The Internet

[Silicon Valley Tom]

My Aunt and Uncle lived in Janesville, California, in Lassen County, about 80 miles West of Reno, Nevada. I can remember their telephone from the late 1940's to 1960's, which was a large wooden box hung on the wall. It had a crank near the bottom of the right side. There were a few dozen people on the same line. Yes, just one line! Everyone had a specific ring. So many short or long rings for each customer. When there was an emergency, the number of rings was 12, over and over. I was there several times for emergencies, like fields on fire. All the neighbors turned out to help.

It was 20 miles to Susanville, where they had a doctor. In December of 1986, my Aunt had a heart attack and died before help could arrive. That is one of the realities of living far from civilization. In October of 2000, my brother in law was about one city block from Saint Joseph Medical Center, in Burbank, California. He had a heart attack, and it was some time before medical assistance arrived. He died, and I remembered my Aunt, being so far from help. You have to be lucky to survive. It does not matter where you are at.

Tom

 

[PapaRaptor]

Who you trying to kid papa, you're still living on the old "party line"..
p.s. Now who remembers those?

I still have a Florida landline number, but it's set up via VOIP and hasn't had an adapter on it since we moved. I also have a 704 (NC) phone number because Spectrum had a better deal for Internet-Telephone-Television than I could have gotten without the telephone line. I have no idea what the number is, but my cable box provides Caller ID on my TV. Every now and then the Caller ID will pop up on the TV.

We didn't get many calls on the Florida landline, even when it was connected. It is answered by an auto attendant you had to get by in order to ring the house. I think more people just called it to hear the duck quack.

 

[Grateful_Ed]

I still have a Florida landline number, but it's set up via VOIP and hasn't had an adapter on it since we moved. I also have a 704 (NC) phone number because Spectrum had a better deal for Internet-Telephone-Television than I could have gotten without the telephone line. I have no idea what the number is, but my cable box provides Caller ID on my TV. Every now and then the Caller ID will pop up on the TV.

We didn't get many calls on the Florida landline, even when it was connected. It is answered by an auto attendant you had to get by in order to ring the house. I think more people just called it to hear the duck quack.

No wonder you never answered my calls. Cursed caller ID!

 

[jackderby52]

I still have a Florida landline number, but it's set up via VOIP and hasn't had an adapter on it since we moved. I also have a 704 (NC) phone number because Spectrum had a better deal for Internet-Telephone-Television than I could have gotten without the telephone line. I have no idea what the number is, but my cable box provides Caller ID on my TV. Every now and then the Caller ID will pop up on the TV.

We didn't get many calls on the Florida landline, even when it was connected. It is answered by an auto attendant you had to get by in order to ring the house. I think more people just called it to hear the duck quack.

We get so many spam phone calls I'm seriously considering blocking ALL calls and only allowing the 6 people I know in... ... It's getting that bad now they can fake your area code... I blame it all on you papa and your VOIP! ...

 

[CaptainMoto]

We get so many spam phone calls I'm seriously considering blocking ALL calls and only allowing the 6 people I know in... ... It's getting that bad now they can fake your area code... I blame it all on you papa and your VOIP! ...

Ya know,
There seems to be so much churning in the news these days that you really need to work hard to stay up with developments.
I'm not sure if this happened or not but, the other change the FCC wanted to implement was to allow marketers to bypass your phone ring and just go right into your voice mail.

Another wonderful idea!
Did they do that?

 

[CaptainMoto]

Well,
The FCC voted today to eliminate the NN regs.
I'm not smart enough to predict the outcome but, I'm very skeptical that any good will visit me as a result.

I really don't want to stimulate a political discussion on this.
I think there's a difference between politics and governing.
Politics may play a roll in who makes decisions and what they decide on but, when it goes into effect your political P.O.V. is irrelevant.

So, here we are, Comcast, Verizon, ATT can now have more control over what you get on the net and whether it's throttled back, sped up or blocked completely.

Wonder what the future holds for little guys like Griff who has a pretty good thing going here.

 

[Chuck]

Well,
The FCC voted today to eliminate the NN regs.
I'm not smart enough to predict the outcome but, I'm very skeptical that any good will visit me as a result.

I really don't want to stimulate a political discussion on this.
I think there's a difference between politics and governing.
Politics may play a roll in who makes decisions and what they decide on but, when it goes into effect your political P.O.V. is irrelevant.

So, here we are, Comcast, Verizon, ATT can now have more control over what you get on the net and whether it's throttled back, sped up or blocked completely.

Wonder what the future holds for little guys like Griff who has a pretty good thing going here.

Yeah, I guess we’re in a wait and see more.

It may work out for us.

 

[deejaid]

I just deleted my thoughts on this as it might have gotten me in trouble with the rules of the forum, but the loss of net neutrality is a big deal. Those that control information control everything. It starts with ISP’s charging Netflix more for their streams, soon data will be sold to the highest bidder, and content will be forced upon us.

Just look at China or N. Korea as examples of what controlled content on the internet gets pushed to their citizens.

Democracy dies in darkness.

