The citizens do not get to vote. Right now, Verizon is pulling out of northern New England (NH, VT, ME). The public, by a very large majority, is against this move. Why? Everyone wants FiOS. Why do we want FiOS? Because it will compete with the monopoly cable TV company for both cable TV customers and Internet customers.
It will greatly raise the bar in terms of bandwidth. Without FiOS, there is no competition and there is no reason for the monopoly cable company to raise data rates or come up with lower priced options. They can bend us over and we either take it, or go without.
Sure, there's satellite. I'm a customer of theirs. It's fine if you own a home or an apartment where you can place a dish (despite the FCC, it's not always possible). You don't get any on-demand services and you don't get municipal channels. It's close, but not quite the same thing.
Then there's DSL. Yep, I have that too. It's god awful slow. Why? Because there are a lot of satellite customers like me that don't well to shell out the big bucks to get unbundled Internet from the cable company. It's only affordable in a package deal. So the DSL providers know they don't have to raise their bandwidth offerings, we're hostages.
But back to the point, why don't the people get to vote? Like I said, Verizon is pulling out. We're all against it. Hordes of people went to every public PUC meeting and put down this idea. Hordes wrote the papers, wrote the PUC, wrote their government officials. What came of it? The PUC approved the deal in all three states. Democracy indeed.
Too expensive and their tech support isn't all it's cracked up to be. I get a whopping 1.5/384 for ~$70/mo. That's a lot of money for slow Internet. I've had problems with it lately, I can't pass data but the DSL light still shows it's connected. Their techs have been 100% useless. They admit they see a drop off in frames when it happens, but then they say there's no problem.
I can't have the net disappear for 15 minutes at a time if I'm working from home on VPN. Worse, no matter when I call I get a recording "we're experiencing longer than average hold times". I don't know what their average must be if they're ALWAYS having long hold times. They won't open tickets on connection related issues over the net and they won't take a number and call back. It's horrible. Verizon isn't even that bad.
I've stuck with them because I like that they give static IPs, they allow servers, and they're open about sharing wifi. But seriously, the link is way too slow to run servers.. tried that. It's way too slow for just myself, wouldn't even dream of letting others in on wifi. And if I can't use it for running servers.. I don't need the static IP.
So what does that leave me with? Overpriced slow Internet that doesn't always work. Awesome!
I'm probably going to switch to my only other option, Comcast. Ugh.
I don't know what the rest of the state uses for vote counting, but in my town we fill in bubbles on a paper sheet. That sheet is then fed to the counting machine (Diebold?) and keeps the paper sheet. So there should be paper ballots to count.
I haven't heard from anyone else I know in the state that they're using electronic only voting.
All this talk about ripping to get around the annoying FBI, MPAA "Don't steal this", and ad segments has me thinking.. if I had a media center PC in my living room, is there a software DVD player that would enable me to play from the original DVD, but skip those bits? I mean, why go through the bother of ripping and wasting blanks? I've never had a reason to assemble a media center PC, but if it could do this.. it'd be worth it to me.
I'm in Nashua as well, and pissed that Verizon is handing over the reigns to Fairpoint. It's a done deal in their eyes, even though I'm pretty sure it hasn't been approved yet.
Fairpoint is pitching DSL to all the hick towns up in the rural areas. How is that a selling point to those of us in the cities? We're completely neglected in this deal, even though we're the vast majority of the population.
I get TV from DirecTV, so there's no way I'm paying Comcast for Internet at their higher "you're not a real customer" rates. I'm stuck with Speakeasy DSL for now, which charges an insane amount of money for a mere 1.5/384 connection.
The aldermen and mayor always talk about attracting tech workers to live in the city.. do they really think those workers want piss poor Internet connectivity?
I hope the Fairpoint deal gets denied, but I think we all know what's going to happen.
There's an off chance that Nashua might be saved. I know my exchange used to be served by the same on that served the 978 NPA in Tyngsboro. Maybe we might keep Verizon and have a chance at FiOS goodness. They originally pulled the installers out because they didn't want to have to deal with franchise rights in this area. It may have nothing to do with the Fairpoint deal.
