Continuous Internet Woes
My mini-holiday vacation is already over. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly time flies. It only seemed like yesterday that I was enjoying the post holiday period between the day after Christmas and New Years. Now, it's just the normal winter dullness, although I'd be lying if I didn't say I didn't enjoy the lifting of the holiday stress. With the exception of Katsucon which is just a little more than a month away, there's only really spring and warm weather to look forward to.
My post New Year's has been interesting. The PS3 I bought on e-Bay didn't come until the day before New Year's Eve because of the big Nor'easter storm. For some strange reason UPS doesn't deliver packages here until after 3:30 so there was just enough time to set it up before amusingly having to run off to work for the same company. Thanks UPS! Since we had Friday off because of the holiday I did manage to set the massive console up. After giving it lots of thought I opted for the older 60GB model with full PS2 backwards capability. Sure the new smaller PS3 consoles sport bigger hard drives, better wifi antennas, and are more energy efficient but they completely lack the ability to play PS2 games. I decided rather than going through the trouble of hooking up my PS2 whenever I wanted to play one of the games in my massive backlog, I'd rather just have an all in one machine. So far my opinion on the PS3 is mixed. It has very nice hardware and features but the software powering the console is baffling at times. Meanwhile 360's hardware and features are lacking in places but I think the actual console software is solid. I guess I could write more on that later.
My enjoyment of having a PS3 was hampered by yet another problem with my DSL service. Since I switched from Comcast to Cavalier there's always been a problem with my service at least once a year. Still the service is just reliable enough and Comcast is just expensive enough to keep me from going back. Earlier this year I developed intermittent issues with my DSL connection and I've been going back and forth with Cavalier for months now. Since my issues first developed I've had an entire house splitter installed (it splits the data part of the phone lines away from the voice parts and is superior to filtering the phone jacks), had various indoor wires replaced, got a new modem, and even had Verizon (who owns the actual lines outside) come to fix part of a damaged box. The fixes would work for a few weeks and then problem would start back up again. Finally both Verizon and Cavalier have agreed to come out together and troubleshoot my problems. Cavalier has thankfully credited my bill for the major upsets.
As frustrating as this problem is at least Cavalier seems to be willing to fix the problem and their customer service has improved greatly over the past two years. As for the actual DSL speeds, they really vary. Speeds can drop as low as 26K per second (ugh) or can reach as high as 6mbps. DSL certainly is an experience... Hopefully on Tuesday this experience of mine will finally be over. And if you're wondering, I still don't want to go back to Comcast as I'd either have to pay the same price as DSL ($40 a month) for throttled speeds (no higher than 1.5mbps), go back to paying the price I was paying before ($60+ a month just for internet service) for the same speeds I'm getting now, or pay about $70 for something up to 20mbps. Unfortunately my budget is around the $40 per month range and going back to Comcast would have to be a last resort. Their bundled services don't really interest me as they only offer TV/internet and phone/TV deals, and I'm currently not having any problems with Dish Network as a provider. Also, I don't pay for our TV service so switching isn't my decision. On amusing note, my DSL service costs about the same as my cell phone bill each month, and I don't even have internet service on my phone. Part of me hopes that with the rise of smart phones that wired service will become cheaper and faster but I really doubt the cheap part.
Anyway, I've rambled on long enough it's time to head out for work.
My post New Year's has been interesting. The PS3 I bought on e-Bay didn't come until the day before New Year's Eve because of the big Nor'easter storm. For some strange reason UPS doesn't deliver packages here until after 3:30 so there was just enough time to set it up before amusingly having to run off to work for the same company. Thanks UPS! Since we had Friday off because of the holiday I did manage to set the massive console up. After giving it lots of thought I opted for the older 60GB model with full PS2 backwards capability. Sure the new smaller PS3 consoles sport bigger hard drives, better wifi antennas, and are more energy efficient but they completely lack the ability to play PS2 games. I decided rather than going through the trouble of hooking up my PS2 whenever I wanted to play one of the games in my massive backlog, I'd rather just have an all in one machine. So far my opinion on the PS3 is mixed. It has very nice hardware and features but the software powering the console is baffling at times. Meanwhile 360's hardware and features are lacking in places but I think the actual console software is solid. I guess I could write more on that later.
My enjoyment of having a PS3 was hampered by yet another problem with my DSL service. Since I switched from Comcast to Cavalier there's always been a problem with my service at least once a year. Still the service is just reliable enough and Comcast is just expensive enough to keep me from going back. Earlier this year I developed intermittent issues with my DSL connection and I've been going back and forth with Cavalier for months now. Since my issues first developed I've had an entire house splitter installed (it splits the data part of the phone lines away from the voice parts and is superior to filtering the phone jacks), had various indoor wires replaced, got a new modem, and even had Verizon (who owns the actual lines outside) come to fix part of a damaged box. The fixes would work for a few weeks and then problem would start back up again. Finally both Verizon and Cavalier have agreed to come out together and troubleshoot my problems. Cavalier has thankfully credited my bill for the major upsets.
As frustrating as this problem is at least Cavalier seems to be willing to fix the problem and their customer service has improved greatly over the past two years. As for the actual DSL speeds, they really vary. Speeds can drop as low as 26K per second (ugh) or can reach as high as 6mbps. DSL certainly is an experience... Hopefully on Tuesday this experience of mine will finally be over. And if you're wondering, I still don't want to go back to Comcast as I'd either have to pay the same price as DSL ($40 a month) for throttled speeds (no higher than 1.5mbps), go back to paying the price I was paying before ($60+ a month just for internet service) for the same speeds I'm getting now, or pay about $70 for something up to 20mbps. Unfortunately my budget is around the $40 per month range and going back to Comcast would have to be a last resort. Their bundled services don't really interest me as they only offer TV/internet and phone/TV deals, and I'm currently not having any problems with Dish Network as a provider. Also, I don't pay for our TV service so switching isn't my decision. On amusing note, my DSL service costs about the same as my cell phone bill each month, and I don't even have internet service on my phone. Part of me hopes that with the rise of smart phones that wired service will become cheaper and faster but I really doubt the cheap part.
Anyway, I've rambled on long enough it's time to head out for work.