NBN (National Broadband Network) is pretty much the lowest common denominator here.. its resold by pretty much everyone...

For the benefit of those not in AU - the NBN is a wholesale only access network, and most retail providers will resell NBN access tails simply because that's where 99% of the potential customers are. Some will augment their offerings with fixed wireless or other fibre providers. NBN covers pretty much the whole country with one technology or another - the lucky ones get FTTP (fibre), less lucky gets a copper or coax based service, less lucky again gets fixed wireless (basically congested LTE), and the unlucky ones get NBN satelite (Sky Cl^h^hmuster)

So for pretty much universal coverage, an ISP will resell NBN tails. But, there are other much smaller fibre providers that provide FTTP within new housing estates, and there's alternative fixed wireless providers, and of course alternative satellite providers..

For 20/50Mbps I'm forking out $AU89 a month.. I may well be able to
find a better deal than this costwise if not speed wise.. but I've remained reasonably happy with the provider I'm using.

Indeed, but if you're happy where you are then why change it :-) Especially if you have a static IP and things tied to that - can make changing ISP's a right pain in the ass.


--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20220504
* Origin: TassieBob's BBS (21:3/169)

Re: Re: Your cell phone bill?
By: Nightfox to deon on Tue Jul 19 2022 10:05 am

Howdy,

Have you never had a (older style) phone that plugged into the wall? If you have more than one phone number, they typically say
each phone number has its own "line". I thought they still use that terminology for cell phones too (i.e., for family plans
where everyone has their own phone number/line), but maybe not.

Yes, my understanding of "lines" - is a device that has two numbers.

I dont understand why somebody would want 2 (or 4) numbers for the same service, so I was wondering if it ment something different in the US.


...δεσ∩
--- SBBSecho 3.15-Linux
* Origin: I'm playing with ANSI+videotex - wanna play too? (21:2/116)

I dont understand why somebody would want 2 (or 4) numbers for the
same service, so I was wondering if it ment something different in the
US.

IIRC, a long time ago Telstra offered this on the PSTN here (duet?) - with the primary application being to allow you to have a voice and fax service on the one line. I think the secondary number had a different ring cadence or something so that the fax machine could grab the call.

My oldies had a fax machine that could fudge that sort of behaviour with one number, but it relied on answering every inbound call, listening for the fax tones, and if none were heard it'd make the attached handset ring. Catch being that since the machine answered every call, the caller would get charged for the call even if you subsequently didn't answer the ringing handset.


--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20220504
* Origin: TassieBob's BBS (21:3/169)

*** Quoting TassieBob from a message to deon ***

IIRC, a long time ago Telstra offered this on the PSTN here (duet?) -
with the primary application being to allow you to have a voice and
fax service on the oneline. I think the secondary number had a
different ring cadence or something so that the fax machine could
grab the call.

We have something similar here called "Ident-A-Call" offered by Bell Canada, you had one physical line and could have a second phone number with a distinctive ring.

We sold a box at the computer shop I worked at that detected the distinctive ring and could direct the call to your fax machine (or modem) while the
normal ring went through to your phone. It worked well enough but wasn't
100% if I remember correctly.


Jay

... When your work speaks for itself, don`t interrupt

--- Telegard v3.09.g2-sp4/mL
* Origin: Northern Realms/TG ∞ tg.nrbbs.net ∞ Binbrook, ON (21:3/110.2)

Warpslide wrote to TassieBob <=-

We have something similar here called "Ident-A-Call" offered by Bell Canada, you had one physical line and could have a second phone number with a distinctive ring.

We sold a box at the computer shop I worked at that detected the distinctive ring and could direct the call to your fax machine (or
modem) while the normal ring went through to your phone. It worked
well enough but wasn't 100% if I remember correctly.

I remember those - some people tried running BBSes on their home phone that way.

I ran a dial-up BBS in 5 different houses, and always got lucky with the wiring. The first was an apartment building that had lath and plaster arches ceilings, and the Pac Bell tech ran a wire up a garbage chute to the second floor, along the floor past 3 apartments and into mine.

The second one left a new network interface alongside my telephone wiring. I waited to meet him onsite, and he said it was good that I did - had I not
been there, another phone guy would have put the new box on a different wall
a hundred feet over.

The rest of the installs were pretty straight-forward, network interfaces adjacent, 2 pairs running to the rest of the house. it was easy to split off the outside pair for the BBS line.




... Powered By Celeron (Tualatin). Engineered for the future.
--- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
* Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)

On 20 Jul 22 08:22:08, Warpslide said the following to Tassiebob:

We sold a box at the computer shop I worked at that detected the distinctive ring and could direct the call to your fax machine (or modem) while the normal ring went through to your phone. It worked well enough but wasn't 100% if I remember correctly.

I have one of those here, made by Aastra Telecom. For some reason these are still expensive and sometimes hard to find, sort of like Dialogic boards.

It ran here for many years without problems...

Atreyu

--- Renegade vY2Ka2
* Origin: Joey, do you like movies about gladiators? (21:1/176)

Re: Re: Your cell phone bill?
By: deon to Nightfox on Wed Jul 20 2022 08:26 pm

Yes, my understanding of "lines" - is a device that has two numbers.

I dont understand why somebody would want 2 (or 4) numbers for the same service, so I was wondering if it ment something different in the US.

In the past, with phone lines, if you wanted to be able to use dialup on your computer while still being able to talk on the phone, you would need at least 2 phone lines - One for your telephone and one for your computer.

Nightfox

*** Quoting poindexter FORTRAN from a message to Warpslide ***

I remember those - some people tried running BBSes on their home
phone that way.

I ran a dial-up BBS in 5 different houses, and always got lucky with
the wiring.

My dial-up BBS started out as the second line in our house, when I wanted to add a second node I called up Bell Canada and they said our house would need
a new cable run from the pole to our house.

They said we'd have to pay to have a trench dug from the pole to our house,
to which my Dad said "f@*# that, I'll dig the damn trench myself!". So one afternoon I "helped" my Dad dig the trench, the Bell guy came and ran the cable to the house and was nice enough to put the new demarc for the two new lines right in my bedroom.

Before my Dad would let me "play" with my new modems, he made me fill the trench in: "I dug most of the g0d d@mn thing myself, you can f@*#ing well
fill it back in!" (he's a colourful character).

