The Stand-up Philosopher

Why I ’ m (Rationalizing) Enduring AT & T

I’ve been complaining a lot lately about AT&T. I’m sorry. I tend to talk to my wife in the evenings while I’m sitting on my laptop and it’s easy to open Twitter and complain while I’m trying to reconnect the call. I guess I should stop. I’ve always had a problem when I get frustrated and have easy access to Twitter. You have no idea how hard it was not to rant on Twitter while I was working as a Realtor. I had other people’s businesses at stake, so I forced myself to keep my digital mouth shut.

I have no love for AT&T. I’ve endured them for a long time. I’ve been with “The New AT&T” since 2005, but before that I kept bouncing between Cingular and AT&T Wireless for 5 years prior to that as I’d leave one for the other only to be bought back by the one I left.

I used to be a Windows Mobile user. Microsoft rebuilt the platform from scratch and calls it Windows Phone now. I still see the same problems that have plagued it all along, except that none of the Windows Mobile applications I’ve bought over the years will work with Windows Phone, and most of the developers of applications I like to use have no plans to develop for it. You can’t even get Kindle for it, and Amazon has written a Kindle app for just about every other platform with more than 20 users.

People helpfully recommend that I switch to Verizon. I’m sure it’s a much better carrier, especially considering Consumer Reports rates AT&T as the worst U.S. Cell Phone carrier. My experience validates that. It’s nice to have some objective data to back experience. And it’s not like I live in the sticks. The majority of our time is spent in the Washington D.C. and Philadelphia metropolitan areas, where all cell providers should have a full and reliable network established.

So why don’t I just switch to Verizon and get a Droid of some kind? No doubt, there are some nice android devices. A coworker of mine just got an Incredible. They sure are nice.

I heard somewhere that we never make an objective decision. We mostly make decisions based on emotion THEN look for objective reasons to justify those decisions. Yes, my wife and I bought a timeshare once.

These are the rationalizations I’ve chosen for continuing to endure AT&T, even though it sucks and I can’t talk to my wife for 10 minutes without the call dropping 5 times:

1: I really do like the iPhone- Yes, I’m a true believer. I like the iPhone. I just got my iPhone 4 a few weeks ago, and I’m really happy with it. It’s far from perfect, but it does what I need it to do. I’ve long since integrated iTunes into my workflow for music, podcasts, and audiobooks. That’s probably what I use the iPhone for the most. In the dark days of Windows Mobile, I had to manually transfer podcasts to the device each and every day, and delete those that I listened to. It just happens on the iPhone. It’s beautiful. It works for me.

Also, I already had to rebuy some of the apps I used on Windows Mobile for the iPhone. I don’t want to have to buy them again for a droid device, and again if I switch droid devices.

2: I’m afraid a droid device will end up with some of the same problems I had on Windows Mobile- I agree, droids are wonderful, but hear me out. I know Apple is a “closed” platform. Steve jobs calls it integrated. Rather than “open”, he refers to Android as a fragmented system.

This is one of the biggest problems I had with Windows Mobile (beside the fact that it sucked). I would go out and buy a new Windows Mobile phone. Then Microsoft released a new version of the OS. Microsoft made the OS, then released it to the hardware manufacturers. The hardware manufacturers would then integrate it into their devices. They’d often add extra software. They also wrote the drivers. But they often had many different models of phones, and I’m not convinced they tested them well enough. They’d release a buggy phone to the market and not support it. Even if support was provided, it took months to come out, leaving the paying customer with a buggy product. Then, when Microsoft releases a new version of the OS, it’s up to the manufacturer to provide an update for the device. Most manufacturers had the attitude of “You want a new OS, buy a new phone”. Even if the last one was under 6 months old. I went through that when I bought an HP 68xx not too long before Windows Mobile 6 came out. HP had no plans to provide an upgrade for the device.

I’m afraid of that happening with Android, because I’ve lived through it on Windows Mobile. Then, with all the different versions of the OS floating around on different devices, it becomes a nightmare for developers to support. They often discontinue support for older devices, leaving you unable to use some good apps.

Don’t' forget, Verizon was originally offered the iPhone. They turned it down, because they wouldn’t bend to Apple’s demands. As much as I don’t like AT&T, I’m happy not to have an iPhone full of stupid icons and apps like “AT&T Music”, “AT&T Navigator”, and all that other pointless junk that never gets used. Can you imagine how much crap Verizon would install on the iPhone? Don’t forget, Verizon neuters Bluetooth and other capabilities on phones that run on their network. Even though AT&T objectively sucks in the service they deliver, at least they were willing to bend on those issues.

If I could only delete “Stocks” and “Game Zone” from my iPhone. But thanks to iOS 4, I have them grouped in a folder “Undeletable BS”.

So that’s why I’m making the choice to endure AT&T’s crappy network and lack of service until I can get the iPhone on a real network.

My Comment On A Blog Post About Windows Phone 7

A colleague at work pointed out a blog post about Windows Phone 7. The writer of the post bought a new phone with Windows Phone 7 installed on it. He took it back within 4 hours and had to pay a restocking fee.

I would have simply left a comment on the blog post itself, but it’s hosted on InfoWorld, and I would have to register for an account. In a day and age when a 10 year old could easily code a site to allow me to log in with an existing account (like FaceBook, Twitter, or Wordpress), InfoWorld, a site that apparently markets itself to IT professionals, requires me to create yet another account on their site. I’m tired of having to keep track of logins and passwords. I can’t tell you have many sites and blogs and forums I’ve had to create an account on just to leave a comment or view information and NEVER GO BACK AGAIN. I’m tired of it.

So I’ll just use my existing blog to share my thoughts. You can find the original post here. My colleague and I both saw the post as totally unprofessional. Ooh, a supposed professional IT journalist sees an advertisement about how cool Windows Phone 7 is, runs out, buys one, and finds it totally unworkable in real life. How the heck is that news?

I’ve paid my dues with Windows Mobile, which is now called Windows Phone. Yeah, renaming it is sure to change things. I know, they supposed rebuilt the code from scratch. That, of course, means none of the programs I’ve bought for Windows Mobile over the years will work on the new platform. I have to buy them all over again IF THE DEVELOPER EVEN DECIDES TO PURSUE THE PLATFORM. Of course, the programs I’m used to on the iPhone aren’t likely to port over quickly or easily. Most developers of programs I use are waiting to see if the darn thing actually sells before spending time developing for it. Talk about a catch-22.

