Hmm... My fastest computer is now horridly obsolete. A old dual ppro-200 with 128 meg of RAM. I see no reason to upgrade it despite having a nice P4 in the office (about 2.4ghz), which isn't even fast enough to get me to switch from the other machine in my office (1.6ghz). Simpley put: comptuers are faster than I need them to be. There are a few scientists and the like that need faster computers, but for most people computers are plenty fast.
Lets assume I want to upgrade my comptuer. Guess what, no current CPU fits in the sockets I have. My RAM isn't up to the modern standards. My video card was the best of its time, and while still good, it isn't anything to talk about now. (Matrox milliam II) My harddrives are tiny by todays standard, and getting old, so I'd replace them anyway. So my upgrade ends up saving me the cost of a case, power supply, and CD-ROM. What was your point again?
You can still get CD only readers. If you use a lot of CDs, it might be worth it, the ability to write CDs comes at the cost of a more complex mechinism (heavier laser last I checked a few years ago), which tends to break sooner.
For most people, it isn't worth the bother of having several drives.
Nobody* calls me, so getting rid of the cell phone wouldn't help. Most of my email-spam is mailing lists from subjects I'm interested in. This is my personality, I don't like having a lot of people around all the time, so I've done things without thinking that prevent people from calling me. The few calls that I do get are not much more important because they are from the few people who bother to call me. (This had downsides, sometimes I need a friend and don't know who to call, but maintaining friends is work in its own way)
* except parents once in a rare while, and a few friends. On a normal day my phone does not ring.
One problem with this: I've never known a boss who didn't work more weekends than the average person working for him. CEOs are the worst, in many companys you should not be surprized if you call the CEO at 3am sunday morning and he answers the phone. If he doesn't there is a reasonably good chance he isn't in town. You get up the ladder by working way too much. (Note, smart work, making mistakes won't get you up, and bad luck can hold you down, but most people really work their way up and are rewarded for it in pay)
Of course you haven't seen too many successes with that model. Compare it to this one that works:
Take an open source project, and start a contrcting buisness to impliment it for someone.
Make small changes as your clients pay for them (or they save you more than the cost over the long run)
Roll your changes into main app along with changes from many other developers
Go back to old clients and sell them feature upgrades.
PROFIT!
Note that this contracting buisness rests on the abilities of the contrator, not elements of scale from having a big buisness. So you don't hear about anyone making it big because there is little room for big buisnesses.
Note that IBM has a slightly different model:
Sell hardware
Write custom software for customers that need it - for a price
Leverage open source so that big compititors do not get access to your customers and potentiallly take them away.
Sell all of the above to big companys that need consultants in many locations and but don't nessicarly want to have someone in each localtion to find them
profit!
Is that a downside though? While it is true I get asked to help move, the upside is they think of me once in a while. As they are friends I'd be helping them move anyway.
I tend to consider it my duty as a christian to help people out when I can. Since I'm still fairly young that means I help people move.
It might work. However a registered copyright is cheap, IIRC $25 + a copy to the Library of Congress. (This was 10 years ago, law has changed) At that price, if think you might need to prove latter that you wrote something, then just get a do-it-yourself copyright kit from the local book store and register your copyright in a form that is fully binding in court.
As for it might work: I've heard of it working and of it not working. There are a lot of details to get right. If you just want protection from someone else patenting your idea, best is to documents your steps for going into buisness manufacturing this.
Which market share are you counting? Market share of desktop computers is my guess. Overall though, comptuers cover a lot more territory. Embedded systems make up more computers than desktop systems. (Appearently some cars have 70 computers!) Even that isn't the right market to count though, becuase programers work on future releases. What a programer works on today is a reflection of what the future market will look like.
However all the above is wrong, because it is based on market share. Professional programers work on what they are paid to work on. If a product that will only have 2 sales needs 25,000 linux programmers, while 75 different products each with 1000 windows programers and sales of one million, your market share for linux is tiny, but the share of programers is 25%!