After that my family shared the main line in the house (my sister had her own number with Ident-A-Call) and I had two (and later three) separate phone
lines in my room.


Jay

... An idea that is dangerous is unworthy of being called an idea at all

--- Telegard v3.09.g2-sp4/mL
* Origin: Northern Realms/TG ∞ tg.nrbbs.net ∞ Binbrook, ON (21:3/110.2)

Re: Re: Ident-A-Call
By: Warpslide to poindexter FORTRAN on Wed Jul 20 2022 01:48 pm

After that my family shared the main line in the house (my sister had her own number with Ident-A-Call) and I had
two (and later three) separate phone
lines in my room.

How much was a line back then, anyway? Wouldn't that run you about $200CAD/mon?
--- SBBSecho 3.15-Linux
* Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)

How much was a line back then, anyway? Wouldn't that run you about $200CAD/mon?

Back in the 90's I had two lines, one for the house's phone and one for the BBS. They were about $32.00 each back then. They were residential lines. If
they were business lines the cost would have doubled, or more.

They were plain phone lines. Things like ident-a-call came later but I never used that.

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-6
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (21:4/106)

*** Quoting Margaerynne from a message to Warpslide ***

How much was a line back then, anyway? Wouldn't that run you about $200CAD/mon?

It was around $37 /line /month if memory serves. It was under $150 /mo with taxes anyway for all three lines.

At one point when I was ordering the third line the Bell rep on the phone
said that since I was running a BBS he'd have to switch me to business
lines which were more expensive.

My Mom got on the phone and tore a strip off of him, so I got to keep the residential lines and I remember getting a credit of some sort too, I don't think it was for a whole month though.


Jay

... Real knowledge is to know the extent of ones ignorance

--- Telegard v3.09.g2-sp4/mL
* Origin: Northern Realms/TG ∞ tg.nrbbs.net ∞ Binbrook, ON (21:3/110.2)

Hello Warpslide!

** On Wednesday 20.07.22 - 13:48, Warpslide wrote to poindexter FORTRAN:

So one afternoon I "helped" my Dad dig the trench, [...]

How deep was your trench?

After that my family shared the main line in the house (my
sister had her own number with Ident-A-Call) and I had two
(and later three) separate phone lines in my room.

I have an underground feed from a pole on my property to my
house (roughly 60ft perhaps?) If I recall correctly, the trench
was nothing more then a thin "scoring" along the ground about 1
foot down. I had extra cables put in to theoretically give me
8 pairs (or 8 lines) back in the pre-2000 days.

--- OpenXP 5.0.51
* Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)

Hello Warpslide!

** On Wednesday 20.07.22 - 08:22, Warpslide wrote to TassieBob:

We have something similar here called "Ident-A-Call"
offered by Bell Canada, you had one physical line and could
have a second phone number with a distinctive ring.

That's how I operated my BBS in Montreal from my apartment.

[...] It worked well enough but wasn't 100% if I remember
correctly.

It worked extremely well for me. My only mistake was that I
would occassionally go to lift an extension while in another
room and not check if there is an active BBS caller.

--- OpenXP 5.0.51
* Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)

*** Quoting Ogg from a message to Warpslide ***

How deep was your trench?

It wasn't that deep at all, the pole was at the end of our driveway and we could see where the existing two pair cable came down the pole, so "we" just dug down and exposed that cable from the pole to where it came into our house (which was under the front porch).

I have an underground feed from a pole on my property to my house (roughly 60ft perhaps?) If I recall correctly, the trench was
nothing more then a thin "scoring" along the ground about 1 foot
down. I had extra cables put in to theoretically give me 8 pairs
(or 8 lines) back in the pre-2000 days.

I don't remember exactly how far away the pole was from the house, but we could fit 4 cars end-to-end in the driveway, so at least that plus a little bit. Bell only put another two pair cable in from the pole, so it sounds
like they cheaped out on me.

Not that it really mattered, we moved from there to another house in '98 to another area & bell wouldn't let me keep my number (from 705-645-xxxx to 705-385-xxxx).

That house also only had a two pair coming in from the street and by then BBSes were already giving way to the internet. I do remember moving my BBS
to that new house for a bit but it didn't last long Nov '98 to Sep '99 according to:

https://nodehist.fidonet.org.ua/?address=1%3A2424%2F260


Jay

... God made everything out of nothing. But the nothingness shows through

--- Telegard v3.09.g2-sp4/mL
* Origin: Northern Realms/TG ∞ tg.nrbbs.net ∞ Binbrook, ON (21:3/110.2)

*** Quoting Ogg from a message to Warpslide ***

[...] It worked well enough but wasn't 100% if I remember
correctly.

It worked extremely well for me.

I seem to remember there being a different ring for long distance calls that would sometimes trip it up? I don't remember the specifics now, but they did sell quite well.

My only mistake was that I would occassionally go to lift an extension while in another room and not check if there is an active BBS caller.

My sister would purposly do this to me when I was dialed into a BBS, this is how I ended up getting my own line, which then enabled me to start my own board. So, uh, thanks sis?


Jay

... Success is being nothing but a quote

--- Telegard v3.09.g2-sp4/mL
* Origin: Northern Realms/TG ∞ tg.nrbbs.net ∞ Binbrook, ON (21:3/110.2)

Re: Re: Your cell phone bill?
By: Nightfox to deon on Wed Jul 20 2022 09:04 am

In the past, with phone lines, if you wanted to be able to use dialup on your computer while still being able to talk on the
phone, you would need at least 2 phone lines - One for your telephone and one for your computer.

Oh, I understand multiple lines on a "landline" - it was available in OZ, where the 2nd number had a different ring (distinctive ring), so that it could be used for a different purpose. Fax comes to mind, but also house mates who wanted their own number.

But I dont understand why on a mobile/cell device. When I first got a mobile, all those decades ago, it was possible to have multiple numbers on it - where the 2nd number was to receive fax (I never understood why people wanted a fax service on a cell phone), but I dont think that took off.


...δεσ∩
--- SBBSecho 3.15-Linux
* Origin: I'm playing with ANSI+videotex - wanna play too? (21:2/116)

Re: Your cell phone bill?
By: TassieBob to deon on Wed Jul 20 2022 10:06 pm

IIRC, a long time ago Telstra offered this on the PSTN here (duet?) - with the primary application being to allow you to have a
voice and fax service on the one line. I think the secondary number had a different ring cadence or something so that the fax
machine could grab the call.