I’ve had 8 devices with Windows Mobile on them, from Pocket PC’s to touchscreen phones to Smart Phones. I’ve used every version of Windows Mobile from 2002 to 6.1. Each had the same problems. In some cases, new problems were introduced. Windows Mobile 6 and 6.1 had a deliberate smtp bug BUILT INTO THE CODE which caused you to have to delete and recreate your email account after sending 2 or 3 email messages.

I finally jumped ship to the iPhone after the Samsung Epix. It was my last straw. For the most part, I like the iPhone. It’s not perfect, but it does what I want it to do well enough. I still have the iPhone 3G, which is slow and functionally obsolete even though it’s still under warranty. Yeah, I know. You have to accept that with Apple products. I’m looking forward to getting an iPhone 4 soon. I’ll probably get one just in time for the iPhone 5 to come out.

I thought the blog post was childish and whiny, even though it was correct. The commercials made Windows Phone 7 sound really cool. But in real life, it doesn’t work. The commercials say something about “take the office with you”, but you can’t. It won’t work with an encrypted Exchange server (a Microsoft product, come on, Microsoft, really?) and Pocket Office doesn’t work any better than it did on Windows Mobile 2005 when it was first rolled out. Pocket Word and Pocket Excel existed previously, but required files to be in a special mobile format. It stripped formatting out of any documents synced to the device, like resumes.

Windows Phone 7 won’t support static IP addresses for those paranoid freaks (like the blogger on InfoWorld) who can’t use DHCP because hackers are targeting THEIR HOME NETWORK for special hacking. The iPhone will!

I already have long since decided that I won’t be getting a Windows Phone 7 phone. This InfoWorld blog post was mostly a waste of my time to read (and comment on), but it validated my decision.

Should FM Radios Be Required In Cell Phones? (Hint: No)

It’s amazing when I come across a “survey” that shows people having come to a conclusion that I did years ago.

Apparently, most people don’t care about having an FM tuner in their cell phones. Duh. I don’t even care about having in on my home or car. Really. With the beauty of MP3s and Internet radio like Pandora, why would I want to take a step backwards into the realm of inane DJ chatter and commercials? I do not miss spending 80% of my commute listening to pointless chatter and commercials for things that don’t apply to me, like feminine products.

AM talk radio is far worse. I can remember my brief foray into listening to AM talk radio. They’d play the same commercial for “Sea Silver” 3 times in a row while I was driving home.

Don’t get me started on NPR. They can take a story that should be about a headline long and stretch it into an hour. That’s almost as bad as Dragon Ball Z, which needs 7 seasons to move the story ahead 5 minutes. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, consider yourself blessed.

I do not miss listening to the radio. For me the radio is like Fox News: good in an emergency when I need information quick, bad for the other moments in life.

By the way, speaking of radio, I am a licensed Ham operator. My call sign is KC2KYF. Although it’s been years since I’ve bothered with Ham radio.

Great Question: Where's Our Rollover Data, AT&T?

When I write posts like “Rumors of the iPhone on Verizon annoy me”, I’m not saying that I don’t want to see the iPhone on other networks. I have little love for AT&T. For some reason, I think GSM is a better technology than CDMA, but I’m hard pressed to provide any objective evidence to support that opinion. I just like being able to switch phones by moving a little chip.

The only problem I have with those rumors is stated in my last post on the subject. Apple would be breaking a contract, and Verizon has left no evidence that they would allow the iPhone’s capabilities on it’s network. They turned it down in the first place.

I have no idea if Verizon has a better network than AT&T. At one point, I had Verizon phones issued by a company I worked for. I had a RAZR and 2 models of BlackBerries during the time I worked there. It didn’t seem like I had better reception. If anything, there were times I had to use my personal AT&T phone because I couldn’t get a decent connection on Verizon’s network.

I’ve always liked the concept of rollover minutes. I never use all the minutes I pay for, but I did pay for them, so why can’t I keep them? The Unofficial Apple Weblog now asks: where’s our rollover data?

Most people don’t use the full amount of data allowed. Why can’t we roll over a few gigs? I’ve always wondered why we can’t tether our phones up to our full allotment of data, except that the few telcos in existence have us over a barrel and can dictate whatever terms they want, since we have few options. I can’t take my iPhone to Cricket.

Rumors About the iPhone on Verizon Annoy Me

Ever since the day the iPhone came out, tech blogs have been whining about how it should be released on Verizon. Every time a new iPhone or software update comes out, rumors start flying about how the iPhone will be on Verizon soon.

I want to reach through my screen and ask the tech bloggers or reporters if they remember 2 basic facts:

1. Apple originally approached Verizon with the iPhone. Verizon would not bend it's will far enough to allow the iPhone to be what it is on AT&T's network.
2. Apple has a 5 year contract with AT&T. Let's see, the first iPhone came out in 2007.

2007+5=2012.

That means the exclusive agreement will be over about in time for the end of the world. Unless you follow Harold Camping, in which case the world will end a few weeks before the iPhone 5 announcement...

None of the “iPhone on Verizon” rumors contain any statements like “AT&T is releasing Apple from it’s agreement” or “Verizon is relaxing it’s dictatorial grip on smartphone capabilities”. The last time I had a Verizon phone, I still couldn’t transfer ringtones to it over Bluetooth.

Most of these rumors operate on the assumption that the day after the iPhone came out, Verizon got on it’s knees in repentance to Steve Jobs and said “We are most sorry. We will allow you to do whatever you want on our network regardless of our existing policy. Have your way with us, oh great Steve.”

So today The Unofficial Apple Weblog ran its 48,031st rumor that a Verizon ready iPhone has been in existence at Apple, and is being developed alongside it’s cousin until the day it can be released.

My prediction? IF the iPhone EVER is released on Verizon, it will be after June of 2012. If it’s EVER released. Show me some evidence that Verizon will actually allow the iPhone to run at it’s AT&T capacity or better on their network, and I’ll believe it.

Operation Cukoo to Oppose Operation Chokehold

I posted yesterday about a Fake Steve Jobs initiative to get iPhone users to consume lots of bandwidth on AT&T at 3 PM EST. AT&T calls it irresponsible. They would. I saw a post on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) today about an opposing operation called "Operation Cukoo."

If I were drinking coffee at the time, the opening paragraph of the post would have made me spit the coffee all over my monitor:

In what sounds like the title of the worst Bruce Willis movie ever, a group of pro-AT&T Facebook users are up in arms about Operation Chokehold.

"A group of pro- AT&T Facebook users..." That's almost like saying "A group of Pro-IRS Facebook users formed to oppose an income tax protest.

I don't like AT&T. I also didn't necessarily not like AT&T until they started complaining about iPhone data usage. I checked my iPhone's status, and I've used a grand total of 2 GB worth of data since early April. That's WELL under the 5GB "unlimited" data per month I pay for.

