dslreports logo
 story category
Weekend Open Thread
Please tell us what you want for Christmas in the comment section below.
view:
topics flat nest 
ramsaso
Premium Member
join:2014-01-04
Houston, TX

1 edit

ramsaso

Premium Member

What I want(wish) for Christmas

1. Lower rates for POTS and Internet (Ma: "No.")

That's all I want. Sadly, that won't happen... :/

CaptainRR
Premium Member
join:2006-04-21
Blue Rock, OH

1 recommendation

CaptainRR

Premium Member

Re: What I want(wish) for Christmas

All I want is my phone service in my new house for Christmas!

FureverFurry
RIP Daphne: 3/12/05 - 6/19/12
Premium Member
join:2012-02-20
49xxx
Zoom 5341J
ARRIS WBM760
Vonage VDV-21

2 recommendations

FureverFurry to ramsaso

Premium Member

to ramsaso
What I want/wish for Christmas ....
a. More energy and better health (can't do caffeine)
b. Real TV programming with plots and not "reality" everything
c. Brian Roberts + executives to be afflicted with ED and male pattern baldness (females to get menopause)
biochemistry
Premium Member
join:2003-05-09
92361

biochemistry

Premium Member

Re: What I want(wish) for Christmas

Are you serious enough about good health that you would spend two or three weeks in a lifestyle center? If so, I know of a few good ones.

chip89
Premium Member
join:2012-07-05
Columbia Station, OH

chip89 to ramsaso

Premium Member

to ramsaso
Among other things I want Fiber. Yeah that's not going to happen.

CaptainRR
Premium Member
join:2006-04-21
Blue Rock, OH
·AT&T Wireless Br..

1 recommendation

CaptainRR

Premium Member

No house phone yet.

Moved in to my new house after pushing my old trailer out of the way for a new double wide A month has gone by I been living in it all utilities were put in with a week after the place was done. AT&T after 3 missed technician calls and over 6 hours of fighting to get reps from the call centers no phone. Still no phone and I am still paying the bill! AT&T's home phone service has gone down the tubes another reason why poeple are fleeing land lines!
verta
join:2007-05-29
Tallahassee, FL

verta

Member

Re: No house phone yet.

Just bought a new house, moving over the holiday. Decided against bringing the landline with me. Centurylink told me I couldn't keep my number, what is wrong with them anyway? So I am considering porting the number to Ring To, but can't decide if I trust them with the number. OTOH, it's just a home number, if I lose it so what, but it's the one I've had the longest.

SimbaSeven
I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT
·StarLink

SimbaSeven

Member

Re: No house phone yet.

said by verta:

Centurylink told me I couldn't keep my number, what is wrong with them anyway? So I am considering porting the number to Ring To, but can't decide if I trust them with the number. OTOH, it's just a home number, if I lose it so what, but it's the one I've had the longest.

Uh.. You are allowed to keep your number.

»www.fcc.gov/guides/porta ··· roviders

Tell CenturyLink that they're full of crap.
dishrich
join:2006-05-12
Springfield, IL

3 edits

dishrich

Member

Re: No house phone yet.

said by SimbaSeven:

Uh.. You are allowed to keep your number.

»www.fcc.gov/guides/porta ··· roviders

Tell CenturyLink that they're full of crap.

What verta might have been told, is that CL told him he couldn't keep his # with CL at his new place, because he was moving OUTSIDE the "local wire center" that services his # now - this IS usually the norm on legacy POTS lines, & even with some VOIP phone providers like cable. In my city, AT&T has THREE wire centers that serve Springfield proper, & they will definitely NOT let you move your # across those wire centers, at least on legacy dial tone. (not 100% sure on U-verse)

Alos, I know for a fact that Comcast will NOT let you "move" your existing CC voice # to another address still served by CC, if that new address is considered outside the local serving area for that phone#...probably due to E911 issues they don't want to have to deal with.

If he wants to keep his #, best bet would be to port to a 3rd part VOIP service like Ooma or MagicJack; they do NOT care where you move a # to. (I'm assuming he DOES have broadband of some kind at his new place...)
verta
join:2007-05-29
Tallahassee, FL

verta

Member

Re: No house phone yet.