I get the same cardboard ads, week after week. It's like they're taunting me. They installed fiber in many parts of my town, but now they're trying to pull out of NH, VT, and ME.. so we're SOL. The company that's supposed to come in and replace them has absolutely zero interest in offering fiber. It's especially annoying since I'm less than ten miles from MA, and there are areas of MA that have Fios.
So it's either DSL or cable. I get TV from DirecTV so cable is too expensive (unbundled). So it's slooooow DSL. Yay. We need more choices. We shouldn't be expected to pay good money for inferior bandwidth.
Yes, I think this is a big factor in this discussion. If the government has decided that using the DMCA to enforce phone locking was unfair to consumers, that leads to the opinion that unlocking is a legit practice. If that's so, then releasing an update that may break the device for legit users is a bit absurd.
I think it comes down to the fact that Apple has done evil here by tying the device to one carrier. They're not the first, but they are far more noticeable than other cell phone manufacturers. The iPhone is more of a "convergence device" than a cell phone, whereas other cell phones were perceived as cell phones that could play MP3s and sort of surf the Internet. They could have tried to do the right thing here, but they didn't.
I was surprised that my local hospital couldn't come up with either while I had a stay there, unable to speak. I had done a great job shattering my jaw. In the ER I answered by holding up fingers, which was frustrating because I couldn't express much other than yes or no. It wasn't until several days after surgery that a nurse finally came up with a pen and notepad.
If I was in pain or feeling nauseas or whatever, I could hit the call button but couldn't say anything. They'd have to come right away not knowing how urgent it was, and then it was a guessing game. As bad as a hospital experience can be, not being able to say anything makes it that much worse.
MSO = multi-system operator, which is a company that provides cable television service to more than one community. Comcast, Cablevision, RCN, Rogers, Videotron, etc are all MSOs. A community that provides their own cable services wouldn't be an MSO.
You absolutely are spamming. You're trying to sell something to people who aren't here to buy anything. You're flooding the comments with the same thing over and over, just like a vi3gr4 spammer.
I'm so sick of you Ron Paul zealots. It's the same shit on talk radio. Your legion of retards will flood a call-in show that has one of the leading candidates on and spoil the show for everyone.
The only thing I know about Ron Paul is that he unites the most ignorant, detestable people. That's not a candidate that's getting my vote.
I've been considering switching to Comcast from DSL, but I can't see paying a cable company when I have DirecTV. Those two are the only choices in my community. DSL or Comcast. I'm sure there are other DSL providers, but they're all just as slow.
The consumer doesn't have much choice, unless they want to move to an area with better Internet service.
I live in New England, so the terrain is very mountainous. Lots of curves, lots of steep terrain, lots of reasons to slow down and then speed up. We get strong wind gusts frequently, but I don't think that matters much. There are probably a dozen or so traffic lights scattered along the way, the traffic engineers here have never heard of the phrase "synchronized".
I have noticed that the first 10-15 minutes of driving do get lousy mileage. Traffic is usually heavy but moving. I take a few miles of highway and then twisting back roads the rest of the way.
Same here, 2006 Prius. I get between 50 and 52 MPG with day to day driving (40 min commute to work), except when it's freezing out. I still drive somewhat assertively, so the 60 MPG EPA figure shouldn't be unreachable if I really wanted it.
I don't understand the articles I see talking about hybrids getting new mileage ratings. At least with the Prius, I don't think they're inaccurate now, unless maybe if you lived in Alaska where it's freezing more of the time.
I want one of these for *gasp* reading books. I don't even want it to have mp3 capabilities, I have an iPod for that which I'm quite happy with. I have no problem with devices that do one thing and do it well. Devices that try to do everything tend to suck at everything.
Not only that, where's the money coming from? Us! We'd be handing our tax money over to greedy lawyers. Yea, there are fees for patents that could be adjusted to cover it, but it's easier to just raise taxes, like they do with anything else.
I agree, somewhat, but it would pose problems for technology. How do we kill off NTSC if everyone clung to their old standard definition set? Yea, fine, set top converters, but then we're missing the point of high definition, aren't we?