It's hard to imagine being "pro-AT&T". AT&T isn't exactly our enemy, but they are a megalithic oligopoly publicly traded telecommunications company. They aren't exactly our friend.

Making A Difference: Finding The Right Communication Language

Maurilio Amorim has a post on his Making A Difference Blog about Finding the Right Communication Language. He says that over the years, he's identified 5 different communication languages. He categorizes them as follows:

    1. The Verbal Processor.

    2. The ADD.

    3. The ADD Texter.

    4. The Mental Processor.

    5. The Face-to-Face Feeler.

You can read the descriptions of each of these on his blog post.

I figure I'm a cross between The Verbal Processor and The ADD Texter. I tend to think out loud a lot while I'm processing my thoughts. This drives Christina (my wife) nuts. I also am often happier interfacing with other people (even Christina) through email and text. No, I'm not obsessive about this. I realize that a lot of communication (especially with Christina) must be carried out in person. Just this morning, I got an email asking a question, and I immediately realized that I'd be much better off meeting in person to discuss the issue because dealing with it over email would be clumsy.

If these communication languages were laid out on the Chinese Zodiac, I'd probably be warned to avoid The ADD and The Face-to-Face Feeler. I score very highly on ADD tests, and I tend to ramble off topic myself, but I don't communicate very well with others who do the same thing. I also tend to resent dealing with people who HAVE to meet in person over an issue that could be settled with 3 text messages. I had a person like that in some of my classes at the University of Phoenix. She was very smart and a hard worker, but sometimes couldn't get moving on a learning team project unless everybody dropped their lives and drove into center city Philadelphia, paid excessive amounts for parking, and sat around a coffee shop. We usually got her to settle for a teleconference, but when that wasn't possible, we could never get an early start on our learning team projects.

Which communication language do you speak? Which communication language do you find yourself to be least compatible with?

Verizon FAIL: No Customer Service for my In-laws

I hope the word FAIL isn't too contrived. Since discovering Failblog, it's working it's way into my daily vocabulary. I think it's appropriate here.

I was with Verizon for several years. I don't miss them. You can use the Google search box to the right to search for all of my rantings over the years about Verizon DSL. You could not PAY me to go back on DSL, and every time a friend gets DSL, after asking me if they should and I say no and they get it anyway and I have to help them with a Verizon DSL problem, I'm reminded of how much I hate dealing with Verizon.

In the days when I had a Verizon land line, it was little more than an open conduit for telemarketers. Despite paying for Call Intercept, which was supposed to prevent "unavailable" calls from getting through, they continued to get through. All my land line was good for was for people I didn't want to talk to to get through to me about every 20 minutes all day long. My wife and I switched to AT&T cell phones and haven't looked back. Our AT&T lines haven't been without problems over the years, but for the most part, when I call AT&T, they don't jerk me around. They try to deal with the problem and I'm gratetful for that. I do have a Verizon BlackBerry that's provided by work. For the most part, it does a decent job. Every now and again when I have to tether it, I'll get cut off and go through up to a half hour of "The Remote Computer is not responding", but my company is paying for it so what can I do? During a period when my wife's line wasn't working very well, I tried to threaten AT&T with leaving for Verizon, but now that I have my iPhone, I'm not giving it up for anything. AT&T it is.

I'm Going to Become a Windows Mobile "Hater"

I’ve decided that I”m going to become a Windows Mobile “Hater”. That will probably seem unreasonable and illogical to many, but so be it.

That does not mean I am going to become a Microsoft “Hater”. I won’t become a mobile device “hater". I won’t become a Windows “Hater”. My “hating” is going to be specifically directed at Windows Mobile. That includes Microsoft’s Windows Mobile team, their “partners”, and the telcos, at least in regards to Windows Mobile.

I am going to become overly critical of the platform to the point where I do NOT recommend it. If you’re considering a Windows Mobile device, please, to preserve your sanity, don’t get one. Get a BlackBerry or an iPhone instead, or just get a plain old dumbphone.

I’ve had several Windows Mobile devices over the years. I’m tired of the same annoyances and performance issues that are common to every device I’ve had. Here is my device history:

Welcome, Obama Staff, to Crap IT

Interesting news coming out of the White House. 8 years ago, former President Bush’s staff arrived to find the place trashed. Current President Obama’s staff arrives to find it outdated. There is an interesting debate going on. Some people fell sorry for them. Others, like Valleywag's Owen Thomas, consider them whiners, and offers them a welcome to “The way the rest of America works.”

It may be the way we work, but that doesn’t make it right. Where I work, laptops cannot be ordered with a wireless card built on. Currently, only Dell will sell a laptop without a built-in wireless. What do you do when you travel, and the only way to get connected to the Internet to access email or shared documents in a hotel’s wireless router? You can order a separate wireless card. I am NOT making this up. Somebody in the interests of IT security dreamed this BS policy up.

Just wait, Obama staff. It will get worse. Much worse. Welcome to the wonderful world of government/large corporate environment IT. It sucks, doesn’t it?

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I got into IT because I love shiny new things. I resent when IT policies are made by people who aren’t quite ready for the release of the Apple II yet.

Security and convenience are two important factors, but they darn well SHOULD balance each other somehow. You can’t have security at the expense of convenience, nor can you have convenience at the expense of security. I only wish the people who made the policies seemed to understand that.

AT&T's Data Network is DOWN

As of 8:45 AM, the time of this post, AT&T's data network has been down for at least 2 hours. I have no idea why or how long the outage will last. I also don't know where it's out at, but I do know I have no data connection in Philadelphia. If it's still out by lunch, I may try to call them. In the meantime, I'm glad I have a backup Verizon BlackBerry, as Verizon's network is working. I checked with other AT&T users around the office, and nobody has a working data connection at this time.

YAAR (Yet Another AT&T Rant)

I wish other companies would do what Thomas Nelson does for PR: monitor blogs and websites for negative customer experiences. Thomas Nelson’s CEO, Michael Hyatt, uses free and easy tools such as Google Alerts to personally monitor the web for mentions of either his or his company’s name, and will personally follow up if the situation is bad enough. I’ve seen him leave comments on book reviews of Thomas Nelson books done by bloggers. Whether true or not, it does give the customer the feeling that Thomas Nelson cares. Prior to discovering and following Michael Hyatt’s blog, I never paid any attention to the publisher of books. It didn’t matter to me. As I read his blog, and have participated in 3 book reviews to date, I now get sort of a warm feeling when I look through my books and see Thomas Nelson titles.