Yup, the centurylink lady said I was moving to a different exchange.

Appreciate the ideas and suggestion and research. I've been trying to decide if I am willing to spend money, or not. Both GV and Ooma charge for a landline port. Ring To is a free port. Bandwidth.com is hoping to sell lots of addon services or international calling time I guess.

I actually have an Ooma, just wasn't ready to cut the cord and premiere service is pricey, $120 a year. Pay in advance gets you the "free" port, but after the trial I did not think premiere was worth what they charge. And no multi month discount, either.

I have an unusual and probably rare broadband solution, I have an old TMO tablet plan, the first one they ever had and it is truly unlimited. No coverage problem and usually pull 8 to 12 Mbps on 4G. The tablet died but I have put the sim in a ZTE MF 61 hotspot device, 5 devices max. I don't use much data, as I am not big into video, 12 GB a month is my previous max. I suspect I will use more as time goes on, and also as I am now sharing with a parent. We will probably watch Netflix and Amazon video together a lot more.

I also pay for grandfathered $20 unlimited data on my TMO phone, and between the two I have all the Internet I need.

I'll post next weekend if I get the port submitted.

SimbaSeven
I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT
·StarLink

SimbaSeven

Member

Re: No house phone yet.

said by verta:

I have an unusual and probably rare broadband solution, I have an old TMO tablet plan, the first one they ever had and it is truly unlimited. No coverage problem and usually pull 8 to 12 Mbps on 4G. The tablet died but I have put the sim in a ZTE MF 61 hotspot device, 5 devices max. I don't use much data, as I am not big into video, 12 GB a month is my previous max. I suspect I will use more as time goes on, and also as I am now sharing with a parent. We will probably watch Netflix and Amazon video together a lot more.

I also pay for grandfathered $20 unlimited data on my TMO phone, and between the two I have all the Internet I need.

Just be careful. You don't want your unlimited card to be flagged for "Abuse of Service", which is probably buried somewhere in their ToS. That would suck.

That, or be throttled down to ISDN or less. I'd rather be slowed down than getting the card revoked.

They do make USB/PCMCIA 4G/LTE cards. Just build yourself a router, or get a used CradlePoint. That way you're not overstressing the hotspot. I think dd-wrt and OpenWrt have support for AirCards.
dishrich
join:2006-05-12
Springfield, IL

2 edits

dishrich to verta

Member

to verta
said by verta:

I actually have an Ooma, just wasn't ready to cut the cord and premiere service is pricey, $120 a year.

Don't forget to include any local phone taxes for your local area...but even at that, I hardly call $10-$15 a month for a fully loaded VOIP service "pricey"...but I guess to each his own...
Now if we were talking about Vonage's $28+/month service...now THERE'S pricey!!!

Pay in advance gets you the "free" port, but after the trial I did not think premiere was worth what they charge.

OK, so then just downgrade to the basic "FREE" service & just pay the local taxes...what's the big deal there???

EITHER WAY, I'm sure you're paying a LOT less (& getting more!) than paying for your legacy landline.
Mr Matt
join:2008-01-29
Eustis, FL

1 edit

Mr Matt to verta

Member

to verta
said by verta:

Yup, the centurylink lady said I was moving to a different exchange.

The function of number portability is to allow a land line telephone number to be moved from one carrier to another, not from one rate center to another. The reason for the restriction is that the rate center is assigned a list of land line telephone exchanges that are a free incoming and outgoing local call to that rate center. All other land line calls to that rate center are toll calls.

I have recommended to friends in a case where they are moving to a different rate center they port their number to a "Home Phone Service" like Straight Talks "Home Phone" here: »www.straighttalk.com/wps ··· mePhones. The lowest cost service. Verizon and AT&T also offers the same kind of service. The only limitation is that it is Cellular based so it only supports voice service no data transmission like FAX, Medical Transponders or Emergency Services like Life Alert.
tkdslr
join:2004-04-24
Pompano Beach, FL

tkdslr to verta

Member

to verta
Port your old landline @ to either a cell phone.. or google voice.

