Internet / text / email / phone problems

[completejohn]

What a great fest!  It may have been my favorite of my 14 fests.  But I  and everyone in my camp DID experience a HUGE problem with electronic communication this year.  I was constantly unable to send or receive emails, texts and/or phone calls.  (FYI - I use Verizon)

If I didn't own a business, or these were the "goodle" days when people didn't have to be connected 24/7 and took 2-week vacations every summer, the problems that I (and everyone else I talked to) had with communications would not have mattered.  But these days even a few days off require that I check in often, and allow my clients at least a feeling that I'm on top of things.

But that was extremely difficult this year.  I realize that there are WAY more phones/puters than there used to be, and that we were probably crashing the servers at the same time, but I'm really hoping that this problem can be fixed next year.  I can't afford to only get email every now and then.

PB, I love all that you do, but it would REALLY help if you can work on this!  I also realize that it's not YOUR problem,  but maybe you can ask for some help from the town???



 Listening to: Cheese's GREAT set recorded by a friend via KOTO

[Mandhoe]

I actually thought it refreshing not seeing everyone on their i-Phone 24/7.  "My phone is my life".  I heard this at least 5+ times this week.  PB should actually restrict all cell-phone use at the festival.  Nothing is more pathetic/sanctimonious than seeing festivarians fiddling around or talking at an incredibly loud volume while in one of mother nature's finest creations.  If you need to work, don't go on vacation.

[oddfired]

My phone also barely worked-text only.  It was awesome.

[sdmjake]

I won't go quite so far as to say "If you need to work, don't go on vacation" but I do think people need to unplug more. (Or make an area for 'idiots on their phone' so i can look at them all herded into the little space and laugh at them) CellPhones are annoying and part of the world i am trying to get away from when I go to TBF. 

FYI-When my phone was charged [not often] it was usuable with AT&T service.

[Mandhoe]

Thanks for smiting me for delivering a different opinion John!  Way to embrace opposing views and offering poignant responses in return.  I'm sorry you didn't enjoy the fest as much as you could have.  Next year I bet Craig will personally make sure that all your electronic devices work at a 100% efficiency level.   Until then, maybe learn some different chords.

[completejohn]

Hey I totally understand the pleasure of unplugging, but I can only push it so long.  And yes, I'm jealous that so many people have the ability to really get away from it all.  After I win the Powerball lottery, I plan on being totally unattainable for REALLY long stretches of time.

In the meantime...Sheesh...Business and family commitments can really get in the way of a good time, but are some of those necessary evils!

I guess I'm just asking PB to help out those of us who are handicapped with our electronic leashes.

[Sadizzler]

I agree! Not all of us have the luxury of completely disappearing from the world for 10 days. I had to send my boss emails and was only able to do so at about 2 am, when no one else was using their phones.

[ratcub]

the only problem I had with cell phones was tripping on the cords plugged into the power strips outside the men's room  , but it was amusing to see people trying to re-arrange all the cords so they could plug in their phone into the strip...

[RockyMtnGuy]

While I totally agree with the notion of folks being "unplugged" from their propensity to live life digitally during Festival, I had no problems at all getting streamed updates of the Stanley Cup finals on my HTC Evo through Boost Mobile on Saturday .

 (a Blackhawks fan)

[HuckinFappy]

john, those of us that can't afford to be completely disconnected sometimes have to go to the library.  Their free wi-fi worked all weekend.

I heard there's one cell tower servicing the valley.  Here's some info i dug up:

"LTE has a ratio of 200 connections per 5MHz of bandwidth per cell. Sprint, MetroPCS, Cricket, and other small carriers are using 5MHz bandwidths for their networks, which means that if there are more subscribers in a given area covered by a cell, then the quality of service degrades for all subscribers until one of two things happens: either the cell range is shrunk and more cells are installed, or the bandwidth for the cell is enlarged to 10MHz or 20MHz. This is why AT&T and Verizon prefer having 10MHz or 20MHz blocks available for LTE instead of 5MHz. It winds up being less expensive to deploy the network technology with larger bandwidths."

That means if there's 20 MHz for LTE, the tower in Telluride can handle 800 connections.  Assuming 50% of those connection aren't 4G, but older phones, maybe it can handle 1200-1500?  IAC, with 12,000 people, some with multiple devices, it gets swamped pretty fast.

I don't see how the Planet, and even the town, can do too much about that.   The planet *could* provide its' own WiFi that doesn't get saturated the way "Park" does, but that would also be a huge investment, as you would need to have a pretty big backbone for 1 week a year.

Get up at 4 AM and get in line...you can score a nice spot, and check your email, too

[Linds]

I think Bonnaroo brings in some kind of portable cell "towers" for their festival.  No idea if that's the infrastructure that would be needed for TBF, but then again, that's for a festival of about 80,000 people, as opposed to TBF's 10,000.  It may be too expensive.

I've noticed that our AT&T networks in Steamboat go wiggy during Musicfest and Spring Break - when we have a lot of AT&T users in town.  You just have to do the best you can with sketchy service.  I work during the festival, too, so I usually use the wifi at the library or Baked in Telluride to keep on top of things and make sure they don't fall apart too much. 

[Lisa Delia]

Mine worked.  I have Sprint.  I like to stay connected to my neighbors, who are taking care of my animals, and in case of fire.

[ebb01]

Grey Fox actually has Verizon as a sponsor and Verizon brings in a temporary tower for the fest.
Seems like this approach would be a win-win: PB gets another sponsor, the carrier gets to promote itself and bill more data and voice minutes, and those who aren't fortunate enough to be able to disconnect from their outside lives don't need to fret.

[swander99]

Mine worked.  I have Sprint.  I like to stay connected to my neighbors, who are taking care of my animals, and in case of fire.

My Sprint Iphone worked pretty well, too.

[completejohn]

john, those of us that can't afford to be completely disconnected sometimes have to go to the library.  Their free wi-fi worked all weekend.

I heard there's one cell tower servicing the valley.  Here's some info i dug up:

"LTE has a ratio of 200 connections per 5MHz of bandwidth per cell. Sprint, MetroPCS, Cricket, and other small carriers are using 5MHz bandwidths for their networks, which means that if there are more subscribers in a given area covered by a cell, then the quality of service degrades for all subscribers until one of two things happens: either the cell range is shrunk and more cells are installed, or the bandwidth for the cell is enlarged to 10MHz or 20MHz. This is why AT&T and Verizon prefer having 10MHz or 20MHz blocks available for LTE instead of 5MHz. It winds up being less expensive to deploy the network technology with larger bandwidths."

That means if there's 20 MHz for LTE, the tower in Telluride can handle 800 connections.  Assuming 50% of those connection aren't 4G, but older phones, maybe it can handle 1200-1500?  IAC, with 12,000 people, some with multiple devices, it gets swamped pretty fast.

I don't see how the Planet, and even the town, can do too much about that.   The planet *could* provide its' own WiFi that doesn't get saturated the way "Park" does, but that would also be a huge investment, as you would need to have a pretty big backbone for 1 week a year.

Get up at 4 AM and get in line...you can score a nice spot, and check your email, too

hey thanks for the info!!  I know this thing ain't anybody's "fault", I'm just hoping for easier access next time.  The explosion in the number of devices we all are addicted to is going to continue until we just have little transmitters planted into our brains so it's only gonna get harder in the short run.

As for the Library, I'm happy that I'll flinally get to use my high school French:  "Dis-don, ou et la bibliotec?"