How long did it take you to find that? How long did it take from installing windows with it enabled until you realized you needed to do that? You just gave me a long sequence to follow. That means one of two things: either windows has thousands (that is more than 1000!) of different things that need to be adjusted for any given person; or Windows makes everything you might want to adjust hard to find. Eitherway Windows cannot claim ease of use when this needs to be adjusted on every different computer.
Go read the Design of Everyday Things sometime, it will open your eyes.
Don't forget secondary uses. A truck that hauls something once a month is still cheaper to own than a car + renting a truck when you need it. If even once a year you use the truck for something the rental places don't allow (off-road, towing) the comparition is even worse because you have to consider owning and maintaining a truck and a car. Most people will admit that the truck isn't a good choice for most of their uses, but it doesn't take much to justify having it, and then you have to justify having a car too.
Are you sure about that? The human body is not efficant. You are burning more calories sitting down than than someone who never exercises just because you are in shape, not to mention all the calories it takes to move your bike. (Muscles are not efficant, though bikes are)
So, would you please do a complete comparition of the difference in the polution for producing the extra food you eat compared to polution by driving a reasonable car? Don't forget to factor in all the extra food consumed if you live longer because you are healther.
OPEC has one more concern: there is a lot of oil in the US and Canada (perhaps more than the middle east has!) but it is difficult to get at. As the price of oil goes up it becomes more and more worth it to get that oil. Opec does not want those sources to become cheap, and the easist way to prevent that is to be cheap enough themselves that nobody bothers to look at those sources.
He sprayed plant killer on his crops for the purpose of finding which crops it didn't affect. This was intentional. If he had sprayed roundup on his field to destroy everything (it is common in some areas to let a field rest every few years, during rest years you kill everything), and just hadn't gone back and destroyed a few contaminated seeds before he planted whatever I'd feel for him. However he didn't, he sprayed not to get rid of all plants (which is what roundup on a normal field will do), but to get rid of all plants not protected, with the goal of selecting the protected ones.
If he had just planted seeds near his neighbors like like he did in previous years, not sprayed roundup, I would not consider there to be an issue with gene transfer, even if the transfered genes increased his yield. However he clearly had intent to force the gene transfer to his seeds.
I hate to bring intent into patent law, but I think it applys here.
Forget government, they are always the wrong thing too late. Start now. Next time you go buy a [gas] car ask if it will run on E-85. Contary to popular belief, ethanol is energy positive to produce. (At one time 10 gallons of gas made 8 gallons of ethanol, but that has changed)
If the car is new, don't buy it unless it will run on E-85 or bio-diesel. Then start looking for E-85 at the pump. Make sure the dealer knows this, they can put pressure on the manufactures. Supply of fuel will follow a lot quicker when there is something to use the supply.
Used car buyers don't have that option, but by asking about E-85 you put it in the sellers mind. If there are enough people asking about it, E-85 becomes something they look for in a new car just in case. If you are choosing between two cars prefer the E-85 or bio-diesel one. You might end up with the gas only one depending on other factors, make make everyone aware that you are not happy about that particular issue of your choice.
Supply and demand can be influenced. If everyone can run bio fuels (E-85 or bio diesel) in their cars, gas stations will see much less risk in carrying it. If 25% of the population bought only bio fuels it would cut our need (in the US anyway) for middle east oil to zero. Eventially scale factors kick in, and bio fuels will be less expensive than normal oil just because so few people use the traditional oil.
I picked E-85 and bio diesel because they are ready for prime time. You can buy E-85 cars, and fuel. (at least in the mid-west) You can get bio-diesel in some places, though around here it is a little behind. Other fuels sound nice, but are not quite ready mass use yet. These are at least a stepping stone to the future. If there is a different fuel that works better for you, go for it.