Google voice can redirect in coming calls to any other phone you have... or take a message , then text a translation to you and/or email you a voice recording of the message.
RJW1678
join:2003-01-15
Wilmington, DE

2 edits

RJW1678

Member

All I want for Christmas

(1) Lower FiOS rates.(lol never going to happen).
(2) A KT150 Single Ended Ultra Linear Stereo Amplifier.
(3) My belated Christmas present to myself of a female miniature Dachshund puppy - will be 8 weeks old on January 20th and that is about when I will be able to bring her home(+ or - about a week).

Well that's about it.

Later
Bob
Jim_in_VA (banned)
join:2004-07-11
Cobbs Creek, VA

Jim_in_VA (banned)

Member

Re: All I want for Christmas

those are the cutest pooches!
RJW1678
join:2003-01-15
Wilmington, DE

RJW1678

Member

Re: All I want for Christmas

It is hard waiting for her to get old enough to come home. She is so cute and is going to be so spoiled. I visit her weekly at the kennel.

Later
Bob
BosstonesOwn
join:2002-12-15
Wakefield, MA

BosstonesOwn to RJW1678

Member

to RJW1678
Lower fios rates ? Im paying $140 for Extreme HD and every movie channel, 75 mbit and phone, how much lower can they go ?
RJW1678
join:2003-01-15
Wilmington, DE

1 edit

RJW1678

Member

Re: All I want for Christmas

I am past my introductory 2 year contract. So I pay 89.99 for 25/25 internet and phone. FiOS is reasonable for the first 2 years, but after that it is a little pricey.

Later
Bob
BosstonesOwn
join:2002-12-15
Wakefield, MA

BosstonesOwn

Member

Re: All I want for Christmas

Re lock in the quote... It's so easy to do, just call in and tell them you want it.
Bachinator
Premium Member
join:2014-01-25

Bachinator

Premium Member

All I'm hoping for this Christmas...

I'd like my power to stay on this year. Last year an ice storm knocked out the power on December 22 and it was off until December 26.

CaptainRR
Premium Member
join:2006-04-21
Blue Rock, OH

CaptainRR

Premium Member

Re: All I'm hoping for this Christmas...

I been through some bad weather over the years but I am one of the lucky ones to be on a local Cooperative and never go without power more than 2-3 days tops. I just wish my local telco was coop, I have AT&T and they stink now DSL.
DeLiver3
Premium Member
join:2004-09-01
Cincinnatus, NY
Actiontec F2250
(Software) pfSense

DeLiver3 to Bachinator

Premium Member

to Bachinator
said by Bachinator:

I'd like my power to stay on this year. Last year an ice storm knocked out the power on December 22 and it was off until December 26.

If you are a homeowner, buy a standby generator with an auto switch. My wife was a skeptic about my putt-putt hobby until we lost our power for 10 hours. Now we have a new propane job that I don't have to work on, or carry gasoline for. I'm a hero

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

Walgreens vs CVS: Battle of the Pharmacies

Well today I decided that because CVS doesn't support ApplePay (yet) I've decided to move my prescriptions to Walgreens in Ludlow, MA. Vote with my wallet against CurrentC and they just lost at least $1,200 a month in prescriptions because of it. Not that I pay that much ($1.20 generic and $3.65 brand before out of pocket maximum) but you shut out ApplePay and Google wallet in favor of the non secure CurrentC (that has already been breached) and we'll vote with our wallets.

I also like that Walgreens has their loyalty card integrated into Passbook.

I may move grandma's prescriptions there too. Her drug plan is AARP Medicare Part D and they might be a preferred pharmacy instead of in-network which might be lower co-pays.

CaptainRR
Premium Member
join:2006-04-21
Blue Rock, OH
·AT&T Wireless Br..

1 edit

CaptainRR

Premium Member

Re: Walgreens vs CVS: Battle of the Pharmacies

I do mail order. The way my prescription plan works it is the cheapest way for me. If you can do that you should explore that avenue. I hated filling prescriptions every 21 days and paying $15 co pay hated it! Plus driving and waiting to get them filled when the mail man delivers them right to my house.

