Filed by Richard on Thursday, July 17, 2008 at 7:58 pm

FIOS has come to the Huffman household. Three Verizon techs showed up today and installed the FIOS fiber optic network right into my house. No more Comcast!

Apparently there were three techs because the lead tech was training the other two techs; Verizon is clearly gearing up for a LOT of installations. Comcast should be checking their diapers right now.

I thought it was funny that one of the techs lived right near me, and therefore has received the same onslaught of material from Comcast in their efforts to badmouth Verizon. He pointed out to me something that I didn’t realize; when Comcast refers to their new “burst speed” of 12 mbs, apparently that means that they cannot maintain that speed consistently because of the limitation of their network. They don’t want to be sued for not consistently maintaining that speed, apparently, so they came up with a name (“burst”) that would allow them to claim the speed, without actually having to deliver it all the time. read more »

Filed by matt on Tuesday, July 15, 2008 at 8:33 pm

Here’s my iPhone story.

I preface this by saying I do not have the first iPhone. In advance of the iPhone 3G announcement I was convinced they would be for sale the same day it was announced and I was prepared to pick one up on the way home. Unfortunately there was almost a month to wait and it just made me want it more. I am not a profligate spender – I am a cheapass and I hate collecting stuff so this was not idle gimme gimme gimme. This was well-considered gimme gimme gimme.

The big unknown was how popular it was going to be on release day and how long each activation would take. When the first one came out you could walk right in that afternoon and pick one up feeling vaguely superiors o the people who waited in line just that morning. Activation was handled at home and there were some random delays but nothing too tragic. And then a whole mess of iPhones were either hacked or bought and whisked out of the country. So now it’s mandatory in-store activation.

I prepared for the big day by calling AT&T the week before and made sure I was upgrade eligible and that the corporate discount my wife put on our account wouldn’t be an issue. They said no problem on either front. According to their website, there were only 2 AT&T stores within 25 miles of my house selling the item. The closest Apple store is in a mall and not that convenient. I have a job and a life so that whole waiting in line overnight thing wasn’t going to happen.

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Filed by Richard on Tuesday, July 8, 2008 at 4:35 pm

Today was a grand day; not only did the folks from Verizon show up to run fiber optic from the street to my house (in anticipation of next week’s installation), but a Comcast rep just showed up at my door to pepper me with lies in order to get me to keep my service. It was a great moment indeed when I was able to tell him that I had just signed up for FIOS and how happy I was to say goodbye to Comcast.

But before all that came the lies: he started by telling me that “you’ve probably seen the trucks in your neighborhood installing the fiber optic wires.” This is a clear lie; Verizon has been in our neighborhood for the last two months (at various times) installing fiber, NOT comcast. This is the same tactic that Comcast used on the door hangers they left throughout my neighborhood; basically they take advantage of a vague understanding that there is a new fiber optic service available, couple it with the sight of work trucks in our neighborhood, and leave the distinct impression that the new fiber service and works trucks are theirs and not Verizon’s.

It’s to my infinite shame that I didn’t shut my mouth and let the guy spin his web of bullcrap. I was so excited to tell him that I am about to cancel Comcast that I cut off his opportunity to further lie.

That said, it did feel quite good to tell him how much I hate Comcast, how frustrated I was for them ripping my dad off for two years, and for lying about their own non-existant fiber service. And I especially loved telling him about how Comcast is just a whisker away from winning the steaming golden turd trophy from Consumerist as the worst company in America (that bit of news clearly took him aback).

He kept pressing me with the advantages of Comcast’s service. He pointed out that they have a 16 megabit “Blast” service with 2 meg upload. Of course I signed up for 20 meg dowload and 5 meg upload from Verizon for the same price. When he pressed the point, I felt like asking him if he knew basic math (“is 20 greater than or less than 15? How about 5 and 2?”)