Yeah, I had that, when I was running a dialup service.

It meant voice calls could be answered by me (the modem would ignore them), and the data calls where answered on a different ring (distinctive ring I think it was called).

It worked well.


...δεσ∩
--- SBBSecho 3.15-Linux
* Origin: I'm playing with ANSI+videotex - wanna play too? (21:2/116)

But I dont understand why on a mobile/cell device. When I first got a mobile, all those decades ago, it was possible to have multiple
numbers on it

For a while I had a mobile with 2 SIM slots - I had my work issued SIM in one slot, and my personal one in the other. Only did that to save carrying around two phones.

These days I use my personal phone for everything and my current employer just reimburses me the monthly costs. Back then though, my (previous) employer would only cover the cost of mobiles if they were on /their/ account, and to put your personal mobile on the company account you had to waive any rights to your personal number - so when you left, your number stayed with them. I'd had that number for around 25 years, so that was a hard no.

--- GoldED+/LNX 1.1.5-b20220504
* Origin: TassieBob's BBS (21:3/169)

On 19 Jul 2022, Nightfox said the following...

$100/month seems expensive for 400 megabit internet. I'm also in

That about what I pay. Keep in mind they charge extra for unlimited. So if you need more than 1.5TB a month then you will pay extra for that. You could also get a business connection but thats even more expensive. Believe me I've been tempted quite a few times to switch to another provider but Its just been so rock solid I and I would have to change over so many places my email exists. -=sigh=- yeah probably won't happen anytime soon

|23|04Dr|16|12Claw
|16|14Sysop |12Noverdu |14BBS |04(|14Noverdu.com|04)
|10Standard Ports for SSH/Telnet Web/HTTP://|14Noverdu.com:808
|20|15fsxNet/MRC Chat/Registered Doors!/50Nodes/No Time Use! Stay On!|16|07

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Noverdu BBS (21:1/210)

Hello Warpslide!

** On Wednesday 20.07.22 - 21:02, Warpslide wrote to Ogg:

My only mistake was that I would occassionally go to lift
an extension while in another room and not check if there
is an active BBS caller.

My sister would purposly do this to me when I was dialed
into a BBS, this is how I ended up getting my own line,
which then enabled me to start my own board. So, uh,
thanks sis?

Was/is sis younger or older? In anycase, perhaps if you could
have provided a valid reason for her to appreciate the tech,
them maybe she would have respected your efforts. BBSes were
kinda like the first "social media" out there.. and what young
girl would be able to resist that? ;)

--

--- OpenXP 5.0.51
* Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)

Warpslide wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

After that my family shared the main line in the house (my sister had
her own number with Ident-A-Call) and I had two (and later three)
separate phone lines in my room.

At one point, & The Temple of the Screaming Electron (the hub of my main network in the '90s) was running a cobbled together network of 10 386sx
boxes. I don't recall the networking he used, but it was old thinnet
Ethernet. After a while the phone company wanted to switch the lines over to business lines, thinking that *no one* could have a non-commercial use for
10 phone lines!

&TOTSE was one of the biggest BBSes I'd seen.


... Not building a wall but making a brick
--- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
* Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)

deon wrote to Nightfox <=-

But I dont understand why on a mobile/cell device. When I first got a mobile, all those decades ago, it was possible to have multiple numbers
on it - where the 2nd number was to receive fax (I never understood why people wanted a fax service on a cell phone), but I dont think that
took off.

For the longest time, cell phone carriers used to have a pre-recorded prompt after your recorded greeting that that said something like "To leave a message, speak after the beep. To send a fax, press 2. There was another option, too.

One of the cell phone carriers, Verizon, I believe, even included the amount they made in per-minute charges for all the times people listened to that useless message.

I asked that they remove the message, as it others when the news came to light. They did so...

Resulting in 14 seconds of dead air before the beep.

This was the same company that when a long-standing excise tax was repealed, raised their prices by the same amount as a "convenience" for their
customers, who they claimed they'd polled and found out they preferred to be billed the same amount over saving money.

...δεσ∩
--- SBBSecho 3.15-Linux
* Origin: I'm playing with ANSI+videotex - wanna play too? (21:2/116)

... Put in earplugs
--- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
* Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)

TassieBob wrote to deon <=-

These days I use my personal phone for everything and my current
employer just reimburses me the monthly costs. Back then though, my (previous) employer would only cover the cost of mobiles if they were
on /their/ account, and to put your personal mobile on the company
account you had to waive any rights to your personal number - so when
you left, your number stayed with them. I'd had that number for around
25 years, so that was a hard no.

My personal number was grandfathered in from a block of numbers I'd gotten
in 2006. I'm keeping it forever.

My state requires reimbursement for business expenses paid for by employees
- including internet access and wireless. Many companies are skirting the issue, especially now that they have so many remote employees, and I think a lot of people are not willing to make waves.





... Question the heroic approach
--- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
* Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)

Re: Re: Your cell phone bill?
By: deon to Nightfox on Thu Jul 21 2022 01:40 pm

Oh, I understand multiple lines on a "landline" - it was available in OZ,

But I dont understand why on a mobile/cell device. When I first got a mobile, all those decades ago, it was possible to have multiple numbers on it - where the 2nd number was to receive fax (I never understood why people wanted a fax service on a cell phone), but I dont think that took off.

Ah.. I've heard of people who run a business (or service) using multiple phone numbers on the same phone so that one of them is their personal phone number and the other one is for their business. That way, they can more easily know who is calling for their business or for personal reasons.

Nightfox

Re: Re: Your cell phone bill?
By: claw to Nightfox on Thu Jul 21 2022 07:59 am

$100/month seems expensive for 400 megabit internet. I'm also in

That about what I pay. Keep in mind they charge extra for unlimited. So if you need more than 1.5TB a month then you will pay extra for that. You could also get a business connection but thats even more expensive. Believe me I've been tempted quite a few times to switch to another provider but Its just been so rock solid I and I would have to change over so many places my email exists. -=sigh=- yeah probably won't happen anytime soon

They have a data cap too? :/
I used to hear of ISPs here having data caps. I've had some ISPs in the recent past where their web site would say their data cap was turned off.. I think there was some talk of ISPs here possibly using data caps again, but I haven't heard anything about it for a while.

