] https://www.pdc.tv/darts-pdc-home-tour-launch-live-sport
[7] https://twitter.com/OfficialPDC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[8] https://twitter.com/Superchin180/status/1251110715437481984?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
[9] https://go.theregister.co.uk/tl/1936/-8552/how-to-accelerate-brilliant-digital-experiences-with-low-code?td=wptl1936
Re: Actually ...
Not sure why you are puzzled, people have been complaining for years.
Also people may be realising that that 500mb super mega amazing package has an utterly shit upload speed.
Looking at you Virgin "bullshit bandwidth" Media
Re: Actually ...
... one of the things that has been highlighted during this crisis is just how many people have really substandard internet connections (and webcams). - Fixed it for you :-)
Re: Actually ...
My 2019 16" MacBook Pro has a TERRIBLE camera. Seriously bad.
And?
Looks like my average connection in a rural area, but hardly remote - just too much copper (about 1 to 1.5 miles?) between me and the nearest exchange box...
Not just 'rural' connections
I think a lot of people have been happy enough with their ~2Mbps connections for general use, but nowadays video upload for zoom/teams etc has meant higher upload requirements, which many 'legacy' connections can't cope with..
A relative lives in a not-particularly-remote village not far from me. When they moved there they couldn't get Openreach's 'fibre', so were stuck with ~1.5Mbps down / 600kbps up. Barely suitable for iPlayer without regular buffering. Eventually the cabinet was upgraded but they were in contract and unable to upgrade at the time. By the end of the contract the cabinet was 'full' so they still had to wait another 3 months before they could finally get ~37/9Mbps.
Meanwhile I'm sat here on a 220/20Mbps Virgin connection, not quite the 350/20 at the office... ;o)
Re: Not just 'rural' connections
"~1.5Mbps down / 600kbps up"
You're really lucky. 2.5 miles outside the M25 I get 430kb/s down, 170kb/s up. I've been completely isolated from professional activities including international conferences as Zoom (bless it) just won't work at these speeds. The joke (not so funny) is that there's a fibre cabinet about a quarter of a mile away, but I'm still on about 2 miles of copper.
Hold on...
How do we know it's the local infrastructure specifically that's the problem?
He might just be a tight Scotsman on an 8mb £3.50 Talk Talk package...anyone geographically nearby that can do a speedtest?
Actually ...
... one of the things that has really puzzled me during this crisis is just how many people have really substandard internet connections (and webcams).