Packet loss and rural links: what the client should do

I volunteer at a coding club in a village where the best connection is a mobile signal on top of a hill. We tested the YU Connect alpha there.

Observations:

• The snapshot download restarted from zero twice when the signal dropped.
• No visible progress, so kids thought it froze.
• When it finally worked, everything was fast.

Requests: resume partial downloads, show a plain progress line, and cache the last good snapshot with a clear 'last updated' label. Rural is not an edge case here, it's half the map.

All three are cheap to add. HTTP range requests for resume, a hash check on the final file, and a local cache. I'll open issues today.

I can design the progress text: 'Updating names: 62 percent. You can keep using the last saved list.' Sentences, not spinners.

If bytes arrive by any route, signature check keeps them honest. Sneakernet updates, USB sticks, why not.

Thank you all, I will tell the kids their complaint became a feature. They'll be insufferable.