Somewhat, but we have more options if they dont' hold something we want. When we don't care about their oil, we can ignore a lot of it. Other than Iseral (which is an issue for completely different reasons) there is nothing in that region that the average person cares about. Let them fight each other all they want. And if they do go after us, we can go in a lot easier. When France no longer has under the table oil deals, they won't care what anyone else does as a pre-emptive strike. Or at least they won't care enough to do anything about it. (don't read this as a defense of the US war with Iraq)
I take it you belive that the pumps will stop working in 5 years? Few people keep cars longer than 5 years. (I don't know what the average is, but it has to be about that) Cars do not last forever, between crashes and mechanical wear.
While I disagree with your conclusion, you must understand that Percy Schmeiser did intentionaly plant seeds near his neighbors, and then spray the offspring with roundup in a deliberate attempt to get the roundup ready genes into his otherwise tarditional seed crop. (By spraying with roundup he assured that only the roundup ready plants would survive)
Now if he had just planted his seeds near the neighrbor, and without spraying roundup continued to do so I would agree that nothing should happen, but he tried to get the patented genes, so I'm not on his side. He could plant near those crops one year, waited until the patent expired, and then sprayed with roundup to develop his seed, and I would be in his favor.
True, but you can redefine anything to be a profit center if you are creative enough. I worked for one place with a corporate travel office, which basicly was a travel agent. They maximized profits for themselves, and made themselves look great. Travel agents are paid by the airlines (and others) based on a kickback type arrangement, which depends on the price of the ticket. So if you went someplace they would normally put you on the most expensive ticket they could, which maximized their profits. That it costs the company far more than a cheaper ticket for the same flight didn't bother them, as they only cared about their own profits. Note that the company didn't allow first class or buisness class travel so you didn't even get some extra perks for your more expensive seat.
If you work someplace where backstabbing the company is the rule make sure you produce profits.
My ISP did a few years ago. The headers are changed slightly, but in the end it doens't help much. Now I just get a lot of SPAM with ***SPAM*** in the subject. (I can't recall the exact string). However I can't force them to delete all that mail, despite an appearent filter.
A bigger problem is I don't control it and cannot configure it. I looked in the headers of one and found something like:
(Score:13, required 6, Not spam, whitelisted).
I get that particular subject 5 times a day, each in a 41K message with the exact same subject. I suspect there is a virus there, but I don't run windows so I'm not sure - either way I can't read the attachment. When I control the filter is might be of use, until then it is just annoying.
All this "waste" is recycleable. If it is stored onsite, and a headache for management it can help drive them to recycle the stuff, which is a real solution to the problem. Out of sight is out of mind, and when you move this waste to underground nobody sees it and nobody who can do something to solve the problem thinks about it.
Not to mention that Yucca mountain doesn't have the capacity to store all the "waste" that we already have much less what we will produce while it is open.
The problem with geeks in politics is you realize there are a lot of issues that geeks are not good at. Abortion is a really hot button for many people. Can you deal with it in a way that will not put off so many people that you won't be elected no matter how good you are otherwise? And that is just one hot issue. What is good for the country is not nessicarly what is good for seniors, and seniors control a lot of votes, so Socal Security reform basicly cannot happen no matter how bankrupt it is. How will you as a geek deal with this so that you can get elected.
There is only so much money coming into congress. As a congressman you get to choose how to spend it, and if more should be borrowed if it isn't enough. Want to fund a super collider, but there is not enough money coming in, you either need to convince everyone else to drop something they like for something you like, or you need to borrow more money. And the 533 other people in congress will all be trying to get you to drop your super colider for their pet project.
That is even assuming your other ideals don't get in the way. Which school of ecconomics are you in? Classical, Marix, Keynes, Autstian, (Yeah, I can't spell a one of them), one that I've not hear of yet, or even one of your own design? How do you deal with those of other schools?
One congressman doesn't get anything passed alone. Can you compromise?
Where do you get the idea that there is a problem in the cities? Mobile works in the big cities no matter which standard you use. Sure it took slightly longer to get there, but there is enough population density that all standards have representation. There are exceptions, but the areas where you can't get service on one system the others don't have service (or very weak service). Seems a lot of people don't like cell towers and try to prevent them. Not a problem from diversity of standards.
