I thought broadband quality rants would be a thing of the past because speeds were improving. For example, five years ago, following the Telecom Regulatory Commission’s (TRC) own initiative to test broadband quality, I wrote elsewhere:
“The Telecom Regulatory Commission has just released the fixed (ADSL/WiMax) and mobile broadband (3G/HSPA) performance ratings for January 2011. This is the first time the regulator released the mobile broadband performance results. They are far from conclusive but still reveal some important patterns. TRC has done 3G performance tests within Colombo and that too only in four locations, namely Borella, Talahena, Nawinna and Polhengoda, on days TRC calls “random”. Statistically, the selection of neither the locations nor the dates can be called a random choice, as convenience seemed to have ruled. Anyway, if we were to overlook this, we observe roughly all three mobile broadband providers (names omitted) have shown equally satisfactory performance.”
I first tested fixed broadband packages in December 2007, as part of the broadband quality of service monitoring exercise at LIRNEasia, an Asia-Pacific telecom policy and regulation think tank. The results were anything but satisfactory. The promise of 2Mbps wasn’t kept by the two operators in any of the packages they offered, irrespective of the differences in technology. When reaching an international site during peak hours, speeds dropped to 20% of the advertised.
I have also been testing 3G broadband quality in Colombo since September 2008 (PC simulation, not with handsets). The mobile broadband promise has been superior throughout. Unlike in fixed broadband, where quality followed a fixed pattern, mobile broadband quality varied. (This is not a surprise. The quality experienced by the end user depends on numerous factors including the distance from the nearest tower, signal strength, working angle, weather, number of concurrent users, etc.) Still, it was either above or close to what had been promised. The only drawback of mobile broadband was the significantly higher and varying Return Trip Times (RTT). This is the average time data packets take to complete the return trip and best when less than 300 milliseconds. RTT is crucial for highly interactive and resource-hungry applications like online gaming and video conferencing.
The broadband providers were apologetic. Nearly 90% of connectivity costs, explained an operator representative in a public seminar, are for international bandwidth. Sri Lankan users, unlike their Japanese and Korean counterparts who access local servers (for local language content), mostly access servers in the US or Europe. In the absence of regional internet exchanges, even to access servers in neighbouring India, data packets have to travel via gateways in the US. This congests data pipes and, like the morning traffic in Colombo, the data packets move slower than they should. No easy solutions, we were told. If you demand better quality, better purchase a dedicated link, which can cost 10 times more.
Then things improved. Not overnight, but gradually. We heard fewer complaints. On our tests we saw a rise in both download and upload speeds. Even RTT dropped, although it was less significant. As I frequently compared the results with those in India and Bangladesh, I saw Sri Lankan operators doing well, which led me to make the statement above. I had no doubt things would be better.
As I was not involved in broadband testing after 2010, I can tell the story from that point onwards only with my limited user experience. I have used two mobile broadband connections from different operators. Till about 2013 both worked great. That does not mean they offered near 4G experience, but they met my expectations not just in Colombo but everywhere I travelled; I could log in without much difficulty – except in Jaffna, where the connections were slow. I was once online travelling by train from Polgahawela to Colombo. I cannot say the speed was excellent and I was disconnected a few times, but that didn’t prevent me from doing simple things like checking email.
The complications came suddenly. My dongle LED had turned green (indicating a 2G connection) rarely in the past. It had always been blue (3G). Two years ago, I noticed the green light more frequently during peak hours. On rainy days, I never saw the blue light. There were few months towards the end of last year when speeds really dipped. It’s now improved a bit, but I’m not as satisfied as I used to be years ago. Why are connections slower? What’s the incentive for an operator to do that? It does not make sense. I pay for data by volume. If I use less, I pay less. I pay still lesser if I get frustrated and discontinue my session. These actions are not in the operator’s interest, so why does it do that?
International bandwidth? Not an issue anymore. Almost all Sri Lankan mobile operators broadened their international links over the past few years. Some even have extra capacity.
[pullquote]Why are connections slower? What’s the incentive for an operator to do that? It does not make sense[/pullquote]
The only possible reason can be my operator’s inability to expand infrastructure proportionately to meet user demand. That seriously limits per capita bandwidth. The only reason that prevents me from guessing that this is the sole problem is the occasional speed drops, even off-peak. So ‘congestion’ could be the dominant, but not the single, issue.
Rural broadband quality is a different case. It also remains a grey area. Except for a few sporadic tests during the 2008-2009 period, I do not think rural broadband quality has been tested by independent researchers. All we have are few maps that show 3G coverage. There are many areas without coverage. Also, it is not a problem of connectivity. A ‘connected’ sign on a PC or mobile doesn’t mean much if the user cannot watch a short video clip.
Ajith Perakum Jayasinghe, a professional blogger and part-time journalist recently wrote a long post about his rural broadband user experience. After using fixed broadband, he has now shifted to mobile. He has tried three broadband operators, but none satisfied his expectations in Matugama. He claims 3G services can’t be accessed at his home or in the Matugama town. In urgencies, he travels along main roads searching for a ‘hot spot’. The question he has for us, the grumblers in Colombo: Guys, think how I can manage when you find it so difficult?
More than once, Sri Lanka has experimented with island-wide telecom infrastructure building projects. These haven’t materialized for various reasons. One time, the question was about a licence. Then we found that outstation demand was too low for such a large investment. Most of these issues are now solved, at least partially. We have adequate demand. We have adequate international bandwidth. It could be just a case of linking the demand with supply. I do not have to emphasize the importance of doing so sooner rather than later.