We Made Them Smart, Now Where's the Phone?

As I was scrolling through my RSS feeds during a "break"* today, I came across this post by Paul Thurrott on his Supersite for Windows Blog about the iPhone. I think Paul raises some good points in his post. I have an iPod Touch which I find to be a great iPod with Internet capabilities. I've never used an iPhone for much, but my last 3 phones have been Windows Mobile. I had an iPaq 6945 for about a year, a BlackJack II for three weeks, and an Samsumg Epix for the last three weeks. I'm finding, as Paul did, that the "smart" parts of the phone work fairly well, but the "phone" part of the phone doesn't work that great at all and I'm finding this not to be isolated to any particular model. The reception is sub-par, the connections aren't that great, it's not always easy to bring up the phone application, sometimes calls won't disconnect, sometimes the phone app locks up while trying to answer a call and the call goes to voice mail. My wife reports that she has to routinely pull the battery from her BlackJack II to end a call. If I told you that, you could assume that I'm just running too much on my phone, but my wife uses it for little more than phone calls and text messaging. Last night while trying to get my Epix to disconnect a call, it somehow decided to dial 911 on me. I freaked when I heard 911 on the other end, and I profusely apologized for my phone somehow accidentally dialing. I have no idea if that was a glitch or something that I did, and I have no intention of attempting to reproduce the problem.

Prior to the iPaq 6945, my to previous phones were SonyEricsson. One was a Z500a and the other a z525. Both were wonderful phones, but that was about it. I really enjoy having a "Smartphone", but at times I wish the phone part worked better. So what are those of us who like Smartphones to do? It seems that we can either go back to using a decent cell phone, or we can live with a crappy phone while we enjoy mobile email, web surfing, and tethering capabilities. My Epix, when tethered to my laptop, almost feels like I'm at home on my cable modem. I guess for the few phone calls I get, I can live with that until those of us who love these devices decide we're fed up and we expect the manufacturers to produce devices that work better on the phone ends.

I agree with Paul, a "fix windows mobile now dot com" site would be fruitless. At least we can copy and paste, and our MMS messages work the same as our SMS. Score 1 for Window Mobile. I guess until we get better phones in our smartphones, we're reduced to whining on our blogs about them.

*Break- being a veteran, I decided to take Veteran's Day off. I've been a veteran for 10 years, and have not yet had this day off. I ended up taking a vacation day as I have yet to work for a company that considers Veteran's Day as a paid holiday. My wife interpreted that as being a great day to run errands, so I'm eager to get back to work tomorrow where the pace is slower and I can relax a bit. My day of "vacation" has left me exhausted.

The Samsung BlackJack III (Epix) Is Here

I think it was about 3 1/2 weeks ago when my wife and I got our Samsung BlackJack II’s. I just learned today that the BlackJack III is out. My BlackJack II is the best implementation of Windows Mobile that I’ve had yet, with the exception of the SMTP issue that is currently endemic to Windows Mobile 6.1. I’ve also run into a problem of not being able to sync with my work laptop. My personal laptop established a relationship with the BlackJack easily enough, but for whatever reason my work laptop doesn’t see it. It detected the BlackJack and installed drivers, so I can charge from my USB ports, but the Windows Mobile Device Center doesn’t see it at all. I just had a ton of work crop up and I have several projects I’m in the middle of, so not being able to sync with Outlook on my work laptop is getting to be a hindrance. Also, as much as I do like the BlackJack II, I’m missing having a touch screen device. I find it ironic as well that the BlackJack II is not a touch screen but the screen gets smudged and scratched easier than any phone or Pocket PC I’ve had to date.I finally put an old iPaq screen protector on it last night. My last complaint is that the battery life is kind of short for me. By lunch, all I’d done was check email, text my wife, and look at my calendar and my battery was already halfway gone.

I think considering all that, AT&T should let me take it back and get the BlackJack III. I’ve also considered the iPhone and the Tilt, but the Tilt according to our salesman is the most returned device to that store.

Technorati Tags: Samsung BlackJack II,BlackJack III

How Cell Networks Work… And Why You Have to Shut Off “Portable Electronic Devices” on a Plane

I came across this today during my trip through my RSS feeds on Google Reader.

I’ve lately become annoyed at the airlines, especially since U.S. Airways decided a small cup of crappy coffee is worth $2. Since my life is going more and more digital, I am starting to hate the direction to turn off my electronics during take-off and landing. I keep books on my Pocket PC Phone (now a BlackJack II) and the dead time that I can’t read bothers me.

On my last flight, I found myself sitting next to a pilot who was commuting to work. I know people who complain that they can’t get a quiet minute on a plane; anybody they sit next to wants to talk the entire flight. I suffer from the opposite problem: I don’t mind talking but I tend to get seated next to people more anti-social than I am. I did strike up a small conversation with the pilot. I asked him a few questions about his job. We also talked about the iPhone, which he had. As we landed in Philly, I asked him if he knew of any real evidence that small electronic devices could interfere with a plane, or had that rule just been on the books for so long that nobody ever bothered to question it anymore. I remember an episode of Mythbusters where that rule was put to the test onground, and the Mythbusters could not find a cell phone that interfered with the plane’s electronics. The pilot confirmed that he could only recall one incident where he had trouble with one of his communications systems, and the modern planes are so well shielded that there shouldn’t be a problem with me watching a movie on my iPod or reading a book on my phone (with the radio turned off) during take-off and landing except for that rule. He said that the pilots are usually talking on their cell phones as the plane taxis, since that’s the most convenient way to communicate with dispatch.

When I first met my wife, she was working at a call center on a contract for American Airlines employees to buy computers (can’t remember if it was Gateway, Dell, or whatever was big in 2000) at drastically reduced costs. Supposedly she was only required to verify eligibility for the program, but her management couldn’t seem to decide from day to day if the call center would offer tech support or not, so she often had to take support calls. I told her to post some of them on Tech Tales, as they were interesting. One woman couldn’t connect to the Internet, but it turned out she hadn’t plugged in a phone cord to the modem. Actually, all she’d done was unpack the monitor and set it on a desk. She had other calls along those lines. I think the most interesting call was from a pilot IN THE AIR. He was calling from 34,000 feet with a tech support question about his laptop. I think his call might have been patched through the airline’s comm system rather than a cell phone call.

In any case, from the article linked above, here is the reason I’ve been looking for, why I can’t read a book on my phone or listen to my iPod during take-off and landing:

As a side note, the main reason airlines make you turn all your electronics off during takeoff and landing is so you aren't distracted and can hear and follow directions if something goes wrong.

That’s all it is: to make sure you’re paying attention if something goes wrong.

