Some signup problems have been fixed, servers have been upgraded, and speeds and active users have been steadily increasing!
You shouldn't need signups, servers, or speed. SMTs better fix this. You're supposed to run applications directly on the Steem blockchain and use their accounts/security, servers, speed... otherwise... what's the point?
Honestly I am really glad the chat is not going to the blockchain. :D
Also I can't imagine continuous chat would work perfectly on Steem blockchain, as even the 3 second delays between the blocks would make the chatting a bit clunky.
fair enough.