Similarly, what about things like energy efficient washing machines and low current LED lighting? Sometimes it makes sense to toss something that works fine for something new. What if I junked my 19mpg diesel pickup for a 50mpg hybrid? Is society better or worse off?
Besides technology, how would the economy function? I think capitalism will be the death of us, but I don't see it changing. If people don't spend money on trendy stuff like hybrid cars, LCD TVs, iPods and such, we'd nose-dive into recession. What did Bush say after the terror attacks? Go out, spend money. What did Japan say during their big economic slump? Go out, spend money.
Personally, I think we'd be best served by better recycling technology and better battery (or any energy storage) technology.
It already happens. USA networks (ugh) puts huge "Monk" or "The Closer" banner ads right over the bottom right corner of the program you're watching. I've seen some so bad that they take up the bottom third of the screen, usually near the end of a program.
It's gotten to the point where I won't watch USA anymore, nor TNT or a few of the others like them. What's the point when I'm not actually allowed to watch the show?
I can't understand why the show's producers don't fight the stations on it, the stations are obscuring their "artistic" work. Imagine if the Mona Lisa was 1/3rd covered by an ad for Enzyte (weird mental image there, huh?).
That's absurd. You're basically saying that you expect people to relocate to the town they work in, or along a mass transit route that serves that town everytime they change jobs. For all but the luckiest, a tech worker might stay at one company for a couple/few years. I don't know about you, but I'm not up for the travelling salesman always on the move lifestyle.
I don't see it as a choice. Businesses choose to locate away from mass transit options, that's not my choice. I may choose to work there, but that's not much of a choice either when the alternative is being homeless because I can't pay the bills.
Not really. If I knew I worked for a company that I work at for a great number of years, perhaps. That isn't the workforce of today. My "permanent" position might only last a year or two. I really have no desire to move everytime a company I work for reorganizes, downsizes, or does whatever that impacts my employment. Perhaps if I rented, that might make it easier, but I'm certainly not buying a new home and selling the last one every time.
You can't take everything on a train now because people who tend to go camping aren't going to take a train when they can drive. It's a chicken or the egg type of deal. If people couldn't drive themselves, there would have to be allowances on the common mode of transport for those activities. Why offer them now when people are going to drive no matter what?
Boston's Big Dig moved a major above ground route underground. They're supposedly converting the old route into parks. Of course there's some fighting over the land since it was debatably stolen to make the elevated highway and the previous owners want it back. I personally think that by the time they have it all sorted out, they'll need the space for roads again to increase capacity, since no one is going to want to pay for Big Dig 2.
Getting off track a bit.. I think it's outrageous that we're spending billions to make bigger and bigger roads. The highway system isn't scalable to the point we need it to be. They just finished expanding the highway I commute on from 2 lanes to 3 (in each direction). It helped, but it's going to draw more people to live in those communities now when they wouldn't have considered living there before because of the traffic. So then what? Four lanes? Five? Underground tunnels?
What we need is effective mass transport, at least in populated areas of the US like eastern MA. I don't want to be stuck on the highway everyday but there is no real alternative. I'd rather take rail if it were available, at least I could read or use a laptop or do something partially productive. That would also cut down on our dependency on oil, road rage, traffic fatalities, stress, insurance premiums, so on and so forth. Use the land the highways take up and build a decent rail system.
I'm sure there were some of those. People did call to complain about pretty much anything though, so I'm sure I would've heard if this was causing people grief. I think some of that had to do with communication. If my app blocked a purchase, I didn't just throw up a vague error code. The app would present the user with a nicely worded explanation stating that we received far too many fraudulent orders from free email services and certain ISPs. It went on to remind customers that fraudulent purchases would raise the prices for everyone.
I know many customers had to make their purchases from work, probably being AOL users at home. They were willing to, though, since they understood the reason why. Yea, for some people nothing will ever satisfy them. So be it.
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The citizens do not get to vote. Right now, Verizon is pulling out of northern New England (NH, VT, ME). The public, by a very large majority, is against this move. Why? Everyone wants FiOS. Why do we want FiOS? Because it will compete with the monopoly cable TV company for both cable TV customers and Internet customers.