Nightfox

Ah.. I've heard of people who run a business (or service) using
multiple phone numbers on the same phone so that one of them is their personal phone number and the other one is for their business. That
way, they can more easily know who is calling for their business or for personal reasons.

I've sort of did that at one job, where instead of giving out my personal cell number, I had a google voice number that rang my desk phone and my cell phone.

... A program is used to turn data into error messages.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
* Origin: RVs and RPGs BBS (21:3/170)

*** Quoting Ogg from a message to Warpslide ***

Was/is sis younger or older?

She's two years younger than me.

In anycase, perhaps if you could have provided a valid reason for her
to appreciate the tech, them maybe she would have respected your
efforts. BBSes were kinda like the first "social media" out there..
and what young girl would be able

Meh, she's not really that in to tech. Whenever we would annoy each other
(as siblings tend to do) she would go into my room and switch off my BBS PC which really grinded my gears.


Jay

... Counting time is not so important as making time count

--- Telegard v3.09.g2-sp4/mL
* Origin: Northern Realms/TG ∞ tg.nrbbs.net ∞ Binbrook, ON (21:3/110.2)

$100/month seems expensive for 400 megabit internet. I'm also in
Oregon, and I thought Xfinity had gigabit internet for less than that.
I currently use Ziply Fiber for my internet service and am paying $60/month for 200 megabit service, but they also offer gigabit internet for $80/month. And that's the same speed for both upload & download (whereas with Xfinity, which is cable, your upload is a lot slower than your download).

So it was much closer to $50 when I has signed for a year; where you have to keep the service or whatnot... also, I went over data some months in a row and called in and added UNLIMITED data. Its what happens when you pull down 10TB in a month. :P They only allow you 1TB, and then charge $10 per... whatever it is after that. So I added UNLIMITED and didn't resign the 1 year subscription... I guess its about time to devote 2 hours to calling Xfinity, signing for a year and getting it closer to $50 again. Hmph.



|07p|15AULIE|1142|07o
|08.........

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/07/15 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)

Re: Re: Your cell phone bill?
By: paulie420 to Nightfox on Fri Jul 22 2022 08:00 pm

the 1 year subscription... I guess its about time to devote 2 hours to calling Xfinity, signing for a year and getting it closer to $50 again. Hmph.

Xfinity.. :/ I used to have their internet (well, it was Comcast; not sure if it was officially their Xfinity internet), along with their basic cable TV service. After a while, I realized I could get a better TV signal over the air (they had sent me a basic cable box that didn't even output a widescreen image - it output a square image, and it didn't look as sharp as a modern digital TV image). I called Comcast to have them cancel my basic TV service (and only keep the internet), but they said my bill would increase if I did that. Dafuq? The things they do are weird.

When I moved, I switched to fiber internet service and only got internet service. I also like that fiber is the same speed for both upload and download.

Nightfox

nblade wrote to Nightfox <=-

I've sort of did that at one job, where instead of giving out my
personal cell number, I had a google voice number that rang my desk
phone and my cell phone.

I took my work number with me when I left a job back in 2016; I was
surprised I didn't get more work calls after I left. Always been concerned about that with giving out a personal number for work.


... Back in the stream that feeds the ocean that feeds the stream.
--- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
* Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)

*** Quoting poindexter FORTRAN from a message to nblade ***

I took my work number with me when I left a job back in 2016; I was surprised I didn't get more work calls after I left. Always been
concerned about that withgiving out a personal number for work.

My last job was very strict, no personal devices on the company network & no work accounts on personal devices. Period.

So no work email on personal devices and no personal devices on the company wifi. So with that job I had two phones, which I hated.

This job is way more (almost too) lax with BYOD. Instead of getting a second phone to carry around I opted to just expense my personal phone. To get around giving out my personal number I'm using a DID from one of our offices which rings on my laptop & an app on my iPhone.

That way when I'm on vacation I can just sign out of the app for a better work/life balance.


Jay

... Not ignorance, but ignorance of ingnorance, is the death of knowledge

--- Telegard v3.09.g2-sp4/mL
* Origin: Northern Realms/TG ∞ tg.nrbbs.net ∞ Binbrook, ON (21:3/110.2)

Xfinity.. :/

Lulz - trust me I know too well... out here in St. Helens its the only [decent] player, so you use them or you don't have bandwidth. My GF in portland uses... I forget the name but they offer fiber - 1GB up/down... the same company up here literally only had a 12MB up/down offering!!

Anyway, you've reminded me that I need to call and haggle the price down...

I called Comcast to have them cancel my basic TV service (and only keep Ni> the internet), but they said my bill would increase if I did that. Ni> Dafuq? The things they do

While that isn't funny, thats funny!! :P I only get the data - now a days everything I watch can be streamed in on wonderful wonderful data.

Speaking of which - I am *thinking* of doing the same thing w/ my cell service... using all VOIP #s and porting my cell # over to one of those services and only using some data package. Just trying to figure out if I can buy data right on the cell phone - or if I'd have to use some Wifi Hotspot to accomplish what I wanna do.

When I moved, I switched to fiber internet service and only got internet service. I also like that fiber is the same speed for both upload and download.

I so want a 1G fiber solution... one day my area will get it. :/



|07p|15AULIE|1142|07o
|08.........

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/07/15 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)

look as sharp as a modern digital TV image). I called Comcast to have
them cancel my basic TV service (and only keep the internet), but they said my bill would increase if I did that. Dafuq? The things they do
are weird.

When we lived in both SE Georgia and Chicago, it was the same deal with Comcast. It was cheaper to get the lowest tier cable tv along with internet than just the internet.

ogg

Sysop, Altair IV BBS
Lufkin, TX
fsxnet: 21:2/147

... Fer sell cheep: BBS spel chekker. Wurks grate.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/07/15 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Altair IV BBS (21:2/147)

Re: Re: Your cell phone bill?
By: paulie420 to Nightfox on Sat Jul 23 2022 05:36 pm

Lulz - trust me I know too well... out here in St. Helens its the only [decent] player, so you use them or you don't have bandwidth. My GF in portland uses... I forget the name but they offer fiber - 1GB up/down... the same company up here literally only had a 12MB up/down offering!!

