I live in downtown Silver Spring. I commute from Columbia. It's usually a 30 minute drive, but last night took me an hour and a half. The worst part was when I crossed Georgia Ave a block from my home, right by the DC border. That last block took me 20 minutes.
I was trying to figure out what was up with the traffic. I didn't see any accidents or emergency vehicles, and the traffic reports I heard just said that traffic on Georgia was slow. Didn't hear anything about the control system until today.
On AT&T and had trouble with text too. 1 to 2 hour delays. However, the data network seemed to run without a hitch, and my iPhone 3G was uploading photos to Facebook without any noticeable slowdown.
I could make the occasional phone call if I kept trying.
I live in Montgomery County, and am finding this somewhat ironic considering they have actually taken out many billboards to advertise how easy electronic voting machines are to use.
It's not just about the money - it's also about aesthetics. In Columbia, MD the power lines are all underground except in the oldest parts of the city. And it's not an urban area, it's very suburban (more accurately, an edge city). It's great to be driving in areas with houses with large green lawns and not see a single telephone pole. Whenever I leave, seeing the poles and wires strung everywhere just looks trashy. Partway between Baltimore and DC, we got hammered this weekend with rain and lightning. But there were no major power outages that I was aware of. Right now I live in a rural area outside of Columbia, but I lived in Columbia for an entire year and never once did I have to reset the clock on my microwave, even though we had plenty of electrical storms.
There is also more than just the cost of maintaining the power lines to worry about. There is also the effect it has on local businesses (and thus the local economy). When a business loses power and they can't receive phone calls, emails, faxes, etc., lots of money is lost.
Most countries, including America, do not see Taiwan as independent. Because of this, the UN does not either. If this is good enough for the UN, this should be good enough for Google (an American company).
By my understanding you are allowed to use a transceiver (your handset) because you pay money every month to the spectrum owner (your cell phone provider). So basically the provider is leasing the spectrum to you, but it still belongs to them. Or do they lesae it from the FCC and then sublease it to you?
Off topic, but I think it's already hurting the US. Always has been. It's the equivelant of being in a class where we are supposed to work together on a project, but because you don't like one of the other kids you play the "ignore them" game. It prevents you from getting your job done as well as you could.
Look at what happened when we opened up trade with China. Sure, people belly ache that they took our steel industry, but now steel is cheaper for us, saving us money in other industries allowing us to be more efficient. And look at all our cool new cell phones!
I would certainly pay to watch shows pay-per-view. I don't want to pay for (or have the distraction of) cable TV in my house, but I don't want to miss South Park or The Daily Show. However, I don't think that Comedy Central would want to allow me to miss out on the possibility of sitting down to watch another one of their programs as well. With the advent of TiVo, DVD's, and other on-demand content, consumers have become more discerning. But at the same time, programming providers have found ways to make their content more addictive: more and shorter commercial breaks, preview of what happens after the commercial, programs are easy to get into because there is no plot but you can't tear yourself away because you know something is coming up that you just have to see.
There are some ways around your points. Although they might not be just as good, it's at least an option. So no, not everyone can drop their land lines, but some people can. (I know your point wasn't that people can't drop their landlines; you were just informing us of potential issues. I just wanted to inform people of alternatives)
1: 3-way calling
2: I don't know anything about TiVo (I use Snapstream, which works over broadband). BBSs are something that very few people use, so go ahead and keep your landline for that. DSL, well yeah, keep your land line if you need that too. I think it's safe to say that MOST Americans don't use any of those technologies.
3: Don't cancel your service if you get crummy coverage at home. Land lines and cellular both have ways of failing, so if you are a safety freak, keep your land line. Or get a CDMA phone and someone else in your house gets a GSM phone. Also, if your house is wired for landline, can't you plug in a phone to call 911 even without service? Correct me if I'm wrong, because that is just hear-say.
4: Plug in if you will be on the phone for a long time. If you have a power outage, sit in your car to talk and charge. If you don't have a car, always keep a spare battery charged and don't use the phone a lot during emergencies.