It will greatly raise the bar in terms of bandwidth. Without FiOS, there is no competition and there is no reason for the monopoly cable company to raise data rates or come up with lower priced options. They can bend us over and we either take it, or go without.
Sure, there's satellite. I'm a customer of theirs. It's fine if you own a home or an apartment where you can place a dish (despite the FCC, it's not always possible). You don't get any on-demand services and you don't get municipal channels. It's close, but not quite the same thing.
Then there's DSL. Yep, I have that too. It's god awful slow. Why? Because there are a lot of satellite customers like me that don't well to shell out the big bucks to get unbundled Internet from the cable company. It's only affordable in a package deal. So the DSL providers know they don't have to raise their bandwidth offerings, we're hostages.
But back to the point, why don't the people get to vote? Like I said, Verizon is pulling out. We're all against it. Hordes of people went to every public PUC meeting and put down this idea. Hordes wrote the papers, wrote the PUC, wrote their government officials. What came of it? The PUC approved the deal in all three states. Democracy indeed.
Too expensive and their tech support isn't all it's cracked up to be. I get a whopping 1.5/384 for ~$70/mo. That's a lot of money for slow Internet. I've had problems with it lately, I can't pass data but the DSL light still shows it's connected. Their techs have been 100% useless. They admit they see a drop off in frames when it happens, but then they say there's no problem.
I can't have the net disappear for 15 minutes at a time if I'm working from home on VPN. Worse, no matter when I call I get a recording "we're experiencing longer than average hold times". I don't know what their average must be if they're ALWAYS having long hold times. They won't open tickets on connection related issues over the net and they won't take a number and call back. It's horrible. Verizon isn't even that bad.
I've stuck with them because I like that they give static IPs, they allow servers, and they're open about sharing wifi. But seriously, the link is way too slow to run servers.. tried that. It's way too slow for just myself, wouldn't even dream of letting others in on wifi. And if I can't use it for running servers.. I don't need the static IP.
So what does that leave me with? Overpriced slow Internet that doesn't always work. Awesome!
I'm probably going to switch to my only other option, Comcast. Ugh.
I don't know what the rest of the state uses for vote counting, but in my town we fill in bubbles on a paper sheet. That sheet is then fed to the counting machine (Diebold?) and keeps the paper sheet. So there should be paper ballots to count.
I haven't heard from anyone else I know in the state that they're using electronic only voting.
All this talk about ripping to get around the annoying FBI, MPAA "Don't steal this", and ad segments has me thinking.. if I had a media center PC in my living room, is there a software DVD player that would enable me to play from the original DVD, but skip those bits? I mean, why go through the bother of ripping and wasting blanks? I've never had a reason to assemble a media center PC, but if it could do this.. it'd be worth it to me.
I'm in Nashua as well, and pissed that Verizon is handing over the reigns to Fairpoint. It's a done deal in their eyes, even though I'm pretty sure it hasn't been approved yet.
Fairpoint is pitching DSL to all the hick towns up in the rural areas. How is that a selling point to those of us in the cities? We're completely neglected in this deal, even though we're the vast majority of the population.
I get TV from DirecTV, so there's no way I'm paying Comcast for Internet at their higher "you're not a real customer" rates. I'm stuck with Speakeasy DSL for now, which charges an insane amount of money for a mere 1.5/384 connection.
The aldermen and mayor always talk about attracting tech workers to live in the city.. do they really think those workers want piss poor Internet connectivity?
I hope the Fairpoint deal gets denied, but I think we all know what's going to happen.
There's an off chance that Nashua might be saved. I know my exchange used to be served by the same on that served the 978 NPA in Tyngsboro. Maybe we might keep Verizon and have a chance at FiOS goodness. They originally pulled the installers out because they didn't want to have to deal with franchise rights in this area. It may have nothing to do with the Fairpoint deal.
I get the same cardboard ads, week after week. It's like they're taunting me. They installed fiber in many parts of my town, but now they're trying to pull out of NH, VT, and ME.. so we're SOL. The company that's supposed to come in and replace them has absolutely zero interest in offering fiber. It's especially annoying since I'm less than ten miles from MA, and there are areas of MA that have Fios.
