Comments on: Disconnect

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sun, 10 May 2009 03:00:16 +0000

In my market the phone company and the cable company magically charge exactly the same price for their services.

The phone company uses buried cables which aren’t constantly getting broken during storms.

The cable network has been soaking up bandwidth with new services without increasing cable capacity, so the system is getting visibly slower over time, while my DSL speed has increased recently because of better technology.

If you are in an area that has competition, you will certainly be able to make better choices than I have, but at some point I will probably shift to satellite to say good bye to both of the local monopolies.

By: SSG

SSG — Sun, 10 May 2009 02:31:38 +0000

Why do you think DSL is better? It tends to be slower and more expensive than cable internet, and in some places (this varies, of course), it’s unreliable. The only advantage of DSL is the you’re not sharing bandwidth with the whole neighborhood, but that’s not worth the higher price. JMO, of course.

OT -you’ve got a beautiful blog here. I’ve always loved this theme, used it myself, a while back. It wasn’t as nice as yours, though.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Sat, 09 May 2009 04:20:47 +0000

If DSL service wasn’t a much better value than cable, I would dump the landline in a heart beat. It provides me with nothing but another annoying cable.

By: SSG

SSG — Sat, 09 May 2009 02:54:26 +0000

I went cell-only years ago, and I’ve never regretted it.

By: Bryan

Bryan — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:22:44 +0000

We had Central Telephone which was bought by Sprint while was spun off as Embarq, and the service has declined while the cost has jumped up. It’s all about profit because they need high profits to pay the debts they have run up buying out the smaller companies.

They have de facto monopolies, so they just don’t care about customers. Large shareholders and the upper management are the only voices heard in the modern business environment.

By: hipparchia

hipparchia — Thu, 07 May 2009 07:28:43 +0000

i love love love my prepaid cell phone, had it for some years now. i have some trouble waaaaay out in the boonies, but mostly the coverage is good and the price is great. most of the cell phone towers here do have generators, so the problem after hurricanes tends to be from damage to the tower or to the equipment up there on top of the tower. after ivan, my cell phone service and landline service both were about equally iffy the first couple of days. lessee... i think the timeline goes like this... i loved at&t for a long time, then they split up and they were still way better than bellsouth, but gradually the two companies switched places, with bellsouth becoming downright excellent and at&t becoming downright crappy, so i switched and was happy again for a time. then at&t took over bellsouth and ruined it all, both on service and on price. hipparchia´s last blog post..

By: Bryan

Bryan — Thu, 07 May 2009 06:01:01 +0000

I just posted my update. I went with a local TV station and the LA Times because the big guys aren’t talking. A visit from Miss California or a missing child might wake them up, but otherwise, nada.

Disaster tourists are the lowest form of life.

By: cookie jill

cookie jill — Thu, 07 May 2009 05:50:29 +0000

Right now it’s Hades….we set a record temp of 100 degrees today…winds gusting up to 60 mph…right now at 11:00 or so it’s close to 80 degrees….the sky is glowing…the new helicopters are lined up to get that killer shot. 3 firefighters had to be escorted to the burn center down south…we had a visiting truckload of firefighters manage to stay alive by finding shelter in the garage of the house they were trying to save but lost their truck..the fire melted it.

The only real problem I had with cellphones this afternoon was all the lookyloos leaning out their car slowing down with cellphone cameras in hand.

cookie jill´s last blog post..To quote Alannis….

By: Bryan

Bryan — Thu, 07 May 2009 05:33:59 +0000

Down here the first phone service to die is that from the cable company because their lines are on poles and are dependent on customers have power to their modems.

Second is the landline phones, because while the lines are buried, their switches are too close to the coast and often get flooded. Their little green patch boxes also get shorted out by water.

The cell phone system is the only thing that works after a hurricane because their systems are inland and do have emergency power. I assume there are agreements through the Florida Emergency Management system and Public Utilities commission.

They may not work in Northern California, Badtux, but they are the only way to stay connected in Florida.

Sherri, I get charged $40 per month, and I pay 50¢ per minute for long distance, which I never use. The only reason I have a landline, is that you can’t get the local phone company to unbundle DSL from landline service. Basic telephone service with no extra features is $30/month, but the DSL package requires you have the “Standard” service.

Experience has taught me the same thing, Jill.

By: cookie jill

cookie jill — Thu, 07 May 2009 05:17:51 +0000

Well...I have to say that cell phones have been a godsend during our fires. Sure the connection is a little dicey at times...but truly helpful cookie jill´s last blog post..To quote Alannis....