There are a few companies in the Portland area that do fiber internet, and their availability varies in the area. Ziply Fiber is the one I use, but I think fiber is also available with CenturyLink, FiberFi, and there's another I had heard of that seems to mainly be available in apartment complexees. I think there are a couple others, but I don't remember offhand.

I so want a 1G fiber solution... one day my area will get it. :/

I had gigabit fiber for a year when my ISP had a price deal. I thought the speed was nice, but after that year when the price went up, I decided to have them step me down to the next tier, which is 200 megabits. The difference in price is $20 per month - It doesn't seem like a lot, but I figured that's $240 per year I'd be saving. It seems kinda sneaky that they'd make the price difference so little though.. I'd think the price of internet service would be more proportional to the internet speed. I've almost thought about going back to gigabit, but it's been rare that I've been in a hurry to need things downloaded that quickly.

Nightfox

Re: Re: Your cell phone bill?
By: ogg to Nightfox on Sat Jul 23 2022 08:10 pm

When we lived in both SE Georgia and Chicago, it was the same deal with Comcast. It was cheaper to get the lowest tier cable tv along with internet than just the internet.

I don't like that companies do bundling like that. Years ago, I had heard there are laws in some European countries against bundling, in order to keep prices low for consumers who might just want one of their services.

Nightfox

Re: Re: Two Numbers
By: Warpslide to poindexter FORTRAN on Sat Jul 23 2022 03:32 pm

My last job was very strict, no personal devices on the company network & no work accounts on personal devices. Period.

So no work email on personal devices and no personal devices on the company wifi. So with that job I had two phones, which I hated.

I envy you, because at least that shows that somebody, somewhere, CARED.

For the record, I work with three phone lines.

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My last job was very strict, no personal devices on the company network &
no work accounts on personal devices. Period.

So no work email on personal devices and no personal devices on the
company wifi. So with that job I had two phones, which I hated.

This job is way more (almost too) lax with BYOD. Instead of getting a
second
phone to carry around I opted to just expense my personal phone. To get around giving out my personal number I'm using a DID from one of our
offices which rings on my laptop & an app on my iPhone.

Yeah, there are big differences in how IT security is handled in different organizations/sectors. Some of it boils down to the culture of the organization.

Our policy is personal devices go on the "wireless guest". No personal devices on the production network. The one main reason is for patching, updating, etc. If we can't manage it, it doesn't go on the production network.

Generally speaking, I do think our security is probably on the more lax side of things since anyone can still plug anything into any port. So many venders just come on-site and start connecting things without our knowledge, etc.

- Mark
   
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (21:1/132.0)

I so want a 1G fiber solution... one day my area will get it. :/

Yeah, I have to say it is awesome. I still remember when they were running the fiber through the neighborhood around 10 or so years ago. I didn't jump on the bandwagon right away, though. It was too expensive when it first arrived - 1G was near $300/month 10 years ago.

I pulled the trigger two years ago when I saw the price of $79.99/month for 1G/1G. Calling Comcast to terminate all services was the best call I ever made to them.

- Mark
   
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (21:1/132.0)

Warpslide wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

This job is way more (almost too) lax with BYOD. Instead of getting a second phone to carry around I opted to just expense my personal phone.
To get around giving out my personal number I'm using a DID from one
of our offices which rings on my laptop & an app on my iPhone.

Silicon Valley used peer pressure to roll out BYOD - you want to keep up
with your co-workers dealing with issues happening 24/7? You'll need to put work's email and chat apps on your phone. Isn't this cool?

Reimbursement for BYOD seemed to get lost in the shuffle; some states
require it but companies conveniently forgot that during 2020 and employees are hesitant to bring it up.

That way when I'm on vacation I can just sign out of the app for a
better work/life balance.

Agreed. I give out a Teams number instead of my personal cell number now.


... Overtly resist change
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I had gigabit fiber for a year when my ISP had a price deal. I thought the speed was nice, but after that year when the price went up, I
decided to have them step me down to the next tier, which is 200
megabits. The difference in price is $20 per month - It doesn't seem
like a lot, but I figured that's $240 per year I'd be saving. It seems kinda sneaky that they'd make the price difference so little though..
I'd think the price of internet service would be more proportional to
the internet speed. I've almost thought about going back to gigabit,
but it's been rare that I've been in a hurry to need things downloaded that quickly.

You know, I rarely find myself needing the horsepower that say a gamer might need - most of the things I do on computers are retro, or low CPU needs; I think the same holds true for the internet connections I need. While I'd prefer 1GB, I think 200mb [or 400, in my situation] is plenty - I might not even notice the difference.



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I pulled the trigger two years ago when I saw the price of $79.99/month for 1G/1G. Calling Comcast to terminate all services was the best call
I ever made to them.

LOL, and it still took you an hour. And you felt like you won... the last hour ever. :P



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You know, I rarely find myself needing the horsepower that say a gamer might need - most of the things I do on computers are retro, or low CPU

I havent done inside work for about 8 years now. Im a lineman for Comcast. But back then people would just want the fastest speeds just to say they have the fastest speeds. Im sure its like that still today. Most of the time if someone actually needer faster speeds, it wasnt for the download speeds, its because they needed to get faster upload speeds for whatever kind of occupation they were in. Becuase as you know, with cable companys the speeds are not symetrical. Get like 1000 down but only 50 up. Just an example.

Irish_Monk

... A social life? Where can I download that!?

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LOL, and it still took you an hour. And you felt like you won... the last hour ever. :P

Back when I was still with Comcast, I spent at least an hour a year on the phone with them to keep my endless promotions/deals going. Then Comcast started adding additonal random junk fees that you couldn't remove no matter what promo you were on.

That was when I was done with them. The loads of junk fees that kept going up, for channels I didn't even want in the first place. Total junk and so happy to be done with them and traditional TV service.

- Mark
   
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (21:1/132.0)

On 23 Jul 2022, Nightfox said the following...

I don't like that companies do bundling like that. Years ago, I had
heard there are laws in some European countries against bundling, in
order to keep prices low for consumers who might just want one of their services.

Nightfox

I agree but I know why they do it here. The Cable is accessible without a decrypter. So the only way not to get it is with a signal blocker inline between you and the poll. So they have to have this on there and maintain it. The also go out occasionally and have to be replaced. Now though I do not believe they have anything with out a digital signal anymore.