In the vast countryside it is different. There multipul standards hurt. There isn't enough money in a lot of areas to make ANY tower profitable, except if you can get the bragging rights that you ahve service everywhere. When the entire population served by a cell is 30 people how do you pay for a tower? Here a universial standard would help because everyone could agree on roaming, and coordinate towers so there is always exactly one in range (except for the moment where you switch cells)
Every hear of ground loops? Ever hear of other EE terms? Twisted pair wires are not for use between buildings. You deserve to fry your comptuers if you are stupid enough to try this. Odds are you will one day too. (Note, old 10base5 systems are the only copper based system I know of designed to run between buildings).
I'll bet that their phone line to the shack isn't properly protected from ground problems and lightening strikes.
The hype would make you believe that power lines harm plants and the like. I've seen with my own eye someone who planted a nice garden in the base of a high tention power line. It did very well, limited only be the care the owners gave it.
There was a lot of worry about power lines 10 years ago or so. Many studies have been done, and the conclusion is always there is no statistical harm. Ignore the alarmists, and buy the house if you like it. If the lines give it a lower value enjoy your lower house payments. (and hope that the hype dies in a few years and your house thus goes up more in value than others when it is time to sell - good luck)
I've seen GSM modems, plug one into a dirt cheap laptop (ebay), then use 802.11 and a good antenna to get the signal down. Means you have two phone lines, but it is an option.
The other thing that comes to mind is starband is two-way satalite, which might fit your needs better.
There are other converters, or have been from time to time. I suspect all have a similear limit. Each time you do a digital-analog conversion you lose something, and if you think about it, you are adding anouther digital-analog step. GSM itself is 14.4k IIRC, so how much can you get, for CD sound you figgure double the sampeling rate to get acceptable sound, you 8k is more than half the sampling rate. CDMA phones, if they are an option would get you to 19.2k, but that is on their end, still not very fast.
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Hmm... My fastest computer is now horridly obsolete. A old dual ppro-200 with 128 meg of RAM. I see no reason to upgrade it despite having a nice P4 in the office (about 2.4ghz), which isn't even fast enough to get me to switch from the other machine in my office (1.6ghz). Simpley put: comptuers are faster than I need them to be. There are a few scientists and the like that need faster computers, but for most people computers are plenty fast.
Lets assume I want to upgrade my comptuer. Guess what, no current CPU fits in the sockets I have. My RAM isn't up to the modern standards. My video card was the best of its time, and while still good, it isn't anything to talk about now. (Matrox milliam II) My harddrives are tiny by todays standard, and getting old, so I'd replace them anyway. So my upgrade ends up saving me the cost of a case, power supply, and CD-ROM. What was your point again?
You can still get CD only readers. If you use a lot of CDs, it might be worth it, the ability to write CDs comes at the cost of a more complex mechinism (heavier laser last I checked a few years ago), which tends to break sooner.
For most people, it isn't worth the bother of having several drives.
Nobody* calls me, so getting rid of the cell phone wouldn't help. Most of my email-spam is mailing lists from subjects I'm interested in. This is my personality, I don't like having a lot of people around all the time, so I've done things without thinking that prevent people from calling me. The few calls that I do get are not much more important because they are from the few people who bother to call me. (This had downsides, sometimes I need a friend and don't know who to call, but maintaining friends is work in its own way)
* except parents once in a rare while, and a few friends. On a normal day my phone does not ring.
One problem with this: I've never known a boss who didn't work more weekends than the average person working for him. CEOs are the worst, in many companys you should not be surprized if you call the CEO at 3am sunday morning and he answers the phone. If he doesn't there is a reasonably good chance he isn't in town. You get up the ladder by working way too much. (Note, smart work, making mistakes won't get you up, and bad luck can hold you down, but most people really work their way up and are rewarded for it in pay)
Of course you haven't seen too many successes with that model. Compare it to this one that works:
Take an open source project, and start a contrcting buisness to impliment it for someone.