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

Re: Walgreens vs CVS: Battle of the Pharmacies

Every doctor I go to uses E-prescribing so they send the prescriptions to the pharmacy when I'm in the office and then it's usually ready by the time I get to the pharmacy.

chip89
Premium Member
join:2012-07-05
Columbia Station, OH

chip89

Premium Member

Re: Walgreens vs CVS: Battle of the Pharmacies

All mine do to.

SimbaSeven
I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT

SimbaSeven to IowaCowboy

Member

to IowaCowboy
I've used Walgreens and I've paid with my Note II several times. Works great and rather easy.. just have to enter a pin number.

chip89
Premium Member
join:2012-07-05
Columbia Station, OH

chip89 to IowaCowboy

Premium Member

to IowaCowboy
Because of my insurance I have to get them at CVS. If it was't for that I'd get them at drug mart.

Cle
@76.188.150.x

Cle

Anon

Re: Walgreens vs CVS: Battle of the Pharmacies

...saves you the runaround!

chip89
Premium Member
join:2012-07-05
Columbia Station, OH

chip89

Premium Member

Re: Walgreens vs CVS: Battle of the Pharmacies

You got that right! I go to Drug mart all the time for a lot of things quick! I get over counter meds there to. Open 365 to.

FureverFurry
RIP Daphne: 3/12/05 - 6/19/12
Premium Member
join:2012-02-20
49xxx

FureverFurry to IowaCowboy

Premium Member

to IowaCowboy
I use local pharmacies as they are usually cheaper for those out-of-pocket medications. Abhor Walgreens with a passion, mainly because of their telemarketing practices.

TamaraB
Question The Current Paradigm
Premium Member
join:2000-11-08
Da Bronx
·Verizon FiOS
Ubiquiti NSM5
Synology RT2600ac
Apple AirPort Extreme (2013)

1 recommendation

TamaraB to IowaCowboy

Premium Member

to IowaCowboy
The CVS in my neighborhood fired most of their checkout staff last year and replaced them with computer checkouts. After complaining to the store manager, and telling him I will never again shop there, I never have. There is a Walgreens nearby, they are now my pharmacy.

•••

BronsCon
join:2003-10-24
Fairfield, CA

BronsCon to IowaCowboy

Member

to IowaCowboy
On top of that, Walgreen's sells Doan's and CVS doesn't. In fact, there are a lot of things you can get at Walgreen's that you just don't find at CVS, but not so much the other way around.

I hope enough people stop shopping there to make them change their business model, but not enough to make them close up shop; the competition helps keep prices under control.

XMASwish
@50.182.138.x

XMASwish

Anon

XMAS wish - stock market up every day thru year end

I wish that the stock market will continue its string of gains every day thru the end of the year. Then I can pay for all my Christmas presents.
JJV
Premium Member
join:2001-04-25
Seattle, WA

JJV

Premium Member

Re: XMAS wish - stock market up every day thru year end

They cant decide if low gas prices are good or bad. I drive an old Jeep. Im happy!
Nanaki (banned)
aka novaflare. pull punches? Na
join:2002-01-24
Akron, OH

Nanaki (banned)

Member

Re: XMAS wish - stock market up every day thru year end

Local getgo gas prices 2.24 boss used my fuel perks last night getting 20 cents off and for using the card another 3 cents per gallon $2.01 per gallon. He paid 2.11 as i charged him to use my card lol. But still that is quite cheap for this day and age.
Timmn
join:2000-04-23
Tinley Park, IL

Timmn

Member

You know you are old when...

You realize that the hot babe walking by you is young enough to be your Granddaughter.

••••

neill6705
join:2014-08-09

1 recommendation

neill6705

Member

What I Want for Xmas: A Tesla Model S P85D

250mi range, 0-60 in 3.2 sec, a top speed of 155 mph, and it's fully electric. It's a beastly car.

It's also $106,000. Too bad nobody I know is a millionaire.