Technorati Tags: Airlines,how a cell network works,why you can't listen to an iPod during take-off and landing

It Should Be Harder to “Reply to All” Than to Start a Nuclear War

I’m not going to deny that the “Reply To All” function in email clients is a useful and sometimes necessary function. However; I would like to submit that “Reply to All” is abused more often than any single function of any communications platform.

I have several methods to communicate, and quite a few email account, especially for work. I’ve got most of my personal email going through my gmail account, but for work I have two main accounts. I am a contractor to another organization, so I have to be on their email domain. That one is particularly annoying. Who, in an enterprise environment working on large programs can survive with a 50 MB email limit? Well, we’re supposed to, and I am constantly hitting it, especially on travel. I can access through the webmail client, but most of my functionality comes through one workstation devoted entirely to that network. I also have another email account through the company I work for, which my BlackBerry is tied to.

Somebody in my company had a baby today. Good for her; having babies is a wonderful thing. But it seems that everybody in the company had to “Reply to All” to say “Congratulations!” It seems that, while I was supposed to be in a meeting this morning, I spent the entire day deleting replies to the announcement of the birth of the baby. This drives me nuts.

I especially am annoyed when a meeting announcement is sent out to hundreds or more people in varying locations around the country and that one “impotent” jackass has to “Reply to All” to say “I shouldn’t be on this list.” That makes me want to reply to that person to say “I shouldn’t be receiving this.”

It’s even worse on my personal account when an email for a group I belong to goes out and other members of the group start a conversation using “Reply to All” that goes on for days, leaving me to spend the better part of my life deleting this stuff from my inbox. I just went though another aggressive filtering campaign in my gmail account so that I don’t get new message warnings for much of this “bac’n”.

Here is the solution that I propose. Obviously, there will be those times when every single person on an email message really does have a serious NEED for one person to Reply to All, but those are few and far between. I propose that if you want to send a response to an entire distribution list of people, you are welcome to individually type each and every one of their names into the address fields of your mail client. OK, I’m not that anal. You can select them from your address book, but you MUST select them individually. If you have a serious need to use the Reply to All function of your email client so that each person on the list has to see your reply, then you can go before a judge and state your case.

“Your honor, I got this meeting request from xxx organization to attend xxx meeting at xxx location. The problem is that I don’t work on that project anymore, and I have not been removed from the distribution list. I’m tired of spending the better part of my days deleting non-relevant email for a project that I am not involved in anymore. My current project generates at least as much traffic through my inbox, and 50 more messages just piled up while I’m talking to you. Crap, there go another 50. I simply do not have time to look at the “From” field to see who is sending these meeting invitations. I need to Reply to All to say I’m not involved and shouldn’t be getting these emails anymore.”

“Motion denied. You think those people have time to delete your whiny reply? Let 10 or 15 emails pile up while you’re looking at the “From” field, use “Reply” and ask to be removed from distribution. Then mark any emails sent from that distribution list as spam and ignore them.”

In the event that the judge is moved to grant your plea to Reply to All, then a nuclear launch-like cipher code will be broken apart by both yourself and the judge (think Crimson Tide), the two parts of the code will be joined together, and you will enter the entire code in the box that pops up when you hit Reply to All, but don’t wait too long or the code will expire and you’ll have to go back to court to get another one.

Please don’t bother to comment about how difficult this would be to implement. I’m a geek and I’ve already thought that through. This would never happen, but I find it a refreshing outlet for my frustration at the amount of self-important or inconsiderate people who think I (and others like me) have nothing better to do than delete their emails. Please, before using “Reply to All”, THINK. THINK about whether everybody needs to see your response.

Technorati Tags: email ettiqute,reply to all,email,spam,bac'n,consideration,email common courtesy

I Love This Advertising

Sunday night, we went out for dinner to Fuddrucker's. While my wife was getting the kids' drinks, Joshua, my 4 year old, leaned over to me to ask if he could touch my cup. I said "sure" and slid it over to him. He put his finger on it and thanked me. I asked him "Did that do something for you? Did it make you feel better somehow?" He said it did, when Caleb, my 3 year old, asked to touch the cup as well. I obliged, and a game of me sliding the cup back and forth across the table and them touching it erupted. Somehow that was a lot of fun for the three of us until my wife got back and gave us a "What the heck do you think you're doing?" look.

That comes to mind when I saw this.From Crackberry.com:

 

Having been issued a BlackBerry 7130 from work (did I ever actually post that blog entry?) I've gotten much more interested in the platform. I think I can answer the Storm's question as "yes, I want to touch you." I have no idea what will happen when I do. Will I get a shock? Will I drink the Cool-Aid and jump platform from Windows Mobile and AT&T? Or will I find that I just touched a plastic case full of IC chips and a really cool touch screen?

One of my coworkers is planning to get the Storm. I'll wait to touch that one.

Technorati Tags: BlackBerry Storm,Verizon,BlackBerry,Storm,Do you want to touch me?

No Windows Mobile 6.1 Update for Me

From the “Your Mobile World” eNewsletter:

Want to get the benefits of Windows Mobile 6.1? Check your mobile carrier’s Web site and find out if the update is available for your mobile phone. If it isn’t available yet, stay tuned because it will be soon!

How ‘bout you design a mobile operating system that isn’t bound by anal retentive mega telecoms like Verizon, so I can get the benefits of Windows Mobile 6.1 for a nominal fee rather than buying another $500 device and a two year contract?

I’m going to amend my statement from earlier, that got picked up by Real Dan Lyons, who gave me the largest traffic spike I’ve ever seen.

“Windows Mobile: the perfect blend of power, capability, instability, and boneheaded business policy decisions.”

“Windows Mobile: enriching the megalithic corporations, frustrating the paying customers.”

To be at least a little fair, now that I think about it, I bought my phone unlocked directly from HP, so it’s not entirely AT&T’s fault that an update won’t be released for it. It’s HP’s, which is still a monolithic mega corporation.

Technorati Tags: Windows Mobile,telecoms,Windows Mobile 6.1

Real Dan Lyons: FT Declares Android Dead Before It Ships

I miss Fake Steve Jobs, but Dan Lyons has been on a roll lately. He may be an Apple fan, but he’s been commenting on a few issues, somehow outside of the Reality Distortion Field.

In this post, he links to a Financial Times story about Google’s Android. That’s the the part that inspired me to write this quick post. He comments:

See here. No killer app. No consumer focus. And it’s open source rather than having a vertical stack like BlackBerry and iPhone. In other words, it’s the desktop Linux of mobile phones — a solution in search of a problem that doesn’t exist. Or, to put it another way, Android was indeed created to help solve a problem, but it’s not a problem that customers have, it’s a problem that Google has. Same for Chrome, when you think about it. Google is all about solving the world’s most difficult problems — specifically, those problems that prevent Google from owning every last piece of the world.