So it's either DSL or cable. I get TV from DirecTV so cable is too expensive (unbundled). So it's slooooow DSL. Yay. We need more choices. We shouldn't be expected to pay good money for inferior bandwidth.
Yes, I think this is a big factor in this discussion. If the government has decided that using the DMCA to enforce phone locking was unfair to consumers, that leads to the opinion that unlocking is a legit practice. If that's so, then releasing an update that may break the device for legit users is a bit absurd.
I think it comes down to the fact that Apple has done evil here by tying the device to one carrier. They're not the first, but they are far more noticeable than other cell phone manufacturers. The iPhone is more of a "convergence device" than a cell phone, whereas other cell phones were perceived as cell phones that could play MP3s and sort of surf the Internet. They could have tried to do the right thing here, but they didn't.
I was surprised that my local hospital couldn't come up with either while I had a stay there, unable to speak. I had done a great job shattering my jaw. In the ER I answered by holding up fingers, which was frustrating because I couldn't express much other than yes or no. It wasn't until several days after surgery that a nurse finally came up with a pen and notepad.
If I was in pain or feeling nauseas or whatever, I could hit the call button but couldn't say anything. They'd have to come right away not knowing how urgent it was, and then it was a guessing game. As bad as a hospital experience can be, not being able to say anything makes it that much worse.
MSO = multi-system operator, which is a company that provides cable television service to more than one community. Comcast, Cablevision, RCN, Rogers, Videotron, etc are all MSOs. A community that provides their own cable services wouldn't be an MSO.
You absolutely are spamming. You're trying to sell something to people who aren't here to buy anything. You're flooding the comments with the same thing over and over, just like a vi3gr4 spammer.
I'm so sick of you Ron Paul zealots. It's the same shit on talk radio. Your legion of retards will flood a call-in show that has one of the leading candidates on and spoil the show for everyone.
The only thing I know about Ron Paul is that he unites the most ignorant, detestable people. That's not a candidate that's getting my vote.
Force it onto users? Is Microsoft sending out the software gestapo and demanding that you purchase their new operating system?
They developed the software, they get to choose which standards it will comply with.
Use what instead? Incredibly slow DSL?
I've been considering switching to Comcast from DSL, but I can't see paying a cable company when I have DirecTV. Those two are the only choices in my community. DSL or Comcast. I'm sure there are other DSL providers, but they're all just as slow.
The consumer doesn't have much choice, unless they want to move to an area with better Internet service.
Well then, that's an added bonus, isn't it? It not only weeds out the spam bots, but also the celebrity know-nothings.
I live in New England, so the terrain is very mountainous. Lots of curves, lots of steep terrain, lots of reasons to slow down and then speed up. We get strong wind gusts frequently, but I don't think that matters much. There are probably a dozen or so traffic lights scattered along the way, the traffic engineers here have never heard of the phrase "synchronized".
I have noticed that the first 10-15 minutes of driving do get lousy mileage. Traffic is usually heavy but moving. I take a few miles of highway and then twisting back roads the rest of the way.
Same here, 2006 Prius. I get between 50 and 52 MPG with day to day driving (40 min commute to work), except when it's freezing out. I still drive somewhat assertively, so the 60 MPG EPA figure shouldn't be unreachable if I really wanted it.
I don't understand the articles I see talking about hybrids getting new mileage ratings. At least with the Prius, I don't think they're inaccurate now, unless maybe if you lived in Alaska where it's freezing more of the time.
It's an ebook reader, not an mp3 player or a PDA.
I want one of these for *gasp* reading books. I don't even want it to have mp3 capabilities, I have an iPod for that which I'm quite happy with. I have no problem with devices that do one thing and do it well. Devices that try to do everything tend to suck at everything.
I got them to leave me alone by telling them I was unemployed. They hang up real quick and haven't bothered to call back in over a year now.
Not only that, where's the money coming from? Us! We'd be handing our tax money over to greedy lawyers. Yea, there are fees for patents that could be adjusted to cover it, but it's easier to just raise taxes, like they do with anything else.
