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Still typing and posting via my phone so unfortunately this will be much shorter than I want it to be and what I have in my head.
But just a few key points.
First off the Professor over at Legal Insurrection has probably the hands down best post regarding this fiasco to date.
Best quote on what should have taken place re: White House reaction?
Dear Wikileaks,
If you publish any more material we will hunt you down no matter the cost, and you either will be killed while resisting arrest or you will spend the rest of your lives in solitary confinement in a Supermax prison, where the highlight of your day will be 1 hour spent in a cage instead of your cell. Don’t look up, that sound of propellers in the air is not a Predator drone.
Sincerely,
Harold Koh
Here’s my biggest issue that I would really love to get in to but a tiny keyboard prevents me from: When Wiki Leaks released their first salvo back in October there was some outrage, but the our government rolled over and played dead.
Now that heaven forbid the diplomats, politicians and other government civilian types are ousted the State Department is up in arms and launches a investigation.
So effectively what your saying is soldiers lives don’t matter: but government bureaucrats are sacred. When you knew a month ago that the Wikileaks crew were going to do so again and you took no action save for a sternly worded letter.
This administration effectively disgusts me.
Ok so my home Internet is still down. Fortunately I have some posting ability at work.
Here’s the scoop as it were.
For the last year I have had HughesNet. I have a download limit of 350 Meg every 24 hours. I exceed that, either via E-mail, video, downloading, or what have you and they knock me to “dial up comparable”
Right.
It was supposed to be 1.5 meg down. I never came close to seeing that speed. But I will admit what I had was better than dial up. Credit where credit is due. However the Turbo gateway constantly went down, we experienced outages in all sorts of weather, and several network related outages as well.
But this past weekend it went out. And when my Dish Network came back, the Internet didn’t.
So I called’em up, to figure out what was going on.
Right about here is where the bobsled to hell started.
They wanted to charge me $150 to come out just to find out what was wrong with my system. Seems they could not figure out what it was over the phone, and all of the fancy lights that they have in the modem wasn’t telling them anything.
I was paying almost $90 a month for the last year for this service.
In any other ISP broadband, DSL, cable, etc. folks will come out and trouble shoot your system and it is all part of the plan. I worked for AT&T and I worked on U-verse. I know how that goes. Unless the customer lit the modem on fire and used it for polo practice, we fixed it. Customer abuse versus wear and tear of faulty equipment, all understandable. Not so here.
Here we have absolute disregard for keeping a customer, just a desire to sell their equipment with a massive start up cost, a installation charge that warranties nothing and no maintenance of any form save yourself.
So after over an hour of arguing with a tech support rep who tried to tell me there was no way to test coax (It was at this point I asked for a supervisor) I was told that it didn’t matter what I did or said, the only thing HughesNet was willing to do is give me 30 days free. Which means I would still be out $50 for the repair.
By this time I confess I was hoping mad. Between being treated like an idiot (TSR: “Sir, I don’t know who you were working for before but there no way to test the integrity of Coaxial cable.” Me: “Your joking right? How do you think Cell towers work?” TSR: “Uhm……”) and finding out that absolutely none of my equipment or installation was covered in my obscene cost per month with the ridiculous amount of restrictions: I canceled the service.
I was then sent to a CSR who tried to convince me to stay with them, and who told me if i canceled I would be subjected to a $79.99 fee for disconnection. (Me: “Let me get this straight, your going to charge me $150 to send someone out here to find out whats wrong with a service that doesn’t work yet your going to charge me $79.99 to flip a switch on a service that already doesn’t work? And you have the audacity to ask me why I’m canceling my service?”)
Within 4 hours of cancelling my service I have a MiFi unit on the way from Verizon. My wife and I have had their cellular service for over ten years now, and I know from first hand experience what to expect not only from their Customer Service but also from their technical support. Having worked on their towers I know how their coverage is as well. I feel confident in this choice.
I also feel confident in knowing I’m saving about $20 a month and I don’t have that 350 meg limit looming over my shoulder like a Gorilla.
So if any of you rural folks out there are considering going to a Satellite ISP, take some time and research some other opportunities first.
@steve_phillips_: No more game tweets. Lame phone/service not worth frustration. #Powered by Twitter Tools
Have you ever gotten a song stuck in your head? You keep singing it in your mind or softly to yourself, all day, and can’t get it to stop? Well, my friends, that’s your Brain Radio….
Welcome to mine!
-v00d3W
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So HughesNet managed to really piss me off. My internet went out in the winter blast we had this past week.
My Dish came back. My Internet did not. After arguing with a guy who could not speak English I was told that a technician would call me in 3 to 5 days to set up a appointment and they would charge me $150 for the visit.
After I picked me jaw off the floor I cancelled the service.
So this the first time doing a full scale post with my Droid phone. I have signed up for the Verizon MiFi system. Will be a day or three until it gets here. Until then v00d3w has the helm.
Once I have internet again I’ll give a much more detailed telling of the debacle.
Meanwhile Happy Birthday today to my Critter!!
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Have you ever gotten a song stuck in your head? You keep singing it in your mind or softly to yourself, all day, and can’t get it to stop? Well, my friends, that’s your Brain Radio….
-v00d3W
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I originally posted this back in 2004 at Techography. It’s short and sweet, like all Thanksgiving posts should be in my opinion. The time isn’t one for waxing eloquent, or long drawn out speeches. Its one for reflection. – BS
I could try to write something poetic. I could try to write something intriguing, in depth and hammering, tear jerking or maybe even emotional.
I’ll leave it to Doc Russia and the rest to write serious pieces.
Instead I’ll let someone else’s words fit the bill for me this Thanksgiving. Read the rest of this entry »
More after the Jump
It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated.
Alec Bourne
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One of the indictments of civilizations is that happiness and intelligence are so rarely found in the same person.
William Feather
I know most folks like to sit back and smoke their cigars.
Yukon Blend Coffee with a shot of Jameson. Gurkha Cuban Legacy in Churchill
I like to walk.
Was a nice brisk cool morning yesterday, great weather for my traveling companions: a Gurkha Cuban Legacy and Yukon Blend coffee with a shot of Jameson.
Here’s a little photo-essay attempt with some random thoughts.
Feel free to click any of the images for a bigger version. Enjoy the walk, sorry if my mind tends to venture in to strange places. its just the way I am.
The best way to keep children home is to make the home atmosphere pleasant–and let the air out of the tires.
Dorothy Parker
As always click for the big picture!
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There's strange...and then there's ARMY Strange!
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