That explains why I haven’t been able to get excited about Android but couldn’t put into words: it’s a solution to a problem that I don’t have.

Speaking of problems that I do have, while in a meeting yesterday, I coined a great phrase describing Windows Mobile: “The perfect blend of power, capability, and instability.”

Technorati Tags: Android,Google,Dan Lyons,Fake Steve Jobs,Windows Mobile

Verizon DSL: When Will People Learn?

A friend of mine got a new laptop and I was more than happy to go over to his house last night and help him get the laptop and his wireless network setup. Once again, I found myself up against the personal hell that is Verizon DSL. I spent about seven months on Verizon DSL between 2004 and 2005, before realizing that it was better to just pay Comcast $10 a month more for a connection that WORKS. I’m, of course, not much happier with Comcast since being told by a tech that I lost my IP address and have to call Microsoft to get another one, but I will not be returning to Verizon DSL anytime soon.

       

My friend had somehow setup security on his router, but we weren’t sure how or what the password could be so I restored the router to factory settings. I then logged into the router and gave the network a name and security. It looked like the router had a connection through the DSL modem, but when I tried to load Google, I was redirected to a page that wanted to download and install some kind of Verizon Internet Connection Manager software. I had to step through 4 “Invalid certificate” warnings to get the software to download. When the software tried to install, it asked for a username and password, but wouldn’t take the username and password that my friend told Verizon to give him. I had no choice but to call tech support. We called twice, both times stepping through the painful voice-activated menu before being told that we would be transferred to a tech, only to have the call drop. The third time I called back and was somehow routed through to the “Account Cancellations” department. I could have done my friend a favor, but that wasn’t what he asked me for so I held back with all my might. I explained to the person on the phone my problem, and he routed us and stayed on the line until a tech picked up. I tried explaining my problem to her. She needed the account information, and asked me who I was. Somehow there was confusion over my name and my friend’s name as to who was on the account. I kept asking her why my name mattered. She finally said she needed to know what to call me. I said “My name is irrelevant. Just help me get this connection working.” Apparently, what happened is that somehow security was set on the DSL modem. I had to shut down everything, connect the laptop to the modem, and plug the modem in and boot the laptop up. Then we could disable security. The tech helped me to set bridge mode, but before I could ask what the next step was, the phone disconnected. The tech never called back, and I wasn’t going through that again (this was a total of 50 minutes consisting of two dropped calls plus the third, which lasted more than a half an hour.) I gave her a number to call back on “in case we get disconnected,” but she never did. I kept trying different settings on the router until finally an Internet connection showed up.

 

I then setup a printer, which worked flawlessly. That was the true definition of “plug and play.” Then we had dinner, and I walked him through setting up a gmail account, the mail service I highly recommend.

 

Before I left, I asked “Now do you see why, whenever somebody asks me if they should get DSL, I say “No!”? I’ve helped several people out with DSL, and of course there was my own experience with it. I’m not much happier with Comcast, and to be honest, at least the Verizon tech didn’t tell me to call Microsoft to get an IP address, but still, I’ve never had a painless experience with Verizon DSL.

 

I wish there were a viable alternative high-speed Internet service besides Comcast cable and Verizon DSL. I’ve heard FIOS is pretty good, but it’s a Verizon product, which is two strikes against it in my book.

 

Technorati Tags: Verizon DSL,DSL,Verizon,Should I get DSL?,Don't get DSL

$10 to Pair a Bluetooth Headset? Ouch.

http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/news/show/89981/best-buy-s-10-bluetooth-headset-pairing-service-includes-finger-pointing.html

Back in 1996 when I started becoming a computer geek, I was absolutely shocked to find out what stores like CompUSA were charging for simple services that I could do with my eyes closed. A friend of mine said he wanted to upgrade his RAM, but CompUSA wanted $50 to install it. I think I broke something in my brain trying to figure out how sticking a chip in a slot could cost $50. I told him I’d do it for beer and pizza. Even with Sam Adams and a Meat Lover’s, I still came out cheaper plus I fixed a few other problems he had while I was at his apartment.

I guess $10 to pair a Bluetooth headset is fair by comparison. This is a tricky and painful though quick procedure. You definitely have to be patient, and pairings don’t always stick. I’ve had some pairings, like the author of the article I linked, that inexplicably stopped working and didn’t easily want to start again.

I do feel for people who spend hundreds of dollars to computer shops to fix viruses and spyware. My neighbors spent $300 when they got infected. I could have fixed it with free software that doesn’t bog your computer down and nag you to death like McAfee.

Cell Phones and Plans

My wife and I have been with AT&T for many years. We started in 2000 with Cellular One, and were bought by Cingular shortly after. We left Cingular for AT&T Wireless in 2003, only to be bought by Cingular two months later. In 2005, we renewed our contracts with Cingular, and were then bought by "the new AT&T." I upgraded my phone last year and got us on another 2 year contract. Our contract will be up in January next year. My wife doesn't like AT&T. She had a lot of problems with the network and her phones, but that seems to be fixed. As far as I can tell, the network works well enough for me. My company issued me a Verizon RAZR, and I can't tell a difference in service between that and my unlocked GSM Pocket PC phone on AT&T's network.
When I look at prices from the other companies, I'm honestly not inspired. Even T-Mobile doesn't seem that impressive price wise. Verizon and Sprint use a proprietary architecture which is on the way out in some countries, although our telecom giants have enough clout here that I see it remaining for a long time.
I would love to see some true competition and innovation in our telecom industry.

Life in the Cellular Age

Life in the Cellular Age

I found this post on Albert Mohler's blog. Cell phones certainly have reshaped the way in which we communicate. As I've said before on this blog, my wife and I are untethered from a land line. We got rid of our Verizon phone service two and a half years ago, and I am happy with that decision.

Many years ago (at least eight) I scoffed at the cell phone as an unnecessary luxury for spoiled teenagers. I have obviously amended that position over the years. I now see a cell phone as a vital tool. I love my Windows Mobile phone (HP iPaq 6945). It truly is an integrated communications system.

I have to say that one of my favorite uses for my cell phone is finding my wife in stores. Growing up, my mom could disappear into a store for hours, and no matter how many times I search every inch of the store I could not find her. When my wife and I have to separate while shopping and I can't find her, I just call to say "Where the heck are you?" If I'd only had the capability in my teen years.