Make small changes as your clients pay for them (or they save you more than the cost over the long run)
Roll your changes into main app along with changes from many other developers
Go back to old clients and sell them feature upgrades.
PROFIT!
Note that this contracting buisness rests on the abilities of the contrator, not elements of scale from having a big buisness. So you don't hear about anyone making it big because there is little room for big buisnesses.
Note that IBM has a slightly different model:
Sell hardware
Write custom software for customers that need it - for a price
Leverage open source so that big compititors do not get access to your customers and potentiallly take them away.
Sell all of the above to big companys that need consultants in many locations and but don't nessicarly want to have someone in each localtion to find them
profit!
Is that a downside though? While it is true I get asked to help move, the upside is they think of me once in a while. As they are friends I'd be helping them move anyway.
I tend to consider it my duty as a christian to help people out when I can. Since I'm still fairly young that means I help people move.
It might work. However a registered copyright is cheap, IIRC $25 + a copy to the Library of Congress. (This was 10 years ago, law has changed) At that price, if think you might need to prove latter that you wrote something, then just get a do-it-yourself copyright kit from the local book store and register your copyright in a form that is fully binding in court.
As for it might work: I've heard of it working and of it not working. There are a lot of details to get right. If you just want protection from someone else patenting your idea, best is to documents your steps for going into buisness manufacturing this.
Which market share are you counting? Market share of desktop computers is my guess. Overall though, comptuers cover a lot more territory. Embedded systems make up more computers than desktop systems. (Appearently some cars have 70 computers!) Even that isn't the right market to count though, becuase programers work on future releases. What a programer works on today is a reflection of what the future market will look like.
However all the above is wrong, because it is based on market share. Professional programers work on what they are paid to work on. If a product that will only have 2 sales needs 25,000 linux programmers, while 75 different products each with 1000 windows programers and sales of one million, your market share for linux is tiny, but the share of programers is 25%!
How long did it take you to find that? How long did it take from installing windows with it enabled until you realized you needed to do that? You just gave me a long sequence to follow. That means one of two things: either windows has thousands (that is more than 1000!) of different things that need to be adjusted for any given person; or Windows makes everything you might want to adjust hard to find. Eitherway Windows cannot claim ease of use when this needs to be adjusted on every different computer.
Go read the Design of Everyday Things sometime, it will open your eyes.
Don't forget secondary uses. A truck that hauls something once a month is still cheaper to own than a car + renting a truck when you need it. If even once a year you use the truck for something the rental places don't allow (off-road, towing) the comparition is even worse because you have to consider owning and maintaining a truck and a car. Most people will admit that the truck isn't a good choice for most of their uses, but it doesn't take much to justify having it, and then you have to justify having a car too.
Are you sure about that? The human body is not efficant. You are burning more calories sitting down than than someone who never exercises just because you are in shape, not to mention all the calories it takes to move your bike. (Muscles are not efficant, though bikes are)
So, would you please do a complete comparition of the difference in the polution for producing the extra food you eat compared to polution by driving a reasonable car? Don't forget to factor in all the extra food consumed if you live longer because you are healther.
OPEC has one more concern: there is a lot of oil in the US and Canada (perhaps more than the middle east has!) but it is difficult to get at. As the price of oil goes up it becomes more and more worth it to get that oil. Opec does not want those sources to become cheap, and the easist way to prevent that is to be cheap enough themselves that nobody bothers to look at those sources.
He sprayed plant killer on his crops for the purpose of finding which crops it didn't affect. This was intentional. If he had sprayed roundup on his field to destroy everything (it is common in some areas to let a field rest every few years, during rest years you kill everything), and just hadn't gone back and destroyed a few contaminated seeds before he planted whatever I'd feel for him. However he didn't, he sprayed not to get rid of all plants (which is what roundup on a normal field will do), but to get rid of all plants not protected, with the goal of selecting the protected ones.