He also mentioned that Comcast is “very competitive” I have to give him credit for that. You can’t see a movie in my area without seeing ads for Comcast alternately dissing Verizon’s fiber service while promoting their own. You can’t pass a billboard in my area that isn’t promoting Comcast’s “fiber service” at the expense of Verizon. You can’t open your mail box without getting misleading junk mail from Comcast. You can’t open your front door without bullcrap door hangers filled with lies about the “superior” Comcast product. And apparently you can’t sit at home having lunch without a Comcast rep personally interrupting you to lie to you.

The problem is that Comcast is competitive in marketing, not service. And the time to have been competitive in service would have been last year. Or the year before. Like every other monopoly, they basically sat on their lead, giving us subpar service at inflated prices. Just like when DirecTV began eating into their cable TV monopoly, Comcast only gets “competitive” when it’s too late.

I had already shut the door on him when I realized I should have pointed out that nowhere on the Comcast web site can you find out exactly how much there service costs. Yet it took all of 5 seconds to find out the prices on the Verizon site. Ah well, given Comcast’s history, I’ll probably have another rep out within the week, providing a further opportunity to continue the harangue.

Filed by Richard on Monday, July 7, 2008 at 3:33 pm

FIOS is about to arrive at the Huffman household. I just signed up for FIOS and am scheduled to have it installed on the 17th. After that I will be officially free from the evil empire that is Comcast; the company that ripped my dad off for two years, that peppered my neighborhood with lies about their own service, that is now playing smug, lying advertisements before movies at my local megaplex… THOSE guys.

It’s not the best start with Verizon, given that I probably submitted my contact info on their website at least 30 times to be informed of service availability, called Verizon three separate times, and even went out and gave the crew installing the fiber backbone donuts two months ago… yet I never received notice of service availability. I just discovered it by checking their web site. Hopefully this doesn’t portend to bad things.

Also, they don’t have approval for TV service yet; which doesn’t really matter to me right now; I’ll just be happy with my 20 meg download 5 meg upload.

Goodbye Comcast, you horrible, awful company.

Filed by Richard on Thursday, June 26, 2008 at 11:45 pm

So today I had a nice representative of Comcast place a colorful door-hanger on my front door. The hanger shows a Comcast utility truck, and a yellow sign at the top of the card that says “We are continuing to upgrade the fiber optic network in your neighborhood.” It goes on to describe how their “latest upgrade allows us to deliver the next generation of high speed Internet.”

We’ve had a parade of trucks in our neighborhood the last few months as giant spools of fiber optic cable have been pulled into place. So it’s nice for Comcast to let us know that the service is now available.

Except those f**ktard lying scumbags at Comcast aren’t the ones who have been adding fiber optic to my neighborhood; Verizon is the one that’s been systematically adding the fiber. Comcast isn’t adding fiber, and as near as I can tell has no plans to add fiber to my neighborhood or any other neighborhood, other than in a backbone sense.

Basically, the scum at Comcast are banking that my neighbors and myself will be confused by all of the work that Verizon has done and assume that it was actually Comcast performing the work. They are banking that their double-speak flyer will confuse us enough to assume that if we sign up for their new, faster service, that we will be getting the ”fiber optic” service that we’ve heard so much about. But their new service is 2 to 10 times slower than what we’ll be able to get from Verizon.

They know that Verizon hasn’t advertised their FIOS service to our neighborhood yet because they haven’t fully completed their work. Comcast timed their little note to arrive a few weeks before Verizon began their own advertising blitz, hoping (I assume) to tie up customers with a year-long agreement for their infinitely slower, infinitely lamer service.

Regular readers of this blog will remember that this isn’t the first time Comcast has tried to screw me or my family. It probably won’t be the last. And Comcast calls EVERY SINGLE DAY trying to get me to sign up for their new service. I never answer, but I’m looking at my caller ID unit right now and they’ve called 10 times in the last two weeks (I Googled the number and sure enough, about 7 million other people are getting the same calls).