Technorati tags: Cell Phones, Telecommunications

 

Labels: Telecommunications

Persistent Phone Problems

My wife has had an ongoing issue with her phone on our Cingular/The New AT&T service. To the best of my knowledge, this problem only affects her line. I am not aware of the same problems on my line. For some reason, calls do not reliably come through to her phone. She will receive reports from friends and family members of attempts to call her but she didn't answer. Her phone doesn't show any missed calls. Every now and again, her voice mail indicator will go off and when she checks, the voice mail will be anywhere from four days to two weeks from the past. This happens often enough that it can't be explained away by being out of a coverage area any longer.

AT&T has been good at working with us on this problem, but for some reason it won't go away. This problem has plagued her through three phones and at least as many SIM cards.

The problem first showed up in her SonyEricsson z500a. When we switched to Cingular from the "old AT&T Wireless", we got the z500a phones because they were a "buy one, get one free" special. I wanted the Motorola v551 at the time, but my wife said that was out of the question. My phone seemed to work flawlessly, but she was missing calls and not getting voice mails. When we originally started to complain late in 2005 Cingular would tell us that a tower was out in our area and things would get better soon. This continued through 2006. When I had to fly home to Texas for my mom's final days and funeral, my wife was having phone problems so I had her take her phone to a Cingular store where they gave her a new SIM card. Last year on Black Friday I called to complain again. The moisture indicator on my wife's phone was red so they said they would replace the phone. The z500a had been declared obsolete by then so she was allowed to upgrade out of cycle. We went to the Cingular store where she picked out the Motorola v365. The problem persisted.

When I finished school in October my wife finally had more time for a social life. I have to admire how much she had to sacrifice with two small children and a husband working on a Bachelor's degree. Although we did do a few things, often on weekends I would have to work on class so she gave up a lot of activities. Now that she has time for more because she doesn't have to factor in my time for study, she's getting (and missing) a lot more phone calls. I called AT&T (the name changed by this point in my narrative) to complain and she was sent yet another SIM card. The problem persisted with the new SIM card, so AT&T sent her a warranty replacement phone.

On Saturday night, we were at a Homebuilder's study group. My father-in-law began calling us because we were going to drop Joshua off with him and he didn't know when. Since we were in a group, we didn't answer our phones right away. He called her, then me. My phone reported a voice mail. Last night (Tuesday) my wife finally got the voice mail that her dad left her on Saturday night. I told her to call AT&T. I've been calling all along and I figured (other than being sick of dealing with the issue) maybe she could get different results. They wanted to send her another warranty replacement phone, even though they haven't even gotten the last one back yet. I can see one phone being bad, I can even see two phones being bad, but unless the entire V365 model line is bad, I don't see three bad phones being within a reasonable probability. My wife finally talked them into letting her get a comparable phone. Now I'm researching three phones for her. The two Samsung phones AT&T gave her a choice of got abysmal ratings from CNET. She's looking at the RAZR V3, the Nokia 6555, and the SonyEricsson w580i.

I told her if the problem persists, we'll just pay the $175 cancellation fee for her line and she can move to T-Mobile. Because I have an unlocked GSM phone now, I'm thinking about staying away from service contracts if I can at all help it from this point. I'm going to have to stay with AT&T until at least January 2008, but I'm not having any problems (that I know of) with the service.

Technorati tags: AT&T Wireless, Cell Phone, Phone problems, Telecommunications

 

Labels: Telecommunications

For A Supposedly World-Class Telecommunications Company, AT&T Isn't Very Reliable

It's 6:30 AM on Sunday. My wife forgot to pay the AT&T Wireless bill, so I thought I'd take care of it before everybody gets up for church. I log into AT&T's website to find "We're sorry, this feature is not available right now." That is to say, their entire account management system is not available right now. I decide to call instead in the hopes of getting this taken care of. Guess what? The customer service rep can't even take a payment because the systems are updating.

This isn't the first time. Often, when I log onto the AT&T page, I find some areas unavailable. Can't this world-wide business run a backup server?

AT&T may boast about the fewest dropped calls, but I wonder where they stand on CONNECTED CALLS. My wife is often told by people that they tried to call her however; her phone never rang and no missed calls show up. I'm not sure if I get unconnected calls. Often my wife will have voice mail messages from up to two weeks in the past pop up on her phone out of nowhere.

Sometimes I think it would be worth the $175 per line fee to just leave AT&T. The only problem is, in a market oligopoly, where would we go? T-Mobile at least sounds friendly and usable, but most of what I hear says that they aren't reliable. Considering the reliability we've come to know at AT&T, that scares me. I'm honestly not very impressed with Verizon's prices, and I never really have figured out the point to Sprint.

As Avery Brooks said in my favorite IBM commercial "It's the year 2000, and there are no flying cars. Where is my flying car?" I say it's the year 2007, and there are no reasonably priced and reliable telecommunications services. Where is my reasonably priced and reliable telecommunication service? I was promised a reasonably priced and reliable telecommunications service.

Technorati tags: AT&T, Telecommunications, Call Phones

Labels: Hall of Shame, Telecommunications

I'm Back In Business With My Cingular 8125

I got the battery for my 8125 yesterday, and spent several hours last evening setting it up. I can't say the situation was ideal. I had been waiting all week for this battery, and having a working Pocket PC meant a lot to me. My wife went out with her sister for a while, leaving me with the kids. I had school Thursday night, so the kids didn't see me at all. They missed me, I missed them, yet I also wanted to get this Pocket PC setup. I tried to play with the kids and install my applications and setup and test the 8125, but I can't say I did either well. My kids wanted me and I wasn't focusing well, so I ended up making the same mistakes over and over again. Eventually things calmed down and I was able to get enough of my favorite programs installed.

For the most part, I like the 8125. I definitely miss the large, 640x480 screen on my old hx4705. However, this device is built to run Windows Mobile 5 and it does run WM5 with a decent amount of efficiency, considering this is only a 200 Mhz processor. My last two Pocket PCs had 624 Mhz processors. This one has the 2.25 ROM update, so the OEM software is current. I might consider upgrading to one of the cooked ROMS on XDA-Developers.

I have to drive up to the University of Phoenix's Wayne, PA campus for a CLEP test today. I'm taking the Analyzing and Interpreting Literature CLEP. Next Saturday I take the Here's To Your Health DANTES test. If I pass these two tests, I should be good to go to complete my degree.

