At my last job, we used pagers rather than Cel phones. They worked pretty well. I belive the company we went through was Penncel (or pensel, cant remember).
My current job is also an oncall position. We use Verizon wireless phones. My current phone is a samsung SCH-A930. Works very well as a pager. Has a few loud ring tones, and verizon's firmware lets you set the alert on text messages such that it will re-alert if you don't ack it.
That being said, there's a good chance i'll be switching to a PDA type phone in the future. I hope i can find one that works as well as a pager, as it does a pda.
Though its not ancient by any means, i still have my old 486DX2-66 from 1995 running.
It runs an old BBS.:)
Maybe it 10 or 20 more years, i'll get some money out of it. Ha!
This is a copy of a post that the Manager of PenTeleData's Cable Support Department posted to PenTeleData's general news group in responce to the above mentioned p2p sharing letter.
I am not going to get into any discussion about this, I am going to just
state the purpose of that letter which has been take wrong by only about 1%
of the customer base from what I have seen.
Here are the facts:
A. Nothing is being changed. It is only in the maybe phase and at this
time have no plans to implement it. Hopefully just getting the word out
will take out one factor in issues that affect all cable broadband
providers, not just PTD.
B. People who have the uploading enabled on these programs are allowing
people to use the bandwidth.
B.1 and this can happen even if they are not personally using it.
C. We are just trying to get the word out that if people are not personally
actively using the upload to turn it off, as it does affect the network.
Why should we waste bandwidth on someone from say Florida when our customers
could be using it. And all because someone either forgot to turn it off
when they were done, or do not even know its on.
D. No one here at PTD is trying to tell anyone what to do with their
connection. The government not PTD sets the laws as far as copyrights and
other issues, if we get legal notice to terminate an account we will do it.
This is not a decision we make we just follow the law.
E. Your speeds that your complaining about have been directly tied to these
kinds of programs sucking down your bandwidth and its most likely being used
by someone outside our network.
F. I am not concerned at this time about the server part even thought that
is a legitimate issue. All we want is for people who are NOT PERSONALLY
using the upload part to just turn it off. It will help everyone. We
have watched the general flow of traffic and have confirmed that these
programs are causing 50% of all speed issues.
G. No we are not out of bandwidth, this is only a way to cut down unused
traffic by people who are not Prolog Customers.
H. We care about our customers and are only trying to maintain as much as
possible the best most consistent service possible, and this letter was
meant just to get the word out to people who may not even know what is
happening and to ask people who do understand to work with us on this. Use
the upload when you personally need it, but do not leave it on all the time
so the bandwidth can just be left on like a water faucet, kind of like water
conservation. Why waste it? We want it for our customers not theirs
I. If these programs are not setup right your computers could have major
security holes in them and your personal files could be available to the
world.
This is all I am going to say about this I hope this puts some peoples mind
at ease. Our main goal is to get rid of wasted bandwidth so you OUR
customers can use it.
I apologize if the intent of the letter was misunderstood in anyway.
Please if you have any legit questions not flames email me and I will gladly
answer them. All flames will just be deleted by me with no response.
Think what you will, a lot of people are blowing this letter out of porportion.
Slashdot Mirror
At my last job, we used pagers rather than Cel phones. They worked pretty well. I belive the company we went through was Penncel (or pensel, cant remember). My current job is also an oncall position. We use Verizon wireless phones. My current phone is a samsung SCH-A930. Works very well as a pager. Has a few loud ring tones, and verizon's firmware lets you set the alert on text messages such that it will re-alert if you don't ack it. That being said, there's a good chance i'll be switching to a PDA type phone in the future. I hope i can find one that works as well as a pager, as it does a pda.
Though its not ancient by any means, i still have my old 486DX2-66 from 1995 running. It runs an old BBS. :)
Maybe it 10 or 20 more years, i'll get some money out of it. Ha!
This is a copy of a post that the Manager of PenTeleData's Cable Support Department posted to PenTeleData's general news group in responce to the above mentioned p2p sharing letter.
I am not going to get into any discussion about this, I am going to just state the purpose of that letter which has been take wrong by only about 1% of the customer base from what I have seen.
Here are the facts:
A. Nothing is being changed. It is only in the maybe phase and at this time have no plans to implement it. Hopefully just getting the word out will take out one factor in issues that affect all cable broadband providers, not just PTD.
B. People who have the uploading enabled on these programs are allowing people to use the bandwidth. B.1 and this can happen even if they are not personally using it.
C. We are just trying to get the word out that if people are not personally actively using the upload to turn it off, as it does affect the network. Why should we waste bandwidth on someone from say Florida when our customers could be using it. And all because someone either forgot to turn it off when they were done, or do not even know its on.
D. No one here at PTD is trying to tell anyone what to do with their connection. The government not PTD sets the laws as far as copyrights and other issues, if we get legal notice to terminate an account we will do it. This is not a decision we make we just follow the law.
E. Your speeds that your complaining about have been directly tied to these kinds of programs sucking down your bandwidth and its most likely being used by someone outside our network.
F. I am not concerned at this time about the server part even thought that is a legitimate issue. All we want is for people who are NOT PERSONALLY using the upload part to just turn it off. It will help everyone. We have watched the general flow of traffic and have confirmed that these programs are causing 50% of all speed issues.
G. No we are not out of bandwidth, this is only a way to cut down unused traffic by people who are not Prolog Customers.
H. We care about our customers and are only trying to maintain as much as possible the best most consistent service possible, and this letter was meant just to get the word out to people who may not even know what is happening and to ask people who do understand to work with us on this. Use the upload when you personally need it, but do not leave it on all the time so the bandwidth can just be left on like a water faucet, kind of like water conservation. Why waste it? We want it for our customers not theirs
I. If these programs are not setup right your computers could have major security holes in them and your personal files could be available to the world.
This is all I am going to say about this I hope this puts some peoples mind at ease. Our main goal is to get rid of wasted bandwidth so you OUR customers can use it.
I apologize if the intent of the letter was misunderstood in anyway.
Please if you have any legit questions not flames email me and I will gladly answer them. All flames will just be deleted by me with no response.
Think what you will, a lot of people are blowing this letter out of porportion.