Here’s the complete text of the door hanger, with my annoted thoughts:

“We are continuing to upgrade the fiber optic network in your neighbhorhood”
[Like every major Internet provider, we have fiber backbones to our networks. We periodically upgrade these networks and we're currently upgrading one of our networks in your "neighborhood," if you define neighborhood as somewhere in a 50 mile radius. But don't for a second think that those trucks you've seen on your street installing fiber optic cable are OUR trucks. They're not. Despite what we're implying here, we have no plans to offer a direct-to-your-house fiber optic service.]

“Our latest upgrade allows us to deliver the next generation of High-Speed Internet with speeds up to 16 Mbps download and up to 2 Mbps upload”
[We are offering you speeds are significant slower than the 30 Mbps download and 15 Mbps upload that Verizon FIOS will offer. We hope you won't notice. When we says "next generation" we are referring to the the next-generation in OUR product line-up, not the industry as a whole. Sure the 33rpm record is an improvement over the 78rpm record, but if a 5.1 surround track was available, wouldn't you rather listen to that? Of course you would. That's why we're purposely obscuring the facts with our carefully constructed lies and mistruths.]

“You are now eligible to receive the new Blast speed tier. To sign up, simply call one of our local representatives at 1-877-393-8357″
[By Blast we mean slow, compared to our competition. Just be thankful that we're letting you know about this "improvement" because the last time we offered faster speed for the same price, we didn't even tell you about it for two years. We just kept you at the old speed until you called to ask about it. Then it took us all of 4 seconds to give you the same speed every new customer had been getting for the same price. God you are a stupid customer.]

“For more than 10 years, we have been making improvements to our fiber optic network in Washington neighborhoods just like yours. It is our pledge that we will continue to upgrade your neighborhood to ensure that you have the latest technological advances.”
[We hope that you assume that all of those trucks you've seen installing fiber optic cable in your neighborhood these last few months are our trucks. They aren't. But we are confident that you are too stupid to realize it. We hope that the double-speak gobbledygook of this notice will lead you to the conclusion that we are installing a direct-to-house fiber option solution like Verizon is. We aren't. In fact we're banking that you've heard a lot of great things about what Verizon is doing, and we are piggybacking on their good press by describing our service like it is their service. It isn't. Ours is an out-dated coaxial cable based service that is pushing its max limits. Verizon's is a full fiber-based service that has a comparatively unlimited potential.]

Comcast, I hate you. I hate you so God damned much.

Filed by Richard on Sunday, June 8, 2008 at 6:41 pm

Another edition of the George Polk Memorial Award-winning podcast featuring Matt and Richard.

 

 Mustard77 [59:34m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Filed by Richard on Saturday, April 19, 2008 at 12:31 am

I didn’t look too closely at the headline of this article and I spent about 15 blissful seconds thinking someone had ginned up a retail version of the Hypnotoad.

Alas it is not to be. But the hypnocube looks pretty cool though.

Filed by Richard on Tuesday, January 15, 2008 at 7:20 pm

Dear Leader Steve Jobs delivered another masterful keynote address today… really is there anyone better at this kind of thing? The products line he went over was great, if a bit niche in their appeal.

The big news is the expected release of the Macbook Air, which the stellar Apple marketing is selling as “the world’s thinnest notebook.” It really is a beauty to behold, though there was more than a bit of taking clear disadvantages and selling them as virtues (a technique mastered by Volkswagen in the 50s and 60s and perfected by Steve Jobs). In this case its the lack of an optical drive for the machine. Jobs argument is that you can now rent movies easily through iTunes, you don’t need a drive for backup because of their new off-computer backup technologies, and you can use other computers wirelessly to “borrow” their drive to install software.

So broken down, forget about your extensive DVD collection, buy those films again to watch on your fancy new computer, or better yet, rent them for the right to watch them once. Also, buy our new combi-Airport and Backup hardrive for your backups. And while your at it, don’t even think about using this as your only computer; by default it’s going to be a secondary computer because you will never be able to load software otherwise. Oh, and all of this for the low price of $1799 (unless you factor in the 4 grand or so for another computer, a new airport-hard disk backup solution, and the replication of your DVD collection). read more »