I agree, somewhat, but it would pose problems for technology. How do we kill off NTSC if everyone clung to their old standard definition set? Yea, fine, set top converters, but then we're missing the point of high definition, aren't we?
Similarly, what about things like energy efficient washing machines and low current LED lighting? Sometimes it makes sense to toss something that works fine for something new. What if I junked my 19mpg diesel pickup for a 50mpg hybrid? Is society better or worse off?
Besides technology, how would the economy function? I think capitalism will be the death of us, but I don't see it changing. If people don't spend money on trendy stuff like hybrid cars, LCD TVs, iPods and such, we'd nose-dive into recession. What did Bush say after the terror attacks? Go out, spend money. What did Japan say during their big economic slump? Go out, spend money.
Personally, I think we'd be best served by better recycling technology and better battery (or any energy storage) technology.
It already happens. USA networks (ugh) puts huge "Monk" or "The Closer" banner ads right over the bottom right corner of the program you're watching. I've seen some so bad that they take up the bottom third of the screen, usually near the end of a program.
It's gotten to the point where I won't watch USA anymore, nor TNT or a few of the others like them. What's the point when I'm not actually allowed to watch the show?
I can't understand why the show's producers don't fight the stations on it, the stations are obscuring their "artistic" work. Imagine if the Mona Lisa was 1/3rd covered by an ad for Enzyte (weird mental image there, huh?).
That's absurd. You're basically saying that you expect people to relocate to the town they work in, or along a mass transit route that serves that town everytime they change jobs. For all but the luckiest, a tech worker might stay at one company for a couple/few years. I don't know about you, but I'm not up for the travelling salesman always on the move lifestyle.
I don't see it as a choice. Businesses choose to locate away from mass transit options, that's not my choice. I may choose to work there, but that's not much of a choice either when the alternative is being homeless because I can't pay the bills.
Not really. If I knew I worked for a company that I work at for a great number of years, perhaps. That isn't the workforce of today. My "permanent" position might only last a year or two. I really have no desire to move everytime a company I work for reorganizes, downsizes, or does whatever that impacts my employment. Perhaps if I rented, that might make it easier, but I'm certainly not buying a new home and selling the last one every time.
You can't take everything on a train now because people who tend to go camping aren't going to take a train when they can drive. It's a chicken or the egg type of deal. If people couldn't drive themselves, there would have to be allowances on the common mode of transport for those activities. Why offer them now when people are going to drive no matter what?
Boston's Big Dig moved a major above ground route underground. They're supposedly converting the old route into parks. Of course there's some fighting over the land since it was debatably stolen to make the elevated highway and the previous owners want it back. I personally think that by the time they have it all sorted out, they'll need the space for roads again to increase capacity, since no one is going to want to pay for Big Dig 2.
Getting off track a bit.. I think it's outrageous that we're spending billions to make bigger and bigger roads. The highway system isn't scalable to the point we need it to be. They just finished expanding the highway I commute on from 2 lanes to 3 (in each direction). It helped, but it's going to draw more people to live in those communities now when they wouldn't have considered living there before because of the traffic. So then what? Four lanes? Five? Underground tunnels?
What we need is effective mass transport, at least in populated areas of the US like eastern MA. I don't want to be stuck on the highway everyday but there is no real alternative. I'd rather take rail if it were available, at least I could read or use a laptop or do something partially productive. That would also cut down on our dependency on oil, road rage, traffic fatalities, stress, insurance premiums, so on and so forth. Use the land the highways take up and build a decent rail system.
I'm sure there were some of those. People did call to complain about pretty much anything though, so I'm sure I would've heard if this was causing people grief. I think some of that had to do with communication. If my app blocked a purchase, I didn't just throw up a vague error code. The app would present the user with a nicely worded explanation stating that we received far too many fraudulent orders from free email services and certain ISPs. It went on to remind customers that fraudulent purchases would raise the prices for everyone.
I know many customers had to make their purchases from work, probably being AOL users at home. They were willing to, though, since they understood the reason why. Yea, for some people nothing will ever satisfy them. So be it.