Technorati tags: Pocket PC Phone, Windows Mobile 5, Cingular 8125, HTC Wizard

Labels: Telecommunications, Windows Mobile

Unified Communications Through Grand Central

I arrived at work this morning to find an invite to Grand Central. I logged in and set up my account. I picked a phone number that should be easy enough for people to remember and setup my voice mail. Unfortunately, I didn't seem to have the clearest connection, so my voice mail is a little broken up. I'll have to find a way to change that.

I wrote a post last year in response to one of Bill Gates' Executive Emails regarding unified communications. Grand Central looks to be a way to help unify the many phone numbers we often find ourselves having.

I do have some invites if anybody is interested. Email me at e m u e l l e 1 at gmail dot com (no spaces in actual email). I'll definitely offer one to my wife, but otherwise the rest are up for grabs to any interested early adopter.

Technorati tags: Grand Central, unified communications, telecommunications, phones

Labels: Telecommunications

After This, I want An iPhone

New York Time Columnist David Pogue posted a YouTube video about his experience with the iPhone. After watching this video, I suddenly find myself wanting one. There are several drawbacks to the iPhone, but most of them I can overcome.

1) It's AT&T only

No sweat, I've been trapped contracted with AT&T for years.

2) It's not expandable

Well, I've had 3 Windows Mobile Pocket PCs over the last four years, and considering the iPhone offers a full-featured operating system with 4 or 8 Gigs of memory, I think I can live with that. I have a 1 Gig SD card in my Pocket PC, and I'm still limited to Windows Mobile 2005 capabilities.

3) Ah, who cares I still want one.

Enjoy the video.

 

Technorati tags: iPhone, YouTube, New York Times, David Pogue

Labels: Apple, Mac OSX, Telecommunications, Windows Mobile

Corporatism Makes My Head Spin

I got my first cell phone in November of 2000 when I was dating my wife. (We actually got engaged in December and married in February of 2001). I remember joking that I wasn't afraid of commitment because I had just entered into a 2 year cell phone contract with her. In any case, the company that we chose to provide our cell phone service was Cellular One because it advertised an unlimited family plan.

I remember Cellular One being a fairly decent service. Their customer service line was always patient and helpful. At one point, I hung up on my voice mail while listening to a message, and the bit got stuck telling my phone that I had a new message when in fact there was none. I kept getting a new message notification on my phone. I called Cell One and they walked me through fixing it. Cell One was short lived, however, because they were promptly bought out by Cingular Wireless. My initial impression of Cingular wasn't good. It seemed like our area coverage degraded, wait times for customer service were long and service wasn't very helpful, at least at the beginning, but first impressions die hard. When we moved, we moved into an area with poor cell coverage and reception in our house was pathetic. We did end up upgrading our phones in 2001 and signing another 2 year contract.

At the end of that contract, we decided to switch away from Cingular Wireless. We hoped that another provider would cover our area better. The company that I worked for at the time got a discount with AT&T Wireless, so we went with them as several of my coworkers claimed that the service was very good. In our experience, it really wasn't much better than Cingular's, but we got cool phones. We had the Motorola t722, a cool flip phone with an 8 line screen. My wife and I like flip phones for some reason. I like them because they look like those old Star Trek communicators I guess.

As I said, AT&T wasn't any better than Cingular and guess what? Within 2 months, Cingular bought out AT&T Wireless, so we were back with Cingular again, except we had AT&T Wireless accounts which they reminded us of every time we logged onto their website or called customer service.

In 2005, just before our second son was born, we talked about trimming our budget. I like technology, and I had one bill that really bothered me: Verizon. I didn't so much have a problem with the company, but I was getting so sick of the land line service. Our phone rang literally every 20 minutes all day long with telemarketers. I had every single protection from them possible: Caller ID, Call Intercept, etc, plus I was on every "do  not call" list I could find, but they kept getting through. Our phone bill was $50 a month for local service alone (we had a 3rd party long distance provider that we paid separately) and all $50 of it was going to pay for a service that allowed people that I didn't want to talk to to call me incessantly. I took a gamble that switching to a full fledged Cingular account and getting newer phones would improve our coverage and we wouldn't have to pay for a redundant service. We were using the cell phones more and more so it just made more sense to me to switch to cell.

We renewed our contract (my employer again has a contract with Cingular so we got a corporate plan) and got new phones: the Sony Ericsson z500a. Our phones worked well and I canceled our land line and never looked back. I still have a phone hanging on the wall in the kitchen to cover up the phone jack, but it's only for decoration.

But that's not all. Guess what happened again within a short time of renewing our contract with Cingular? AT&T bought Cingular!

I'm telling you, my head is spinning. I'm going to ralph. I just can't keep track anymore. It's blowing my mind. I've either had 5 separate cellular providers, or just one continuous provider that can't decide on it's name.

All I know is I don't want to hear that Cellular One is buying out AT&T. I think my head will explode.

Watch below as Stephen Colbert explains the whole mess in a much more eloquent manner than I am capable of.

Labels: Telecommunications

A Good Argument For Feng Shui

I used to think that Feng Shui was nothing more than New Age mystical bovine fecal matter, until just last night.  As a Christian, and as I study the Bible more, I find that there is evidence for many of the events and systems that we find in the world, hence the Bible's warnings to stay away from magic, sorcery, divination, etc.  Why warn if there's no such thing to warn against?  I know that Feng Shui has to do with arranging your rooms so that energy can flow through.  It does sound like bunk, but I have noticed something that makes me wonder.

Like many other homes, ours has a wireless router.  My wife keeps a laptop back in the family room of our house so that she can surf the internet, pay bills, and still watch the kids.  Call me a bad father, but I'm not letting my laptop anywhere near my two boys right now, especially since our toddler is implicated in three laptops having been broken or disabled.

My wife has a lot of trouble getting a wireless signal.  She sits on the couch, right at where I always thought the range of the router to be.  The router is at my computer desk on the other end of the house.  It's an older Belkin 802.11b spec router.  I'm hoping to get a new Belkin Pre-N, but I believe that the 802.11n spec just got approved so maybe I should wait for N routers to come out.  I had noticed that my Pocket PC, which is also a b spec, can pick up a signal on the other end of our family room which should technically be further from the router and also behind a wall.  Last night my wife was having problems with her laptop again because the power cord was damaged along with the hard drive and the service department didn't fix the power cord very well.  It's now totally broken.  I was in the middle of setting up an old laptop for my wife to use in the meantime, and I was sitting farther away.  I realized that I had a better signal.  When I got her email and Quicken files put on it, I gave it to her and sure enough, the signal went away.  I took it back to the other side of the room and it worked again.  Either there really is something to Feng Shui or my wife is a wi-fi black hole.  Don't tell her I said that.  She doesn't read my blog.

Labels: Hardware, Misc comments, Telecommunications