Wise population centers do not locate themselves near large volcanoes. FTFM. Well, as far as I know Mount Vesuvius had been dormant for a few hundred years before awakening in 79 AD. The poor souls thought it was just a mountain.
IMHO, this trend is true for a wider context than just "Telcos, ISPs, mobile phone companies". Consumers are accepting an overall loss in quality because they are fooled by increases in features. Putting more and more features in devices and services (whether we need them or not) is key for increasing sales; moreover, when it comes to technology, time to market matters most. The result is that what we get is 1) bloated, and 2) not properly tested.
So I get a mobile network that allows me to make video calls (which I couldn't care less about, and I don't think I'm alone here) but is less reliable than the plain old telephone service. Full-duplex, six-color, 20ppm printers are made of such flimsy plastic that I'm worried I'll break the thing apart every time I change the toner. My phone takes 30 seconds just to boot up. My DVD player decided that, after two full years of service, the disc tray had had enough and wouldn't open anymore.
Overall, I think it's just that marketing took over and engineering got screwed.
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We've got a picture: http://www.esa.int/spaceinimag...
IMHO, this trend is true for a wider context than just "Telcos, ISPs, mobile phone companies". Consumers are accepting an overall loss in quality because they are fooled by increases in features. Putting more and more features in devices and services (whether we need them or not) is key for increasing sales; moreover, when it comes to technology, time to market matters most. The result is that what we get is 1) bloated, and 2) not properly tested.
So I get a mobile network that allows me to make video calls (which I couldn't care less about, and I don't think I'm alone here) but is less reliable than the plain old telephone service. Full-duplex, six-color, 20ppm printers are made of such flimsy plastic that I'm worried I'll break the thing apart every time I change the toner. My phone takes 30 seconds just to boot up. My DVD player decided that, after two full years of service, the disc tray had had enough and wouldn't open anymore.
Overall, I think it's just that marketing took over and engineering got screwed.