Dis-connected

I have fast Wifi at home because I live a short distance from the telephone exchange.

I benefit from good 3G and phone reception coverage because I live in a large town.

I couldn't live on the shores of Loch Achray because, as a location, it benefits from none of these things.

On much of the literature for local attractions there was the encouragement to "follow on Twitter", "like on Facebook" or "download our app."   The most ironic of these was the "Scotland" app: the app for tourists.  In the weak 3G signal available in the nearest town I found the app and clicked to install.  An error message told me I needed to download the app via Wifi.  I waited until I returned to base and the weak Wifi on site.  I tried again via Wifi which was laughable as the Wifi here is slower than the worst 3G signal.  I've been in Scotland for a fortnight and will only be able to download the app when I get back home, in Essex.

Ironically even if I had been able to download the app at home before coming on holiday I might not have been able to use it.  I've seen a lot of Olympics coverage promoting the Olympics app which I was able to download over the pitifully slow local Wifi.  The trouble is that this app requires a 3G signal or Wifi in order to update with news.  Without 3G it is useless.