Another potential issue is 800 numbers. Most carriers don't let you call toll free for free. And if you are on hold for a long time it can chew up your minutes. The ways around this would be to go to a pay phone or work, or take care of this business during night/weekend/holiday hours, if whoever you are calling is open.
I am fine without a landline. Since I'm hardly ever home anyway, there is no point in paying for something I wouldn't use.
I'm glad I am not alone in this matter. I live in a very rural area too. When I tell people I live in New York (state) and can't get cable, they look at me like I don't know what I'm talking about. Believe it or not, much of New York is wilderness. The big city is just crammed down in the corner. I'm sure those of you who are from Northern California know what I'm talking about. I live five miles from the closest cable connection. Our phone lines give us 28.8k on a good day, but usually 19k or 14.4k. Still the only national ISP I am able to find that give us a local number is MSN. Parts of New York are thirty or more miles from a cell phone signal, even an old analog one. I think the only place that is more wilderness than the Adirondack Mountains this side of the Mississippi is northern Maine.
But some of us choose to live in these remote locations simply because we prefer the simplicity. It has nothing to do with being usophisticated (as one other poster implied. Don't try to tell me there are less rednecks living in the cities!). But at the same time, we want a fast connection to the world. It makes living in the boonies easier.
We installed our two-way DirecWay system this sping. It is way more expensive than cable, way slower, but it's still leaps and bounds better than dialup.
The article wasn't talking about transferring files. It says "material". I think it means cutting and pasting text or other document content. The method they have described here is so much better than: save to a shared folder, open the shared folder on the second computer, open the file, copy, paste.
Slashdot Mirror
Seems that we now have one more bubble to burst.
I live in downtown Silver Spring. I commute from Columbia. It's usually a 30 minute drive, but last night took me an hour and a half. The worst part was when I crossed Georgia Ave a block from my home, right by the DC border. That last block took me 20 minutes.
I was trying to figure out what was up with the traffic. I didn't see any accidents or emergency vehicles, and the traffic reports I heard just said that traffic on Georgia was slow. Didn't hear anything about the control system until today.
On AT&T and had trouble with text too. 1 to 2 hour delays. However, the data network seemed to run without a hitch, and my iPhone 3G was uploading photos to Facebook without any noticeable slowdown.
I could make the occasional phone call if I kept trying.
I live in Montgomery County, and am finding this somewhat ironic considering they have actually taken out many billboards to advertise how easy electronic voting machines are to use.
It's not just about the money - it's also about aesthetics. In Columbia, MD the power lines are all underground except in the oldest parts of the city. And it's not an urban area, it's very suburban (more accurately, an edge city). It's great to be driving in areas with houses with large green lawns and not see a single telephone pole. Whenever I leave, seeing the poles and wires strung everywhere just looks trashy. Partway between Baltimore and DC, we got hammered this weekend with rain and lightning. But there were no major power outages that I was aware of. Right now I live in a rural area outside of Columbia, but I lived in Columbia for an entire year and never once did I have to reset the clock on my microwave, even though we had plenty of electrical storms.
There is also more than just the cost of maintaining the power lines to worry about. There is also the effect it has on local businesses (and thus the local economy). When a business loses power and they can't receive phone calls, emails, faxes, etc., lots of money is lost.
Most countries, including America, do not see Taiwan as independent. Because of this, the UN does not either. If this is good enough for the UN, this should be good enough for Google (an American company).
By my understanding you are allowed to use a transceiver (your handset) because you pay money every month to the spectrum owner (your cell phone provider). So basically the provider is leasing the spectrum to you, but it still belongs to them. Or do they lesae it from the FCC and then sublease it to you?
Off topic, but I think it's already hurting the US. Always has been. It's the equivelant of being in a class where we are supposed to work together on a project, but because you don't like one of the other kids you play the "ignore them" game. It prevents you from getting your job done as well as you could.