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though I do not believe they have anything with out a digital signal

Pretty much all cable companies , everything is digital. But even the biggest cable companies, each area could be different than the other. They use to leave the local broadcast stations ClearQAM but now even those are encrypted so you would have to have one of there styles of cable boxes to decrypt and get the channels. I always thought the biggest reason they bundle services too, is because, if you have tv, internet, and phone, thats technically 3 customers and looks good for wall street.

IrishMonk

... If you only know WHY, then you are a scientist.

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Weatherman wrote to Warpslide <=-

Our policy is personal devices go on the "wireless guest". No personal devices on the production network. The one main reason is for
patching, updating, etc. If we can't manage it, it doesn't go on the production network.

That makes perfect sense; where the scale go sideways is Intune and BYOD.

We're going to *let* you use access company data on your personal device,
but we're going to install a MITM profile and sniff your traffic in the meantime. And, force security restrictions based on *our* data that we're letting you access. And, we're not going to re-imburse you, because access
to company data 24/7 is part of the rat race we've designed to max the
amount of work we get out of our people.

Oh, add in that we won't let you use your mail app which supports all
features of Exchange in a 365 environment, we're going to push Outlook on
your device and disable your app from accessing our data.

Welcome to big IT.





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Weatherman wrote to Paulie420 <=-

I pulled the trigger two years ago when I saw the price of $79.99/month for 1G/1G. Calling Comcast to terminate all services was the best call
I ever made to them.

I'd love to do that, but AT&T Fiber is run on utility poles on my street. I live on a curvy cul de sac with a long stretch between poles - they cross
the street right at my house. That means there's quite a bit of sag in the lines, and AT&T is the low cable on the pole. My neighbor's fiber from the pole to his house has been taken down by trucks 3 times in as many years,
and AT&T has taken 3-5 days to roll a truck and fix it. I don't want to be down that long, so Comcast it is. :(


... How does this work, is there an orientation?
--- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
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Weatherman wrote to Paulie420 <=-

LOL, and it still took you an hour. And you felt like you won... the last hour ever. :P

Back when I was still with Comcast, I spent at least an hour a year on
the phone with them to keep my endless promotions/deals going. Then Comcast started adding additonal random junk fees that you couldn't
remove no matter what promo you were on.

Yeah, the "customer retention" team used to be good - get kicked up from
level 1 and you'd find some guy who'd get you more for less than you were paying.

Now, I threatened to leave and they were nonplussed - they ended up getting
me a "promotion" that had all of the things I'd had for more money! I ended
up calling a couple of times before getting to someone who could make a
deal. I'm on a month-to-month plan now, which ended up being less than my 1 year commit.





... How does this work, is there an orientation?
--- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
* Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)

I'd love to do that, but AT&T Fiber is run on utility poles on my street.
I live on a curvy cul de sac with a long stretch between poles - they
cross the street right at my house. That means there's quite a bit of sag in the lines, and AT&T is the low cable on the pole. My neighbor's fiber from the pole to his house has been taken down by trucks 3 times in as
many years, and AT&T has taken 3-5 days to roll a truck and fix it. I
don't want to be down that long, so Comcast it is.

Tie-wrap the fiber on the pole to prevent the sagging :)

- Mark
   
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (21:1/132.0)

Now, I threatened to leave and they were nonplussed - they ended up
getting me a "promotion" that had all of the things I'd had for more
money! I ended up calling a couple of times before getting to someone who could make a deal. I'm on a month-to-month plan now, which ended up being less than my 1 year commit.

Back in my yearly Comcast renegotiate my promo days, sometimes it took extra work. I am not one to give up easily at all.

There were times I would get all promos again right away on the 1st attempt/call. There were other times where it took 15+ calls over days to do it, but I always got it.

They probably had a note on my account to say that I was a pain in the ass and just give me the promos.

- Mark
   
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (21:1/132.0)

On Sat Jul 30 15:34:00 2022, Weatherman wrote to Poindexter Fortran <=-

Back in my yearly Comcast renegotiate my promo days, sometimes it took extra work. I am not one to give up easily at all.

There were times I would get all promos again right away on the 1st attempt/call. There were other times where it took 15+ calls over days to do it, but I always got it.

They probably had a note on my account to say that I was a pain in the ass and just give me the promos.

- Mark

Gosh, you just reminded me that I need to do this TODAY. Ugh.... :P

pAULIE42o
.........


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Hello Warpslide!

** On Wednesday 20.07.22 - 20:59, Warpslide wrote to Ogg:

Not that it really mattered, we moved from there to another
house in '98 to another area & bell wouldn't let me keep my
number (from 705-645-xxxx to 705-385-xxxx).

Officially, we don't "own" the numbers assigned to us. That was
mentioned in the small print in a Regulations section of the
phone book.

..but it didn't last long Nov '98 to Sep '99 according to:

https://nodehist.fidonet.org.ua/?address=1%3A2424%2F260

I thought the FULL phone numbers from the nodelist were visible
once. Now the last 4-digist seem to be obfuscated with ****

Meanwhile the RU version of that (http://nodehist.wfido.ru/)
seems to be down. Is that still part of the Russian blockage
problem or something?


--- OpenXP 5.0.51
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in the lines, and AT&T is the low cable on the pole. My neighbor's fib

Usually any "drops" to the houses techs can attach anywhere on the pole as long as they are far enough from power. So even though the phone company is on the bottom, if they needed to j hook it above where the cable company feeder is to make sure they can get proper height in a situation like yours,, they do it all the time.

If you were to do the install, when the tech gets there, just let him know that it needs to go higher where it crosses the street.

Irishmonk

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money! I ended up calling a couple of times before getting to someone could make a deal. I'm on a month-to-month plan now, which ended up be

yeah, with Comcast, when you first call in, you get a "regular" customer service rep, If you tie them up long enough, and if they cant satisfy you with whatever offers there computer says they can give you, they send you off to the "retention" department which can do a little more for you to try and keep you as a customer. If possible, alot of people would just change names from your name to partners name to get the deal. this only works if the partners name is not already on the account. And if you cancel completely and try to restart service in your name, to get a good deal again, the computer will recognize this and red flag the account so you dont get a promo deal. I think you have to not be a customer for 6 months when trying this method.

IrishMonk

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Weatherman wrote to Poindexter Fortran <=-

Tie-wrap the fiber on the pole to prevent the sagging :)

AT&T kicked the problem down the street by looping their fiber over
Comcast's cable, giving it a little more loft.


