In the developed world, we take fast Internet connections for granted, but for millions of people 2G connections are the norm. To help its developers become more sensitive to these users, Facebook has instituted a new “2G Tuesday” program. Every Tuesday, developers have the option of opting in to the program, which slows down their network connections.
“On Tuesdays, employees will get a pop-up that gives them the option to simulate a 2G connection,” blogged Chris Marra, a Facebook product manager. “We hope this will help us understand how people with 2G connectivity use our product, so we can address issues and pain points in future builds.”
eWeek’s Todd R. Weiss writes, “More apps developers and companies should be doing this exact kind of testing so they can see how things they are building work for real out in the wild on myriad devices and at a variety of network speeds.”