this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2025

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Why Germans put up with snail-speed internet (english.elpais.com)

submitted 3 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

12 comments fedilink hide all child comments

During the last UEFA European Football Championship, it wasn’t just the trains that were always running late or the fact that many stores only accepted cash that made Germany look bad. Criticism of the country’s terrible wi-fi connections was also shared with the rest of the world. Germans seem resigned to their spotty coverage, and the country has been trying to deal with the issue for years. At this point, some residents take the problem in stride. “Of course, it’s normal that there’s no signal here, there are a lot of us in the same place,” said a German journalist after leaving a screening at the Berlin Film Festival, upon hearing the complaints of her foreign peers about the lack of reception. Some of the writers from other countries jokingly pointed out that they had better wi-fi in any remote town on the island of Mallorca than they did right there. in the center of Berlin.

Germany has a serious mobile and internet coverage problem, not just in isolated areas, but also in big cities like Berlin and Munich. Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel has spoken about the issue, and what it means for businesses, on various occasions, and has mentioned Spain as an example of a country that has done well in the area of digitalization and high-speed internet.

Some Germans did note that the subject of artificial intelligence appeared to be absent from the last German elections. “How are we going to debate about AI if we don’t even have internet in downtown Munich?,” two young people seated in front of their laptops at a café in the capital complained, only half jokingly.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Criticism of the country’s terrible wi-fi connections was also shared with the rest of the world. Germans seem resigned to their spotty coverage, and the country has been trying to deal with the issue for years. At this point, some residents take the problem in stride. “Of course, it’s normal that there’s no signal here, there are a lot of us in the same place,” said a German journalist after leaving a screening at the Berlin Film Festival, upon hearing the complaints of her foreign peers about the lack of reception. Some of the writers from other countries jokingly pointed out that they had better wi-fi in any remote town on the island of Mallorca than they did right there. in the center of Berlin.

I don‘t think the author knows the difference between Wifi and mobile coverage

Nevertheless it‘s true that Germany is far behind in both areas: mobile coverage and broadband

[–] [email protected] 13 points 3 days ago

The #1 reason for slow progress in mobile (cell) availability and data speed in Germany was not even mentioned in the article: Radio licenses for frequencies in UMTS and LTE were auctioned by the state, and telecom providers had to pay absurd sums to be able to even participate. On top of this financial burden of course they had to invest into their infrastructure. As companies have to make a profit to survive, this lead to high prices and slow expansion of infrastructure.

Reason #2 is probably Deutsche Telekom. This is the privatized prior state monopoly and they profit off of their dominant position in the market and some extra regulation in their favor. They still operate much like a government agency and this stifles progress and makes it hard for other companies to compete.

TL;DR it's an absolute shitshow

[–] [email protected] 12 points 3 days ago (1 children)

I had a fiberglass access point installed in my house. Five years ago. It's still dark. Last winter a person from the Internet provider came to my house to determine which work already has been done as all documentation has been lost. I've given up all hope to get a working fiber access point and have switched to a more or less working dsl/mobile LTE ( of course 5 G is not available at my location) hybrid solution. Now I have the legal hassle to get out of the contract with the fiber company.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Ah, interesting, I was considering something like this when all options I had were a very unstable cable and a very unstable LTE, thankfully wireless spectrum auctions got unclogged recently and I’m on 5G now after years of misery.

Do you have both working in tandem or is one a fallback?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 days ago

They are both working in tandem. It works quite well most of the time. There seems to be some sort of load balancer on the other side which decides which route the Packets go. But i had to retire my trusty Fritzbox and take the Telekom Router that Supports hybrid Internet.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (1 children)

The takeaway is that german consumers are not sharing their wi-fi networks with randos or germans have not upgraded their wi-fi access points in 20 years. Not sure why anyone would expect a wi-fi connection outside their own home anyway. Sure, the buss company, the airport or your educational institution might offer wi-fi while you visit their facilities. But germany, as a country, offering wi-fi everywhere seems a crazy expectation.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago

i mean i wouldn't expect homes to share their wifi, but surely it's standard in most of the world for most businesses to have public wifi? especially stuff like cafés where people will sit down and want to use their phones.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Bad WiFi? Or bad broadband?

[–] [email protected] 7 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Non-technical people quoted use „WiFi” as a shorthand for internet in general. I don’t think author confuses them and speaks to general cell coverage and bandwidth issues.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

Could be.
In Germany we talk about either "Internet" or "WLAN". I have never heard anyone referring to internet connection with "WiFi".

[–] [email protected] 3 points 3 days ago

Both tbh.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 3 days ago

Meanwhile Schleswig-Hohlstein (northernmost part of Germany) with 70% coverage of fiber: Pathetic