

Offer HN: I'll test your web app from Tanzania - thebenedict
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ynd2R3iXkpGE-XOAbX5szXv7RqIbxc_HDzvn-5tyc9A/viewform?usp=send_form

======
jakobegger
If you work on anything web related and you have a Mac or an iOS device, I
strongly encourage you to try the "Network Link Conditioner". It's a
preference pane (on OS X) or a setting (on iOS) that allows you to simulate
different types of networks. You can artificially limit bandwidth and
transmission delay, simulate package loss and DNS delay.

For me, it's become an essential tool for testing website & app performance.

~~~
skrebbel
Nice! Does anyone know whether something like this exists on Windows?

~~~
scott_karana
I like "clumsy", which has a perfect animated GIF showing the app:

[http://jagt.github.io/clumsy/index.html](http://jagt.github.io/clumsy/index.html)

~~~
marasal
This is great. Thanks.

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throwaway88509
You don't have to go to Africa for network latency testing. Here's McDonald's
Sunnyvale today:

64 bytes from 72.9.103.50: icmp_seq=32201 ttl=47 time=3894.012 ms 64 bytes
from 72.9.103.50: icmp_seq=32202 ttl=47 time=4160.846 ms 64 bytes from
72.9.103.50: icmp_seq=32203 ttl=47 time=4438.250 ms 64 bytes from 72.9.103.50:
icmp_seq=32205 ttl=47 time=4511.332 ms 64 bytes from 72.9.103.50:
icmp_seq=32206 ttl=47 time=4877.157 ms 64 bytes from 72.9.103.50:
icmp_seq=32207 ttl=47 time=4230.125 ms 64 bytes from 72.9.103.50:
icmp_seq=32208 ttl=47 time=4140.820 ms 64 bytes from 72.9.103.50:
icmp_seq=32209 ttl=47 time=3657.129 ms 64 bytes from 72.9.103.50:
icmp_seq=32210 ttl=47 time=3668.067 ms 64 bytes from 72.9.103.50:
icmp_seq=32211 ttl=47 time=3978.231 ms 64 bytes from 72.9.103.50:
icmp_seq=32212 ttl=47 time=3639.352 ms 64 bytes from 72.9.103.50:
icmp_seq=32213 ttl=47 time=3559.121 ms 64 bytes from 72.9.103.50:
icmp_seq=32214 ttl=47 time=3362.324 ms

------
Erwin
For every other location BUT Africa you can get a speed test from this site:
[http://www.webpagetest.org/](http://www.webpagetest.org/) \-- this also lets
you different browsers and run an initial + repeated (with something cached)
test.

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leesalminen
Very cool! I work with the Anglican Diocese of Central Tanganyika. We host out
of the U.S., and they are always complaining of page load time issues.

Do you know of/recommend any local hosts?

~~~
thebenedict
Hi! I've heard good things about Habari Node[1], and Angania[2] is a startup
working on Nairobi-based hosting. That said, I and most developers I know in
the region host internationally. As others have mentioned latency is usually a
bigger problem than bandwidth. Happy to take a look at your site if helpful
(just add it to the form).

[1] ([http://www.habari.co.tz/](http://www.habari.co.tz/)) [2]
([https://angani.co/](https://angani.co/))

------
ghuntley
From personal experience whilst traveling through Tanzania & Kenya using a 4G
modem from Safaricom the issue was/is latency. Bandwidth is plentiful but the
latency is horrible which resulted in AJAX applications timing out before
requests could be completed. Example of this was Gmail, the application would
not even function in AJAX mode but switching to plain HTML mode, whilst it
took forever, worked like a charm every time.

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justindocanto
You may want to update what facebook has stored for your form's OG data as it
has some old info/screenshots.

