Wi-Tribe Consumer Panel Day 5

When I reached home at 7pm, the news was good. Witribe had performed better throughout the day. The only problem was the cable getting in the way.
I embarked on another expedition in search of the golden spot. This time I found one, which although not as good as the current one, was good enough especially since the cable won’t be getting in the way.

I checked all the parameters with the speed test. For the first time, the ping rate was less than 100ms. But I do have some reservations about these tests. Even when the going is bad, these tests don’t really reflect it. The ping test, however, does a better job of reflecting the ground reality, but even that is not 100% fool-proof.

Wi-Tribe Consumer Panel- Day4

Day 4 was the worst.
When I returned from office, I was informed by the family that the performance was worse than dial-up and the modem showed remarkable consistency in getting hung up at every available opportunity. I smsed the guy explaining the situation and reminding him the need for a lengthier cable. He finally arrives at 10pm, with the wire and another device. He brought the device because he said there are only two reasons that the device ‘decamps’. Either the CPE is faulty, or the signal is too weak to provide sustainable coverage.


After attaching the new cable, he checked the old device for signals throughout my room, and finally concluded that the signal variation was too much and hence the device getting hung up, otherwise there was nothing wrong with the device.
He left me with the old device and the dilemma whether to continue with Wi-tribe or cancel the subscription for which I had only two days left.
Although the rep was polite and helpful, he left me with another problem – a not too long cable. I had asked for at least 25 feet, he brought one which was not more than 20 feet. I asked why, he said that for that long a cable, he would have to get permission which would have delayed my getting the cable. Whether that’s the truth or he just said it to get me off his back I can’t say. Only the Witribe management can answer that.

After he left, I spent the next hour running around the house with the device tethered to the PC as far as the cable would go. I finally placed the device just across from my room where the signal strength was the maximum.

It got better but then the issue of cable getting in the way of the feet arose. I was too tired by the end of this exercise to change the position again.

Wi-Tribe Consumer Panel- Day 3

Being a Sunday, I didn’t expect the Wi-tribe service to be any good. So it came as a pleasant surprise that it ran smoothly, not great mind you. The fluctuation was still too much. One minute you had the network flying like a F-117, the very next minute it was crawling like a camel cart.

Like the browsing speed, the same condition was seen in the downloading as well, only here you could see the enormous variations reflected in the speeds. Although the sales rep had said when asked about the theoretical and the actual download speed available that both the theoretical and the actual download speed was not much different- 64 theoretical, and 60-62 actual, in reality it varied from 64 to 24 in a matter of seconds.


In the evening, the overall network speed had declined dramatically. This could be the result of the rush hour traffic. But if witribe in its infancy cannot provide consistent speed at the peak hour when its users are not that much, what can we expect when the population reaches critical mass?

Wi-Tribe Consumer Panel- Day 2

I called the guy up asking him for a lengthier Ethernet cable- about 25 feet – to reach the area where the signal strength was maximum.



When I returned from the office at about 7pm I got the new that the net performed dismally throughout the day, even worse than a dial-up connection. The biggest problem was that the modem was getting hung up, ‘decamping’ as the guy said.


However, at night although the signals were still fluctuating between 2 and 3, the Witribe service was better.

Wi-Tribe Consumer Panel- Day 1

What little was left of the day I spent carrying the device to every nook and corner of the house, desperately trying to find an area where the signal strength was good enough to place the device while my family wondered why I had gone bonkers running around the house with a strange black box in my hand. Finally I did manage to find a few spots where the strength was maximum, only problem was, the Ethernet cable wasn’t long enough to get there and I didn’t have any Wifi device to test the coverage there.
In the end I explained the strange device to the family, asking them to test the internet connection as much as possible in my absence.