•••••

StuartMW
Premium Member
join:2000-08-06

StuartMW

Premium Member

Is there a Santa Claus?

• No known species of reindeer can fly. BUT there are 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects and germs, this does not COMPLETELY rule out flying reindeer which only Santa has ever seen.

• There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. BUT since Santa doesn't (appear to) handle the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist children, that reduces the workload to 15% of the total - 378 million according to Population Reference Bureau. At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per household, that's 91.8 million homes. One presumes there's at least one good child in each.

• Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical). This works out to 822.6 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house. Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false but for the purposes of our calculations we will accept), we are now talking about .78 miles per household, a total trip of 75-1/2 million miles, not counting stops to do what most of us must do at least once every 31 hours, plus feeding etc.

• This means that Santa's sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest man- made vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second - a conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles per hour.

• The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized lego set (2 pounds), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as overweight. On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that "flying reindeer" (see point #1) could pull TEN TIMES the normal anoint, we cannot do the job with eight, or even nine. We need 214,200 reindeer. This increases the payload - not even counting the weight of the sleigh - to 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison - this is four times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth.

• 353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance - this will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as spacecrafts re-entering the earth's atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy. Per second. Each. In short, they will burst into flame almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in their wake.The entire reindeer team will be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second. Santa, meanwhile, will be subjected to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 250-pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim)would be pinned to the back of his sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force.

In conclusion -- If Santa ever DID deliver presents on Christmas Eve, he's dead now.

»www.daclarke.org/Humour/ ··· nta.html
Mr Matt
join:2008-01-29
Eustis, FL

Mr Matt

Member

Re: Is there a Santa Claus?

said by StuartMW:

In conclusion -- If Santa ever DID deliver presents on Christmas Eve, he's dead now.

Grinch!
borisbadenov
join:2005-12-05
Barbourville, KY

borisbadenov

Member

Windstream

an working and reliable ISP

SimbaSeven
I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT

SimbaSeven

Member

Re: Windstream

Ha. The last ISP that gave a crap about their customers and employees died when the owner died.

Anyone want to guess who that was?

GadgetsRme
RIP lilhurricane and CJ
Premium Member
join:2002-01-30
Canon City, CO

GadgetsRme

Premium Member

Re: Windstream

Bresnan

FureverFurry
RIP Daphne: 3/12/05 - 6/19/12
Premium Member
join:2012-02-20
49xxx

1 edit

FureverFurry

Premium Member

The 12 days of Christmas - in letters

{deleted} decided to delete content as waaaaay too long.

Titus
Mr Gradenko
join:2004-06-26

Titus

Member

Miserable



TamaraB
Question The Current Paradigm
Premium Member
join:2000-11-08
Da Bronx
·Verizon FiOS
Ubiquiti NSM5
Synology RT2600ac
Apple AirPort Extreme (2013)

TamaraB

Premium Member

Lucy got her Xmas gift already

Click for full size
She desperately needed a cover for her printer

••••••

gjrhine
join:2001-12-12
Pawleys Island, SC

gjrhine

Member

more

$

SimbaSeven
I Void Warranties
join:2003-03-24
Billings, MT

1 recommendation

SimbaSeven

Member

The Colbert Report.. 2005-2014.

I'm sure going to miss that show. Not many "News" shows can pull that off anymore.

The President doing "The Decree" was awesome. Also, having Smaug as a guest was quite cool.

neill6705
join:2014-08-09

neill6705

Member

Re: The Colbert Report.. 2005-2014.

Colbert was awesome. I too am going to miss his show.

I wonder what he'll be like on the Tonight Show.

TopShelf
join:2010-06-25

TopShelf

Member

All I Want For Christmas

is an end to a $25.00 a week addiction to Slotomania.

Where is the hactivist group Anonymous when you need them?
biochemistry
Premium Member
join:2003-05-09
92361

biochemistry

Premium Member

North Korea

Does anyone think North Korea has the ability to pull off the Sony hack? I imagine their top computer scientists in some dungeon playing pong on their Apple II computers.

••••••••