You know: on some days your internet connection crumbles, at some point it is completely dead. You call your provider, shimmy through questions from a machine porter and put yourself on hold. There is another way: you can be called by the responsible minister in person. However, you might have to wait years.

The internet is full of hot IT news and stale pr0n. In between there are always pearls that are too good for / dev / null.

This can now be seen in the case of a 17 – year-old student from the Bavarian town of Vierkirchen. Like so many young people, she is currently schooling at home, but has poor internet there. She gave a lecture on video conferencing, thickly wrapped in a hat, scarf and gloves in the snow-covered garden in front of the house, because the reception is more or less there. Scheuer, Federal Minister for Digital Infrastructure, found out about this and called Vierkirchen. The student is quoted in various media reports as quoted in various media reports.

Wave of excitement. A few minutes after the phone call, the Internet provider got in touch and promised to move the connection by Monday at the latest The pupil’s father reported: “We hardly have internet, not even with the cell phone.” The problems had existed for years, technicians kept coming by, but nothing had changed.

So far, so good . There are at least two catches to the story: Scheuer didn’t just find out about the problem of the 17 – year-olds, her father had apparently at least made wind through Facebook . Today a wave of excitement can build up quickly in the social networks, which not even a minister can withstand.

These waves can rush up as high as a tower, but also quickly die away again. Perhaps on Monday there will be no more crows and no one is interested in whether the Internet provider has actually moved the connection by then. In any case, the wave of excitation will not have spilled over into the white spots of the broadband landscape, where Scheuer or his Ministry for Digital Infrastructure have not yet intervened personally to improve coverage. (anw)