Look at what happened when we opened up trade with China. Sure, people belly ache that they took our steel industry, but now steel is cheaper for us, saving us money in other industries allowing us to be more efficient. And look at all our cool new cell phones!
What? They want free software and cheap music?
Can I mod the root of the thread +1 funny? :)
...but an alien race will be able to still read your data after turning it off, disconnecting it, smashing it, setting it on fire, and nuking it.
But then again, what I've learned from ID4 is that aliens aren't that concerned with computer security.
I would certainly pay to watch shows pay-per-view. I don't want to pay for (or have the distraction of) cable TV in my house, but I don't want to miss South Park or The Daily Show. However, I don't think that Comedy Central would want to allow me to miss out on the possibility of sitting down to watch another one of their programs as well. With the advent of TiVo, DVD's, and other on-demand content, consumers have become more discerning. But at the same time, programming providers have found ways to make their content more addictive: more and shorter commercial breaks, preview of what happens after the commercial, programs are easy to get into because there is no plot but you can't tear yourself away because you know something is coming up that you just have to see.
Sounds like Microsoft may inadvertantly be in the market to purchase Sony and/or Philips.
Why is it that all of the sudden everything people don't like is a "terrorist act"? It seems that it has become the catch phrase of the 00's.
SomeOtherGuy:
There are some ways around your points. Although they might not be just as good, it's at least an option. So no, not everyone can drop their land lines, but some people can. (I know your point wasn't that people can't drop their landlines; you were just informing us of potential issues. I just wanted to inform people of alternatives)
1: 3-way calling
2: I don't know anything about TiVo (I use Snapstream, which works over broadband). BBSs are something that very few people use, so go ahead and keep your landline for that. DSL, well yeah, keep your land line if you need that too. I think it's safe to say that MOST Americans don't use any of those technologies.
3: Don't cancel your service if you get crummy coverage at home. Land lines and cellular both have ways of failing, so if you are a safety freak, keep your land line. Or get a CDMA phone and someone else in your house gets a GSM phone. Also, if your house is wired for landline, can't you plug in a phone to call 911 even without service? Correct me if I'm wrong, because that is just hear-say.
4: Plug in if you will be on the phone for a long time. If you have a power outage, sit in your car to talk and charge. If you don't have a car, always keep a spare battery charged and don't use the phone a lot during emergencies.
Another potential issue is 800 numbers. Most carriers don't let you call toll free for free. And if you are on hold for a long time it can chew up your minutes. The ways around this would be to go to a pay phone or work, or take care of this business during night/weekend/holiday hours, if whoever you are calling is open.
I am fine without a landline. Since I'm hardly ever home anyway, there is no point in paying for something I wouldn't use.
I'm glad I am not alone in this matter. I live in a very rural area too. When I tell people I live in New York (state) and can't get cable, they look at me like I don't know what I'm talking about. Believe it or not, much of New York is wilderness. The big city is just crammed down in the corner. I'm sure those of you who are from Northern California know what I'm talking about. I live five miles from the closest cable connection. Our phone lines give us 28.8k on a good day, but usually 19k or 14.4k. Still the only national ISP I am able to find that give us a local number is MSN. Parts of New York are thirty or more miles from a cell phone signal, even an old analog one. I think the only place that is more wilderness than the Adirondack Mountains this side of the Mississippi is northern Maine.
But some of us choose to live in these remote locations simply because we prefer the simplicity. It has nothing to do with being usophisticated (as one other poster implied. Don't try to tell me there are less rednecks living in the cities!). But at the same time, we want a fast connection to the world. It makes living in the boonies easier.
We installed our two-way DirecWay system this sping. It is way more expensive than cable, way slower, but it's still leaps and bounds better than dialup.
The article wasn't talking about transferring files. It says "material". I think it means cutting and pasting text or other document content. The method they have described here is so much better than: save to a shared folder, open the shared folder on the second computer, open the file, copy, paste.