... Cut a vital connection
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Weatherman wrote to Poindexter Fortran <=-

They probably had a note on my account to say that I was a pain in the
ass and just give me the promos.

I think they'd probably mark my account as "Let him go, he costs us too much in sales calls..."


... Cut a vital connection
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IrishMonk wrote to Weatherman <=-

in the lines, and AT&T is the low cable on the pole. My neighbor's fib

Usually any "drops" to the houses techs can attach anywhere on the pole
as long as they are far enough from power. So even though the phone company is on the bottom, if they needed to j hook it above where the cable company feeder is to make sure they can get proper height in a situation like yours,, they do it all the time.

If you were to do the install, when the tech gets there, just let him
know that it needs to go higher where it crosses the street.

I've had good luck with the installers over the years. Swear all you want at the carriers, the outside plant guys and some of the installers are what
made the companies what they are today.

The good news is that my office space is on the top-right corner of the building, the closest part of the house to the pole.



... Cut a vital connection
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works if the partners name is not already on the account. And if you
cancel completely and try to restart service in your name, to get a good deal again, the computer will recognize this and red flag the account so
you dont get a promo deal. I think you have to not be a customer for 6 months when trying this method.

I never cancelled to get a promo or switch names, etc. I would always be very nice, speak to retentions and eventually got promos every single year I had Comcast.

The issue now is the junk fees. You can't get a promo to have them removed. There are LOTS of junk fees and they were going up substantially. Like the "sports fee" in particular. I don't even watch sports and couldn't get a package without it.

Glad to not have that old style TV crap anymore. Streaming is the way to go and download the rest.

- Mark
   
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (21:1/132.0)

substantially. Like the "sports fee" in particular. I don't even watch

Yeah. Alot of time the cable company gets the blame for all of this, But its all done in contracts between the cable companys and the networks. alot of people always thought the reason channels wont go a la carte is because of the cable companys, But the networks are even more against this.

Cable Tv is the least profitable product we carry. Phone is 2nd and internet is the bread and butter for any cable company.

IrishMonk

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I've had good luck with the installers over the years. Swear all you
want at the carriers, the outside plant guys and some of the installers are what made the companies what they are today.

Thank you very much!! Been in the field for 21 years and wouldnt change for nothing. Was asked to get into a supervisor/manager role many times and would not make the change ever. I enjoyed working with 99.9% of the customers I had and most of the time , by the time I was done with the job, I even got along with the .1%.

IrishMonk

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Glad to not have that old style TV crap anymore. Streaming is the way
to go and download the rest.

We did that for many years too. Comcast just came in my area so now I get all 3 services at a very discounted price. But before then, it was just internet with the local cable company and we switch around Netflix, hulu, etc...

I actually even setup a digital antenna where the dish was, was very surprised how well it worked and how many channels we got. Havnt dug too far into but for some reason, even that was ramping up. I think it was atsc 3.0 was about to kick off for OTA which would make it so they could offer content in 4k and there would even be some sort of "on demand" content.

IrishMonk

... That which does not kill me does not kill me.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/07/15 (Linux/64)
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IrishMonk wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

Thank you very much!! Been in the field for 21 years and wouldnt change for nothing. Was asked to get into a supervisor/manager role many times and would not make the change ever. I enjoyed working with 99.9% of the customers I had and most of the time , by the time I was done with the job, I even got along with the .1%.

You're welcome -- I was a telecom manager in a former life, back when desk phones ruled the office. When things went south, it was the guys that rolled in trucks that escalated, reached out to their more senior techs when they needed help, and got things right.

I hired a telecom tech that looked familiar back in the 2000s. We started comparing notes and I remembered that he was a tech that worked on my system back in the 90s when Pacific Bell had a hardware branch.

He'd retired, bought a bunch of apartment buildings in Texas, made good
amount of income on them, and decided to go back to work. I asked him why
he'd want to go back?

"I want to be the customer. I want to pick up a phone and have someone else get in a van and come fix it for a change."





... No appropriate tagline.
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Weatherman wrote to Irishmonk <=-

I never cancelled to get a promo or switch names, etc. I would always
be very nice, speak to retentions and eventually got promos every
single year I had Comcast.

Me, too - and that mostly worked until now.

The issue now is the junk fees. You can't get a promo to have them removed. There are LOTS of junk fees and they were going up
substantially. Like the "sports fee" in particular. I don't even
watch sports and couldn't get a package without it.

There's another "fee" that they make sound like it's a mandated fee, but
they just pocket the change.

Glad to not have that old style TV crap anymore. Streaming is the way
to go and download the rest.

Yeah, I'm about ready to make the move.


... HACK THE PLANET!
--- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
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I hired a telecom tech that looked familiar back in the 2000s. We

Its amazing if your in any field for long enough, people come in go, sometime they might work for you, then they might be the ones with a contract and you might work for them. I was always told to never burn bridges with anyone because you dont know what the future holds and they might be your next way to get a pay check. I was a sub-contractor for about 6 1/2 years, now I have been with the biggest internet provider out there for just over 15years in house. It has its moments but I love the work!!

IrishMonk

... Live every day as though it were your last. One day, you'll be right

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/07/15 (Windows/64)
* Origin: WarpeD SocieTy (21:4/184)

There's another "fee" that they make sound like it's a mandated fee, but they just pocket the change.

Glad to not have that old style TV crap anymore. Streaming is the way to go and download the rest.

Yeah, I'm about ready to make the move.

Those fees (which you can't have removed or get a promo to discount) are what finally got me to dump regular TV and Comcast, completely. I pay less now and have way more - so I would like to thank Comcast for their insane junk fees that finally pushed me to dump them for something much better and less expensive.

- Mark
   
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (21:1/132.0)

Those fees (which you can't have removed or get a promo to discount) are what finally got me to dump regular TV and Comcast, completely. I pay less now and have way more - so I would like to thank Comcast for their insane junk fees that finally pushed me to dump them for something much better and less expensive.

My brother in law worked for Comcast XFinity for a long time, and as soon as he left the company and was no longer getting their service for free, he cut the cord as well.

It's a bummer where I live there are no other options for high speed internet and their pricing model means I basically /have/ to pay for cable if I want decent internet speeds as well. :(

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Re: Re: Your cell phone bill?
By: Weatherman to Irishmonk on Sun Jul 31 2022 08:21 pm

I never cancelled to get a promo or switch names, etc. I would always be very nice, speak to retentions and eventually got promos every single year I had Comcast.