 

[Crossroads]

While I can see valid arguments on both sides of the coin on this one, there is one thing I can say that history has shown us, and that is that almost everything the government attempts to regulate usually squashes innovation, favors big companies over smaller, and ends up costing the consumer more in the long run.

For all those who favor NN, you might have a different opinion if you were a small ISP trying to keep your head above water. NN is squeezing the smaller ISPs out of business, and less choice almost always leads to less innovation, poor service and higher prices.

Imagine you owned a laundromat and you charged by the wash load as most places do, but now the government steps in and says everyone who comes in the door, has to be charged the same price, whether they are washing one shirt or 500 carpets. Now you have to add extra washers and all the infrastructure that support them, so what is going to happen? Either you will go out of business, or you will start charging everyone a higher flat fee. The big companies benefit, and the smaller consumer gets squashed.

If you think your content is not currently being filtered by the media, I offer CNN, The NY Times and The Washington Post.

 

[Silicon Valley Tom]

Net Neutrality. The best is yet to come!

Until Net Neutrality became law, Comcast would send me an eMail, indicating my monthly data usage. They had dialogue about how much it should cost to use different tiers of data per month, and wanted to charge customers for anything above what they consider “Base Line” (minimum).

Along comes Netflix, etc., and you have the potential of using a lot of data. I am suggesting that one aspect of this removal of Net Neutrality, with be a separate charge for bandwidth used per month.

Cell phone providers have tiers for data usage. Sprint recently had a great deal advertised. For new users, you could sign up for several different tiers of data. One for just over $200 a month (for bandwidth and not your cell phone bill). I take it that people view full length movies on his/her iPhones (etc.) as what was being offered would allow you to view about 2 ½ movies per month. And for only $200? Wow!

One more thing about bandwidth used, content, and customer charges from your ISP: You are using bandwidth every time an Internet Advertisement is displayed on your machine. Have fun!

I have it! Let's go back to smoke signals!

Tom

 

[Grateful_Ed]

I have it! Let's go back to smoke signals!

Unplug the "device", plug in the guitar. I have no qualms about doing without. Since my latest attempt at retirement, I don't even give a rip what's going on in the rest of the world, just care about my own rest.
If it comes to that, I'll miss you guys and gals.

 

[Silicon Valley Tom]

Unplug the "device", plug in the guitar. I have no qualms about doing without. Since my latest attempt at retirement, I don't even give a rip what's going on in the rest of the world, just care about my own rest.
If it comes to that, I'll miss you guys and gals.

World? What is that? This forum is a place of refuge, enlighten, and friends exchanging ideas and experiences. I don't need no stinkin world!

Tom

 

[PapaRaptor]

World? What is that?

I don't know, but I heard it's flat.

 

[EJG]

I'm firmly in the NN camp, but now that it's gone I think it's going to hasten the demise of the large cable conglomerates. There is a nascent cord-cutter movement anyway. I think this will push it along.

 

[Grateful_Ed]

I'm firmly in the NN camp, but now that it's gone I think it's going to hasten the demise of the large cable conglomerates. There is a nascent cord-cutter movement anyway. I think this will push it along.

What is the alternative to the large cable conglomerates?

 

[Silicon Valley Tom]

What is the alternative to the large cable conglomerates?

We have a few in the San Francisco Bay Area (I found 23 in Sunnyvale, where I live). I do not know anything about them though. You might google it to find out about availability. What do they charge for "setup"? Will they be in business for long? Are they "reliable"?

I started with EarthLink in 1995. They were ok. Speeds were up to 28K with a modem. Next, they "improved their service". Lots of down time was experienced. Then they changed hours - 8 AM until 5 PM PST. I started work at 6 AM, and got home at 8 PM So I went to JPS. I never had any downtime! Then JPS was bought out by EarthLink. I canceled EarthLink, and went to AT&T, wideband, which had just started in Silicon Valley. They were down about 3 days a week. AT&T sold out to Comcast. Comcast is down when you need it. Pay your bill and shut up. Be a happy little customer.

What did we do before the Internet? Oh, I seem to remember the telephone, visiting people, and writing letters. Life changes and you pay the price if you want to keep up with it. The alternative is that they will lock you up in a room and you will not have access to the world in any form.

Tom

 

[PapaRaptor]

The alternative is that they will lock you up in a room and you will not have access to the world in any form.

That might not be all that unreasonable an alternative.

 

[EJG]

What is the alternative to the large cable conglomerates?

There are alternatives now, but none are good. However I think the landscape will change quickly. Cable is an outdated technology anyway. I think a decade from now cable companies will be struggling to stay afloat.

 

[Silicon Valley Tom]

Anyone remember the George Lucas film THX1138? In 1968 Lucas created that film while a student at USC. You will enjoy this experience.

I can see the future: Everyone will be on pills - to keep us under control. We will have a chip in our heads and be under control of one entity. Enjoy yourself.

Tom

 

[PapaRaptor]

I can see the future: Everyone will be on pills

Based on the ads I see on TV, it would seem we're already there.