What I see: [http://imgur.com/2OPznGX](http://imgur.com/2OPznGX)

Update here:
[https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/](https://developers.facebook.com/tools/debug/)

------
jrlocke
AaaS - Africa as a service

~~~
buyx
It's a cool idea, but it is really just TaaS (Tanzania as a Service), or maybe
South-east Africa as a service (decent submarine cable connections). From what
I've heard bandwidth remains prohibitively expensive in places like Namibia
and Botswana, while it is increasingly cheap in South Africa, where I was able
to smoothly stream ''House of Cards'' from Netflix (via proxy) using an
uncapped connection.

TlDR: Africa is not a country

------
pyvpx
you mind doing some traceroutes to 4.2.2.2 and 8.8.8.8 just out of curiosity?
:)

~~~
thebenedict
Sure. I'm on Smile Tanzania atm, a 4G carrier (though slower than 4G in the US
or Europe). This isn't the carrier I'll use for web app tests.

[http://dpaste.com/129AKD2](http://dpaste.com/129AKD2)
[http://dpaste.com/37YE2VY](http://dpaste.com/37YE2VY)

~~~
mhogomchungu
Tanzanian here writing this from dar es salaam,Tanzania.

I have never hear of this "smile" company so i looked them up and their
prices[1] seem ridiculous.

I use vodacom and i pay 20,000 shillings a month for unlimited internet.This
company charges 17,500 a month for 1GB.

vodacom,like other companies also have more options[2].

Why do you use this company?

ps: 1USD is equivalent to about 1500 shillings so 20000 shillings is about
13USD

[1] [http://smile.co.tz/products-services/](http://smile.co.tz/products-
services/)

[2]
[https://www.vodacom.co.tz/internetservices/prepaid_packages/...](https://www.vodacom.co.tz/internetservices/prepaid_packages/cheka-
internet)

~~~
thebenedict
Hi! I use Smile because it's a little faster and significantly more reliable
than the others. Most of my business and personal communication abroad happens
via video Skype. Voda and Airtel are sometimes fast enough, but often aren't
especially during peak times. I hate having to tell clients that my connection
isn't good enough for a scheduled call.

For an idea of what I'm talking about, here's 70 second pings to google.com
from an especially frustrating morning in January on Vodacom TZ:
[http://i.imgur.com/5urJcd7.png](http://i.imgur.com/5urJcd7.png). This isn't
typical but happens often enough to be a problem.

With Smile I'm paying rates comparable to 4G service in the US, e.g.
TMobile[1]. The service isn't nearly as fast (peak I've seen is ~3.5
Megabytes/sec download) but the reliability makes it worth it. I suspect I'm
paying as much for lower contention ratios on the towers as for "4G"
infrastructure, but the end result is the same.

[1] ([http://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans/mobile-
internet.htm...](http://www.t-mobile.com/cell-phone-plans/mobile-
internet.html))

~~~
moe
_here 's 70 second pings to google.com_

Wow. I wonder where on the link a packet can get stuck for so long without
being dropped.

RFC 1149 comes to mind...
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_over_Avian_Carriers](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IP_over_Avian_Carriers))

------
albemuth
There's also the excellent Charles Proxy that serves as a mitm proxy and lets
you throttle the connection among other things.

------
3327
So how is it living there? Curios... I live in NYC, my brother is flying out
to test out his micro solar chargers...Any insights?

~~~
thebenedict
The tech community is smallish but it's an easy place to live. Feel free to
ping me with specific q's, or if your brother wants to grab a coffee if he
passes through Dar. My email is my HN handle at gmail.

------
disordinary
Nice service, thanks for offering it.

------
kumarski
Je, mtu yeyote hapa kusema swahili?.......

~~~
mhogomchungu
kiswahili lugha yangu ya kwanza kama mtanzania niliyezaliwa na kukulia dar es
salaam,tanzania.

kuna watanzania wengi tu hapa HN na walijitokeza kwenye thread moja miezi
michache iliyopita. Siwezi kupost link ya hiyo thread sababu siikumbuki link
yenyewe na nahisi uvivu kuitafuta.

~~~
thebenedict
A few folks showed up here:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7837397](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7837397)