The issue now is the junk fees. You can't get a promo to have them removed. There are LOTS of junk fees and they were going up substantially. Like the "sports fee" in particular. I don't even watch sports and couldn't get a package without it.

Glad to not have that old style TV crap anymore. Streaming is the way to go and download the rest.

I haven't had cable TV in years, so I'm not entirely familiar with what you're saying here.. Also not quite sure what you mean by "old style TV crap" - but there are some TV shows I like to watch that are broadcast over the air, such as local news, and sometimes a game show like Jeopardy, etc. There are also a couple TV channels in my area that play old sitcoms & such (and by "old", I mean things from the 90s and newer) that I might watch when I'm bored. Over the air TV doesn't have any fees associated with it, so I can't complain about that.

I feel like the TV content I like to watch is fairly sparse, so subscribing to several streaming services doesn't feel very worth it to me. And as you say, downloading works.. I have a Plex media server that I can put content on and watch when I want. I also have an over-the-air TV antenna connected to my Plex media server, and it can record TV conent if I want (it can also skip commercials).

Nightfox

My brother in law worked for Comcast XFinity for a long time, and as soon
as he left the company and was no longer getting their service for free,
he cut the cord as well.

It's a bummer where I live there are no other options for high speed internet and their pricing model means I basically /have/ to pay for cable if I want decent internet speeds as well. :(

We had the same issue here until around 10 years ago. Up until that time, it was Comcast or DSL (which you might as well have ISDN, which actually works better).

Comcast was about to start adding caps to their service here and charge extra, and then Verizon FIOS came along and that changed everything. Not that I'm a huge fan of Verizon, but at least we have (2) real players in the space vs just one.

At first, Verizon FIOS was fairly expensive. The price for 1Gbps was over $300 a month at first. These days it is $89.99/month. I actually got it about 2 years ago when it was only $79.99/month.

That is all I need - just Internet. No extra forced channels of garbage with loads of junk fees.

- Mark
   
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (21:1/132.0)

I haven't had cable TV in years, so I'm not entirely familiar with what you're saying here.. Also not quite sure what you mean by "old style TV crap" - but there are some TV shows I like to watch that are broadcast
over the air, such as local news, and sometimes a game show like Jeopardy, etc. There are also a couple TV channels in my area that play old sitcoms
& such (and by "old", I mean things from the 90s and newer) that I might watch when I'm bored. Over the air TV doesn't have any fees associated
with it, so I can't complain about that.

Anything where you are forced to pay for a bunch of channels, especially ones that have additional forced fees. And you can't opt out of them.

I feel like the TV content I like to watch is fairly sparse, so
subscribing to several streaming services doesn't feel very worth it to
me. And as you say, downloading works.. I have a Plex media server that I can put content on and watch when I want. I also have an over-the-air TV antenna connected to my Plex media server, and it can record TV conent if
I want (it can also skip commercials).

I have a large "data server" and use Kodi via several Nvidia Shields that are connected to each TV in the house. I really like collecting the old classic shows and am refreshing my collection to 1080p where available.

- Mark
   
--- WWIVToss v.1.52
* Origin: http://www.weather-station.org * Bel Air, MD -USA (21:1/132.0)

Re: Re: Your cell phone bill?
By: Weatherman to Nightfox on Tue Aug 02 2022 07:31 pm

I have a large "data server" and use Kodi via several Nvidia Shields that are connected to each TV in the house. I really like collecting the old classic shows and am refreshing my collection to 1080p where available.

Yeah, I think it's fun to do this kind of stuff.

Nightfox

I have a large "data server" and use Kodi via several Nvidia Shields
that are connected to each TV in the house. I really like collecting

Sounds like something I need to start looking into!!

Irish_Monk

... I know a good tagline when I steal one!

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/07/15 (Windows/64)
* Origin: WarpeD SocieTy (21:4/184)

Comcast was about to start adding caps to their service here and charge extra, and then Verizon FIOS came along and that changed everything.
Not that I'm a huge fan of Verizon, but at least we have (2) real
players in the space vs just one.

We moved into a new house in January and I had to have an XFinity tech come out to my house six times to fix the f***ng internet. I had to argue to get a portion of the fees that month refunded to me. I eventually gave up arguing, it wasn't worth my time, I just let them win.

I have no other option for high speed internet. And now I fear they're going to forcibly bundle their cell plan as well, which I definitely don't want or need hehe.

But my wife and I both have to take virtual meetings from our house, and it would be unacceptable for a poor connection. So we just have to put up with it.

At first, Verizon FIOS was fairly expensive. The price for 1Gbps was
over $300 a month at first. These days it is $89.99/month. I actually got it about 2 years ago when it was only $79.99/month.

Yeah, the prices and extra fees are nuts. We bought our own hardware to use (cable modem, router, etc), and they wanted to charge us all these setup fees and I told them to go to hell, lol. No way.

That is all I need - just Internet. No extra forced channels of garbage with loads of junk fees.

Same. Sadly I have no real choice in the matter. Ugh. I look forward to the days when cable companies like this are bankrupt. Honestly, the business model is pretty gross...cable television became a "thing" because it was a way to get premium shows that were not broadcast over the airwaves, and not have to watch any commercials. Naturally, commercials very quickly came on board, and now we are where we are today. Yuck.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 2022/07/11 (Linux/64)
* Origin: m O N T E R E Y b B S . c O M (21:4/173)

Irish_Monk wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

Its amazing if your in any field for long enough, people come in go, sometime they might work for you, then they might be the ones with a contract and you might work for them. I was always told to never burn bridges with anyone because you dont know what the future holds and
they might be your next way to get a pay check.

Telecom was a small field, lots of opportunity to work again with people you liked.

I bought a Nortel Networks PBX in 2005 from a local company I'd not heard
of. When they did the hand-off documentation, I looked at the support
number, 1-800-735-5980, and realized that it was the same number that I'd called when I first started out in telecom in 1991! The same org went to Pacific Telesis, Wiltel, SBC, and later this independent company. The owner
of the last company told me he'd sat at the same desk with the same phone number and had received checks from 4 different companies over the years.




... Not building a wall but making a brick
--- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
* Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)