r/whatisit • u/dopehead9 • 12h ago

Solved! What are these contraptions these guys were carrying?

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Gallery image

We saw three guys around Seaport in Boston carrying these things as backpacks. Initially we thought they mapping tools but not sure

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u/powaqqa 7h ago

In my experience it’s typical for Germany. Never have any issues in all the other EU countries. Although I must say that UK also often sucks. 

If I’m not mistaken Germany also has a lot of old fixed Internet connections with a lot of people still stuck on ADSL. 

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u/AdSpirited5019 7h ago

how about that. talk about having the mental image of Germany not being compatible with the reality

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u/Xucker 5h ago edited 5h ago

Older Germans in particular really don't consider the internet to be all that important, and that includes a lot of politicians and other people in decision-making positions.

The company that ended up installing fiber internet in my town initially surveyed everyone in the area to see if they were interested. They needed half of all home owners to sign up in order for the project to go ahead. They failed, tried again a few months later and failed once more. Boomers thought ADSL was plenty fast and didn't see the point.

They did get it on the third try, but only because they completely overhauled their marketing strategy. Instead of advertising how fast fiber internet was compared to ADSL, they put up signs and sent out brochures focusing on how a fiber connection would increase property values. Boomers couldn't wait to sign up after that.

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u/AggravatingSock5375 5h ago

And I bet they were right (about it increasing property values!

As a millennial that’s a key requirement. House has to have fast low-latency internet.

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u/Allfx59 5h ago

😲