If he had just planted seeds near his neighbors like like he did in previous years, not sprayed roundup, I would not consider there to be an issue with gene transfer, even if the transfered genes increased his yield. However he clearly had intent to force the gene transfer to his seeds.
I hate to bring intent into patent law, but I think it applys here.
Forget government, they are always the wrong thing too late. Start now. Next time you go buy a [gas] car ask if it will run on E-85. Contary to popular belief, ethanol is energy positive to produce. (At one time 10 gallons of gas made 8 gallons of ethanol, but that has changed)
If the car is new, don't buy it unless it will run on E-85 or bio-diesel. Then start looking for E-85 at the pump. Make sure the dealer knows this, they can put pressure on the manufactures. Supply of fuel will follow a lot quicker when there is something to use the supply.
Used car buyers don't have that option, but by asking about E-85 you put it in the sellers mind. If there are enough people asking about it, E-85 becomes something they look for in a new car just in case. If you are choosing between two cars prefer the E-85 or bio-diesel one. You might end up with the gas only one depending on other factors, make make everyone aware that you are not happy about that particular issue of your choice.
Supply and demand can be influenced. If everyone can run bio fuels (E-85 or bio diesel) in their cars, gas stations will see much less risk in carrying it. If 25% of the population bought only bio fuels it would cut our need (in the US anyway) for middle east oil to zero. Eventially scale factors kick in, and bio fuels will be less expensive than normal oil just because so few people use the traditional oil.
I picked E-85 and bio diesel because they are ready for prime time. You can buy E-85 cars, and fuel. (at least in the mid-west) You can get bio-diesel in some places, though around here it is a little behind. Other fuels sound nice, but are not quite ready mass use yet. These are at least a stepping stone to the future. If there is a different fuel that works better for you, go for it.
Somewhat, but we have more options if they dont' hold something we want. When we don't care about their oil, we can ignore a lot of it. Other than Iseral (which is an issue for completely different reasons) there is nothing in that region that the average person cares about. Let them fight each other all they want. And if they do go after us, we can go in a lot easier. When France no longer has under the table oil deals, they won't care what anyone else does as a pre-emptive strike. Or at least they won't care enough to do anything about it. (don't read this as a defense of the US war with Iraq)
I take it you belive that the pumps will stop working in 5 years? Few people keep cars longer than 5 years. (I don't know what the average is, but it has to be about that) Cars do not last forever, between crashes and mechanical wear.
While I disagree with your conclusion, you must understand that Percy Schmeiser did intentionaly plant seeds near his neighbors, and then spray the offspring with roundup in a deliberate attempt to get the roundup ready genes into his otherwise tarditional seed crop. (By spraying with roundup he assured that only the roundup ready plants would survive)
Now if he had just planted his seeds near the neighrbor, and without spraying roundup continued to do so I would agree that nothing should happen, but he tried to get the patented genes, so I'm not on his side. He could plant near those crops one year, waited until the patent expired, and then sprayed with roundup to develop his seed, and I would be in his favor.
True, but you can redefine anything to be a profit center if you are creative enough. I worked for one place with a corporate travel office, which basicly was a travel agent. They maximized profits for themselves, and made themselves look great. Travel agents are paid by the airlines (and others) based on a kickback type arrangement, which depends on the price of the ticket. So if you went someplace they would normally put you on the most expensive ticket they could, which maximized their profits. That it costs the company far more than a cheaper ticket for the same flight didn't bother them, as they only cared about their own profits. Note that the company didn't allow first class or buisness class travel so you didn't even get some extra perks for your more expensive seat.
If you work someplace where backstabbing the company is the rule make sure you produce profits.
My ISP did a few years ago. The headers are changed slightly, but in the end it doens't help much. Now I just get a lot of SPAM with ***SPAM*** in the subject. (I can't recall the exact string). However I can't force them to delete all that mail, despite an appearent filter.
