Tag Archives: the internet

Comcast again

Technology, ,

Question of the day- Is Comcast screwing with us?

A few weeks ago we switched to Comcast for telephone, cable TV and internet. So far I have to report that I’m not delighted. We’ve had at least three outages of the internet and two of the telephone. The technician who came out last week told me it was because we had “too much signal” coming into the house – it caused what I invisioned as a potential broadband heart attack. We had high-speed hypertension. Cable clogged coronary. The way to fix it was to have a “line guy” come out and reduce the incoming signal.

After that the phones and internet went out again. I called and the phone technician said the only thing he could see was too strong a signal coming into the house. While we were on the phone it fixed itself.

Earlier this afternoon I noticed that most of the lights on my modem were out. For a while I could still connect to the internet, but then even that was messed up. I called Comcast and talked to a friendly person on the phone. Again, while I was on the phone the problems cleared up.

So, while the issues may be very temporary, they are still issues. I make my living by being connected to the internet. A slight hiccup and I lose data. We never had this issue with RCN.

Maybe we should have tried Verizon Fios.

Too late now, we have a 2-year contract with Comcast. (And that’s subject for another post)

Speaking of popularity

Blogging

Ok. I know this blog is not at all popular, but another blog I manage is — a little. I set up the HTCA.net weblog for our neighborhood -as a way to get some information out to folks in Huntington Terrace. Because our usually quiet neighborhood is in a battle with a neighborhood hospital about their expansion plans, we’ve gotten some media attention.

Looking at the stats on the other weblog, I see that the hospital in question has visited us on key dates:

  • May 23 – The hospital held a meeting for area residents and unveiled its plan for expansion.
  • June 6 – the date after the neighborhood met to vote on the hospital’s plans (we voted nearly unanimously to reject the plans)
  • June 17 – the day an article came out in the Washington Post about the issue
  • June 19 – the day the Gazette published an article about it
  • June 25 – the day WJLA ran a piece about this on the 5:00 news

Other visitors have been The Washington Post, The Gazette, and WJLA.

They will find nothing though. We are not publishing anything about the issue on he weblog. It’s fun to view the stats.

Hi, I’m Jane Doe and I’m a Betaholic

Technology, ,

There, I’ve said it. I love betas. I join beta groups because I want to be the first to know. My email address must be out there in hundreds of beta databases, even ones I’ve long forgotten about. Especially in ones I’ve long forgotten about.

Sometimes I realize I’m not a good candidate for the beta group – either as soon as I sign up or when it moves out of beta. Very occcasionally I find a perfect niche, a place I feel as if I really belong.

What is best about betas is this – especially if you are among a small group of testers – you get to be part of the in-crowd for a while, especially just when the beta goes out of beta. You already know the ropes and perhaps you had a say in some of the features. It’s like high school and you are one of the popular kids!

The best way to find out about betas is the website of Saurier Duval, Museum of Modern Betas. Add it to your favorite RSS feed and learn about new betas daily. Go ahead, you know you want to.