A bigger problem is I don't control it and cannot configure it. I looked in the headers of one and found something like:
(Score:13, required 6, Not spam, whitelisted).
I get that particular subject 5 times a day, each in a 41K message with the exact same subject. I suspect there is a virus there, but I don't run windows so I'm not sure - either way I can't read the attachment. When I control the filter is might be of use, until then it is just annoying.
All this "waste" is recycleable. If it is stored onsite, and a headache for management it can help drive them to recycle the stuff, which is a real solution to the problem. Out of sight is out of mind, and when you move this waste to underground nobody sees it and nobody who can do something to solve the problem thinks about it.
Not to mention that Yucca mountain doesn't have the capacity to store all the "waste" that we already have much less what we will produce while it is open.
The problem with geeks in politics is you realize there are a lot of issues that geeks are not good at. Abortion is a really hot button for many people. Can you deal with it in a way that will not put off so many people that you won't be elected no matter how good you are otherwise? And that is just one hot issue. What is good for the country is not nessicarly what is good for seniors, and seniors control a lot of votes, so Socal Security reform basicly cannot happen no matter how bankrupt it is. How will you as a geek deal with this so that you can get elected.
There is only so much money coming into congress. As a congressman you get to choose how to spend it, and if more should be borrowed if it isn't enough. Want to fund a super collider, but there is not enough money coming in, you either need to convince everyone else to drop something they like for something you like, or you need to borrow more money. And the 533 other people in congress will all be trying to get you to drop your super colider for their pet project.
That is even assuming your other ideals don't get in the way. Which school of ecconomics are you in? Classical, Marix, Keynes, Autstian, (Yeah, I can't spell a one of them), one that I've not hear of yet, or even one of your own design? How do you deal with those of other schools?
One congressman doesn't get anything passed alone. Can you compromise?
Where do you get the idea that there is a problem in the cities? Mobile works in the big cities no matter which standard you use. Sure it took slightly longer to get there, but there is enough population density that all standards have representation. There are exceptions, but the areas where you can't get service on one system the others don't have service (or very weak service). Seems a lot of people don't like cell towers and try to prevent them. Not a problem from diversity of standards.
In the vast countryside it is different. There multipul standards hurt. There isn't enough money in a lot of areas to make ANY tower profitable, except if you can get the bragging rights that you ahve service everywhere. When the entire population served by a cell is 30 people how do you pay for a tower? Here a universial standard would help because everyone could agree on roaming, and coordinate towers so there is always exactly one in range (except for the moment where you switch cells)
Every hear of ground loops? Ever hear of other EE terms? Twisted pair wires are not for use between buildings. You deserve to fry your comptuers if you are stupid enough to try this. Odds are you will one day too. (Note, old 10base5 systems are the only copper based system I know of designed to run between buildings).
I'll bet that their phone line to the shack isn't properly protected from ground problems and lightening strikes.
The hype would make you believe that power lines harm plants and the like. I've seen with my own eye someone who planted a nice garden in the base of a high tention power line. It did very well, limited only be the care the owners gave it.
There was a lot of worry about power lines 10 years ago or so. Many studies have been done, and the conclusion is always there is no statistical harm. Ignore the alarmists, and buy the house if you like it. If the lines give it a lower value enjoy your lower house payments. (and hope that the hype dies in a few years and your house thus goes up more in value than others when it is time to sell - good luck)
I've seen GSM modems, plug one into a dirt cheap laptop (ebay), then use 802.11 and a good antenna to get the signal down. Means you have two phone lines, but it is an option.
The other thing that comes to mind is starband is two-way satalite, which might fit your needs better.
There are other converters, or have been from time to time. I suspect all have a similear limit. Each time you do a digital-analog conversion you lose something, and if you think about it, you are adding anouther digital-analog step. GSM itself is 14.4k IIRC, so how much can you get, for CD sound you figgure double the sampeling rate to get acceptable sound, you 8k is more than half the sampling rate. CDMA phones, if they are an option would get you to 19.2k, but that is on their end, still not very fast.